[1] Founded in 1851, it provides full service for all major practice areas such as corporate mergers & acquisitions, regulatory compliance, intellectual properties, insurance, international arbitration and litigation.

It serves a long list of private clients and high-profile conglomerates, including Google,[2] McDonald's Corp, Samsung, Alibaba Group, JP Morgan Asset Management, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts,[3] Yahoo Inc!, and the HKSAR Government.

[5][6][7] It is the longest established and largest law firm in Hong Kong, and has experienced practitioners for every level of the court system.

The firm is named for the English solicitor Victor Deacon, who in 1880 joined the legal practice established by William Thomas Bridges in 1851 in Hong Kong.

The alliance dissolved in June 2000, with Deacons backing out due to Graham & James's failure to commit resources to Asia and dwindling position in US law firm rankings.