Shenzhen, China, has recently emerged on the radar of global law firms. I have written about how some firms have opened offices there following clients such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and how the city fares against Hong Kong as a legal services hub. But does everyone really need a Shenzhen office?

To answer that, let's first get a sense of the city itself. Most people know the city as a hub for China's technology companies and for sharing a border with Hong Kong. The city is also one of the economic and commercial centers in southern China and has the third-largest economy among all cities in China, behind Shanghai and Beijing. But as a legal market, even a domestic one, Shenzhen lags disproportionately behind Shanghai and Beijing.

In 2017, Shenzhen ranked No. 3 nationwide for total revenue generated by private practice lawyers. Meanwhile, lawyers in Shanghai and Beijing each generated revenues roughly 3.6 times higher. And although lawyers in Shenzhen managed to increase total revenue between 2013 and 2017 by 100%, lawyers in both Beijing (104%) and Shanghai (128%) saw even greater revenue growth. To put things in perspective, Shanghai's 2017 GDP led Shenzhen by 30% and Beijing led Shenzhen by 27%. Shenzhen's overall economy grew the fastest among the three.