Photo: Jason Doiy/ALMEnding 13-Year China Alliance, McDermott Will & Emery Exits Asia
Winston & Strawn said it has formed a relationship with MWE China Law Offices, known in Chinese as Yuan Da Law Offices, now that its alliance with McDermott has ended.
June 23, 2020 at 04:52 PM
3 minute read
Chicago-based McDermott Will & Emery has ended a strategic alliance with its longtime China partner firm, a move that means it no longer has a physical presence in Asia.
The alliance, with a Shanghai-based law firm known as MWE China Law Offices, gave McDermott a unique ability to access a Chinese law practice without having a physical presence on the ground. Under Chinese law, foreign law firms in China are barred from practicing Chinese law. They are allowed to advise on China's legal environment but are not permitted to give Chinese legal opinions or appear in court.
With its McDermott alliance ending, MWE China Law Offices, known in Chinese as Yuan Da Law Offices, has formed a relationship with Winston & Strawn. Winston has offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong; it closed its Beijing and Taipei offices in 2017.
In a statement, McDermott said it had decided to end its strategic alliance in China in order to provide its clients with a broader sampling of expertise in the region.
"We will continue to work with Yuan Da when our clients' interests are best served by their highly ranked team of lawyers," the law firm said.
McDermott formed its exclusive alliance with MWE China Law Offices, which was founded by a group of lawyers who broke away from Shanghai-based AllBright Law Offices, in 2007. The team was then led by partners John Huang and Kevin Qian.
The exclusive alliance model was adopted by other firms following McDermott's success. In 2011, U.K. firm Pinsent Masons entered an alliance with Beijing-based Hesen Law Firm. That arrangement ended in 2017. More recently, McGuireWoods, in 2015, formed a similar alliance with Shanghai-based FuJae Partners, a Chinese firm launched by several former JunHe partners. Pinsent Masons also has its own office in Beijing, while McGuireWoods, like McDermott, does not have a representative office in China. FuJae, though, does not share McGuireWoods' branding as MWE China Law Offices does with McDermott's.
MWE China Offices had been integrated with the rest of McDermott despite being a legally independent entity. The Shanghai-based firm, whose specialties include compliance and white-collar defense, is one of the most profitable domestic firms in China. In 2018, it had $1.45 million in profits per equity partner, the highest among all Chinese firms ranked by Law.com International's China 45 report.
McDermott has enjoyed its own financial success, posting two consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth. In 2019, its profits per equity partner also surpassed $2 million.
Last year, the U.S. firm closed its Seoul office, its only representative office in Asia.
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