Yingke Law Firm sign.

After initially flirting with the prospect of forming a joint venture with struggling U.S. firm CKR Law, China's massive Yingke Law Firm has begun to expand its own firm stateside—with nearly the same name and a few of the same attorneys as it would have had with CKR.

YK Law, an LLP, registered in New York on Sept. 27. YK Law says it's a U.S. firm that is associated with Yingke International, which has said in marketing materials that it has over 8,000 lawyers around the world, including 7,850 in China.

YK Law is just one letter away from YKR Law, the name of Yingke and CKR's proposed joint venture that was abandoned last month.

YK Law announced on its new LinkedIn page Nov. 8 it has hired Laurel Grass, a white-collar defense lawyer who had been at CKR. The new firm also counts at least three other former CKR lawyers in its ranks.

Claude Baum, a New York-based corporate lawyer and former hedge fund general counsel who left CKR in January, and Ian Liao, a corporate and M&A lawyer with experience working in Asia, recently joined YK Law, according to Li Yongyuan, who also goes by Henry Li and is a partner at Yingke and head of its China-U.S. cross-border practice team. Li said the firm has also recently hired Alexandra Levin, who led the blockchain practice at CKR.

"We think it's a perfect match because now blockchain is becoming a really hot business in China," said Li, who estimated YK would have 10 to 15 partners by the end of 2020. "We actually are negotiating several hires now from other firms—some through our own network, some through recruiters."

He added that Yingke remained on good terms with CKR.

Yingke has had a U.S. presence for several years, but YK is a new firm. Li said the name "YK Law" was simply an abbreviation of Yingke, which he said some people in the U.S. have trouble pronouncing. While CKR and YK both incorporate "global" and "local" in their slogans, he said Yingke had been using a version of that slogan for six years and said the firms have joked about the similarities between their slogans.

Other attorneys at YK include Jesse Weiner, an entertainment attorney who has practiced stateside with Yingke for a few years, and Joy Xiao, who had been an associate at CKR.

Grass, Levin and Liao are among the latest partners to leave CKR, which in October announced that it had affiliated with Jingsh Law Firm, another big Chinese firm. At least 10 lawyers have left CKR since early October, according to a Law.com count.

Other CKR departures include Jeanne Solomon, Allen Moreland and Lisa Jones, going to midsize New York law firm Robinson Brog Leinwand Greene Genovese & Gluck; as well as Ovsanna Takvoryan and Kristine Takvoryan, joining Sichenzia Ross Ference. They followed several other prominent CKR lawyers who had joined Sichenzia Ross in recent months.

In late October, Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads announced that Brad Rabinowitz, a real estate lawyer who had led CKR's real estate practice in New York, had joined as counsel. The firm previously hired most of CKR's bankruptcy attorneys earlier this year. Also last month, several former CKR partners in Miami announced new firms, including some who started their own firm called Egoavil Klug Salas & Veloso and others who joined up with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.

CKR Law remains open for business, but its New York City head count has fallen. The firm's website currently lists 10 professionals affiliated with the office, but in May it listed at least 45 who were tied to the New York office. It wasn't clear Tuesday how many lawyers currently work at the firm.

Sources told Law.com that three staff members were laid off last month, but Rosanne Felicello, a CKR partner, said in an interview Tuesday the firm was seeking to add staff in other markets, including Houston. She said the firm wished its departing lawyers well.

"The firm is not currently in the process of winding down," she said. "We are just restructuring and refocusing, and we remain committed, with the relationship that we're building with Jingsh, to be a globally focused firm."

Felicello herself has in recent months filed appearances in some cases indicating an affiliation Felicello Law. She said Tuesday she continues to work with CKR, but moved certain U.S.-centered cases to that new firm because of CKR's international strategic orientation.

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