Lovells Beijing managing partner Robert Lewis has left the firm ahead of its merger with Hogan & Hartson to join China's AllBright Law Offices.

Lewis will join the Shanghai-based firm as a senior international legal consultant.on 1 May – the same day the Hogan Lovells merger goes live.

Under Chinese law, foreign lawyers are not permitted to serve as a partner at the country's law firms.

Lewis will continue to work with his former Lovells colleagues through the Sino-Global Legal Alliance (SGLA), a referral group he helped establish three years ago. Allbright and 12 other Chinese firms are SGLA members along with Lovells.

He will take the role of chief administrative officer at the SGLA in conjunction with his new role at AllBright.

Lewis said: "I am very pleased in my new roles to have the opportunity to continue to promote the original objectives of the SGLA to develop a new model for legal practice in China, melding international and domestic legal services resources and capabilities.

"In my new position with AllBright in Beijing, I will be able to leverage the competitive efficiencies of a leading domestic Chinese law firm through the national and international network of the SGLA, providing additional value for both foreign and domestic clients, particularly in certain key market segments not served by international law firms."

AllBright Shanghai managing partner Lawrence Zhu said: "We look forward to drawing on Robert's nearly 20 years of practice experience in China with international law firms and as Asia general counsel of a major multinational corporation to help lift AllBright's international legal practice to the next level."

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