Fieldfisher continues China expansion with Guangzhou office launch
UK firm's latest launch follows moves into Shanghai last year and Beijing in 2016
August 23, 2018 at 05:13 AM
2 minute read
By John Kang
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Fieldfisher has continued its expansion in China with the opening of a third office in the southern city of Guangzhou.
The firm has launched the office with the hire of a seven-lawyer team, including partners Zhongran Lian, Kuan Liu and Connie Wong, from Guangzhou boutique Geenen Law Office. It will focus on corporate, M&A, dispute resolution and intellectual property work.
Lian and Liu focus on commercial arbitration and litigation, including enforcement of foreign court decisions and arbitral awards in China. Wong advises on cross-border transactions and serves as an arbitrator for commercial disputes at the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission.
Fieldfisher's Beijing-based China managing partner Zhaofeng Zhou said the UK firm decided to launch in Guangzhou because it is a major commercial and manufacturing hub and is home to companies from many of the firm's key sectors, such as automotive and biotechnology.
Relatively few international firms have opened in Guangzhou, in part due to its close proximity to Hong Kong. Stephenson Harwood operates in the city in association with Wei Tu Law Firm, a local boutique set up by a group of former lawyers from the British firm.
Fieldfisher's China offices operate as a licensed Chinese law firm under a Swiss verein, a structure similar to that of King & Wood Mallesons. In 2016, it merged with Beijing boutique JS Partners led by Zhou, a former Bird & Bird antitrust partner. It launched in a second office in Shanghai a few months later in February 2017.
The firm now has 14 partners in China, across Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It listed China as one of the fastest-growing jurisdictions for the firm, with revenue from the country tripling in the 2017-18 financial year.
Fieldfisher recently posted revenues of £207m for the 2017-18 financial year, a 24% increase on last year and a new record high for the firm.
Last week it also announced the launch of a new legal services centre in Belfast, backed by £630,000 of funding from Northern Ireland's economic development agency Invest NI. The base, which will house staff working in legal and risk management as well as technical and business support roles, has launched with 14 staff, but the firm expects to increase headcount to 125 within three years.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
New Frontiers: Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Launches in Cairo and Abu Dhabi
4 minute read
Travers Gives Holiday Bonus, Ropes & Gray Reduces Time Off Allowance
1 minute read
Japan’s Mori Hamada Joins Funder LCM for $150M Credit Suisse Bonds Claim
Trending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
