Ask partners at Herbert Smith and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer how they have won roles on so many of China's big-ticket IPOs of late, and they will tell you it was planned… sort of. It is always nice to appear wise after the event.

But whether it is down to luck or good foresight, there is no denying that the two have managed an impressive run, with the current string of major floats establishing the pair alongside a select band of US firms scooping up the best work.

It is certainly a good time to be there. According to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average deal size of capital markets transactions in Greater China has now surpassed US and Europe issuers.

This is largely thanks to China's banking sector, with the Bank of China's current float set to be, by some measures, the world's biggest listing in six years. Rivals Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Merchants Bank are also expected to bring multi-billion dollar floats later this year. This follows last summer's £2.8bn float of China Construction Bank.

While Freshfields' roles advising on two of the listings could be expected, Herbert Smith is the surprise winner, bagging mandates on three of the four. The firm acted on China Construction Bank's IPO and is acting for the issuer on the ICBC and China Merchants. The success of the relatively small practice is due in no small part to Beijing managing partner Jeremy Xiao, who has led on many of the firm's recent deals in the region.

The firm's role on the first major listing in the sector – China Construction Bank – has been a major factor in its subsequent success. Xiao and his team, while well known in the market, have clearly made the most of the early instruction to clean up now that the market for banking securities has taken off.

The same thing happened with the local arm of Shearman & Sterling in 1997 when it advised on the first major IPO in China, China Mobile, and swiftly established itself as issuer counsel of choice as other mobile companies went to market.

Such considerations illustrate the benefits and pitfalls of relatively undeveloped markets. Advisers who get in at the right time reap rich dividends with lean teams. Conversely, it is difficult to enter the market once it has taken off, at least until it becomes so developed that it supports a wider pool of firms. This is a factor some attribute to the surprising lack of profile on China-related offerings from Linklaters' otherwise comprehensive Asia practice.

Another issue for late entrants and the unlucky are fee levels, with the frantic level of competition reported to be pushing down fees at the lower end of the market. Conversely, one partner at a magic circle firm says fees on a major listing are "increasingly comparable with Europe" while another says that fees of well over £1m on major listings are not now unusual.

Aside from tough competition for the Hong Kong-law element, newer foreign advisers also face a raft of leading New York firms, such as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Shearman & Sterling, Sullivan & Cromwell and David Polk & Wardwell.

If the past is anything to go by, firms would do well to spot the next sector before it happens. At least then they will be believed when they say they planned it.

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