ECIJA and Grandall signing ceremony Hugo Ecija (left) and Lv Hongbing at the signing ceremony for the alliance between Spain's ECIJA and China's Grandall Law Firm. (Courtesy photo)

 

China's Grandall Law Firm has signed a strategic alliance with Spanish law firm ECIJA, marking the firm's latest attempt to expand its coverage in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

As part of the agreement, the two firms will cooperate in practice matters, business development and talent training. The alliance will create a global legal network across Europe, Asia and Latin America, with more than 3,500 lawyers in 18 countries and up to 54 offices.

Beijing-based Grandall was created in 1998 with a merger of three law firms in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The firm has about 2,000 lawyers, mostly in mainland China. In 2018, Grandall reported $393 million in total revenue, up 32.8 percent from the year earlier; the firm ranked 123rd in the Global 200 revenue list – the sixth highest-grossing domestic Chinese firm.

Grandall opened an office in Madrid in 2013 – one of its five foreign offices, with the others in Paris, New York, Silicon Valley and Stockholm. The Madrid office has 14 lawyers, including five partners.

Madrid-based ECIJA specialises in technology, media and telecommunications and intellectual property. The firm has more than 450 lawyers, including 90 partners, in 22 offices in Spain, Portugal, the United States and across Latin America. Hugo Écija, firm founder and president, said ECIJA has always been keen to expand into Asia and with Grandall's resources and reputation in capital markets, the tie-up between the two firms will provide clients with a stronger legal network in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

A Spanish alliance also helps Grandall position itself along the route of China's Belt and Road Initiative, according to Lv Hongbing, firm co-founder and chief executive partner. The increasing opportunities in trade and investment between China and Spain create a bigger market for lawyers from both countries to collaborate, Lv said during the signing ceremony held in Madrid earlier this month. Currently, state-owned giant COSCO Shipping Corp. Ltd. is helping fund a project to expand Spain's port of Valencia in the east and port of Bilbao in the north, as part of China's investment in European infrastructure projects.

COSCO paid $228 million for a majority stake in Noatum Ports S.L.U., a Valencia-based company that operates container terminals in both Valencia and Bilbao. Valencia, a key cargo port on the Mediterranean coast, is part of China's '21st Century Maritime Silk Road' programme – part of its Belt and Road Initiative.

According to Spanish government data, China currently ranks as the seventh-largest foreign investor in Spain, with €17.5 billion ($19.5 billion) in investment; Chinese foreign direct investment peaked in 2017 at €3.1 billion ($3.5 billion). Although, according to data compiled by Baker McKenzie, Chinese FDI in Spain dropped drastically in 2019.

Chinese investment in Spain hit $1.1 billion in the first half of 2018 but has since dropped to $10 million in the first six months of this year.

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