France's Lefevre sets sights on Shanghai in latest stage of global expansion drive
French independent Lefevre Pelletier & Associes is to open in Shanghai in September. The firm, which is still waiting to receive its licence, expects to have around 10 lawyers in the office, including local head Paul-Emmanuel Benachi. The launch will add to Lefevre's existing offices in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and comes just months after the expansive French firm entered North Africa at the end of last year with offices in Algeria and Morocco.
May 29, 2008 at 12:35 AM
2 minute read
French independent Lefevre Pelletier & Associes is to open in Shanghai in September.
The firm, which is still waiting to receive its licence, expects to have around 10 lawyers in the office, including local head Paul-Emmanuel Benachi. The launch will add to Lefevre's existing offices in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and comes just months after the expansive French firm entered North Africa at the end of last year with offices in Algeria and Morocco.
Benachi, a corporate lawyer, told Legal Week: "We believe Shanghai is the door to investment in China. We have many requests from clients intending to go through Shanghai so we believe it is key to be there."
The China expansion comes as City firm Lovells last week added to its Sino-Global Legal Alliance (SGLA) network of independent Chinese firms.
Tahota Law Firm became the 10th member of the alliance, which launched in September last year. The 19-partner firm has about 200 lawyers and is based in Chengdu in Sichuan province, the heart of the China's recent earthquake. It advises on real estate, commerce, litigation and arbitration, intellectual property and finance and securities.
According to Lovells, the firm will provide the alliance with a gateway to western China. Other international companies in Chengdu include Citi, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, United Overseas Bank (Singapore), ABN Amro, Bank of East Asia and BNP Paribas.
Lovells managing partner David Harris said: "China is a market in which we have continued to see tremendous growth driven by client demand. The alliance has been a major success story for the firm over the past year. Our Asia practice has also seen growth of more than 25%."
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