Norton Rose Fulbright's former Beijing office head Peter Burrows has left the firm to join Chinese start up DaHui Lawyers.

Burrows, who came to China in 2008 to manage and build the profile of the Beijing and Shanghai offices, joined the PRC outfit as a consultant last week with a view to boosting international standards at the firm.

DaHui, which has six partners, was formed earlier this year and focuses on corporate, TMT and disputes work both domestically and for clients making inbound and outbound investments.

Burrows' role at the firm will be to help introduce and manage international standards relating to things such as client verification, client opening and matter management.

Commenting on his appointment, he said: "Chinese firms are at a very interesting stage of development. 

"You've got a generation of younger partners with international experience, either from working in local law firms where they've been dealing with inbound work from international clients, or who've worked at international firms or studied abroad.

"They've come back with very definite ideas about the shape of the legal profession and are keen to emulate the best things they've seen."

Burrows joins the PRC firm after a 26-year career with Norton Rose Fulbright.

As well as his role at the firm's mainland China offices, he was also responsible for managing its Moscow base from the beginning of 2011 until April this year.

In the months prior to his departure, he had already stepped down from his role as Beijing managing partner and been tasked with overseeing compliance for Asia.

Hong Kong partner Phillip John, who is head of North Asia for the firm, has since been managing base. Corporate partner Justin Wilson continues to head up in Shanghai.

Also exiting from the firm's Beijing office this month is corporate and finance partner Milton Osborn, who had been on secondment in the Chinese capital from Norton Rose in Johannesburg.

He recently returned to South Africa after a two year stint in China, focused on bolstering relationships between the two regions.

In a statement on the two departures, a spokesperson for Norton Rose Fulbright said: "In the last two years we have considerably strengthened our offering in Beijing. This has been a result of our Norton Rose Fulbright combination and a number of new partners joining the firm.

"We would hope that the growth of the last two years continues and expect this to be determined by the market and the demands of our clients as it has done in the past.

"As part of our international strategy we have encouraged a series of partner secondments from across our international offices. This has included our Australian and South African offices. Milton Osborn has been a key part of that program and has helped build relationships for our China and Africa practice."