For years, Chinese law firms have enjoyed exceptional growth in both head count and financials. To a large extent, that growth continued in 2019. But as geopolitical tension intensified and deal volume plummeted, the weight of an economic downturn finally caught up with firms. Even before the novel coronavirus hit the nation in early 2020, for the first time in many years growth at Chinese law firms was slowing down.

This year, we've expanded our rankings to include the 50 highest-grossing Chinese law firms, which reported $10.4 billion in global revenue in 2019. Dentons comfortably leads the rankings with a revenue of $2.9 billion and is once again followed by King & Wood Mallesons, which reported $1.08 billion in global revenue. In addition to those two, three other Chinese firms made the Global 100, the same as last year; five more firms from China are in the Second Hundred, up from last year's four.