Although the Middle East and India are emerging to be the next hot spots for international firms, China remains a magnet for attracting new players.
US firm Covington & Burling LLP has just opened its first office in Asia by setting up shop in Beijing. The firm joins several others that have parachuted into China to cater to client demands and capture their share of the growing pie, especially in the light of China’s new Anti-Monopoly Law which took effect on 1 August.
“We have been advising our international clients on legal and business matters in Asia for decades. But, after study, we concluded that opening an office in China was the logical next step to serve our clients,” said Timothy Hester, chair of Covington’s management committee.
Covington, which also maintains offices in Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco and Washington, will advise clients on compliance matters, corporate investments and M&A, and cover the pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics and media industries.
The firm’s lawyers kept pace with the development of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China by making presentations to government representatives during the drafting of the statute. It is understood that the firm will leverage on the groundwork and industry-specific experience of its lawyers to gain a competitive edge in the market.
Covington partner Stuart Stock, who served as chair of the firm’s management committee for six years until stepping down in January, has relocated to Beijing to head the new office. Ellen Eliasoph and Cao Yu have joined him as the firm’s Beijing resident senior lawyers.
Eliasoph, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, has more 25 years’ legal experience in China and Japan as a private practitioner and as a top executive for Warner Bros Entertainment. Cao, formerly a partner at Haiwen & Partners in the PRC, has a broad range of experience in transactional matters, particularly with media, sports, and entertainment organizations.
The relocation comes amidst similar moves by a number of foreign firms make to beef up their competition practices.
Magic Circle firm Linklaters recently relocated Swedish partner Erik Söderlind to Hong Kong to become the firm’s first head of competition and antitrust in the region. In April, Lovells’ competition law specialist and counsel Kirstie Nicholson was moved to Shanghai in response to an expected influx of competition-related legal work following the introduction of China’s new Anti-Monopoly Law.
Earlier this year, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer transported London antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) practice partner Alex Potter to Beijing to help build a Chinese antitrust practice on the back of the introduction of China’s new Anti-Monopoly Law. In addition, a senior associate in the practice, Michael Han, was promoted to counsel in Beijing.
Taylor Wessing – no stranger to China with operations in Shanghai since 1996 – is also set to launch an office in Beijing, having been granted a licence to practise in the city in July.
Munich-based investments partner Christoph Hezel will relocate to Beijing to manage the office. Hezel’s focus is on foreign direct investment into China, including banking, finance, tax, M&A and general corporate. The office will be staffed by three other associates and directed by Munich-based corporate partner Florian Ranft, who heads the firm’s China desk and who will continue to travel between China and Germany.
The new office will focus on inbound and outbound foreign direct investment, M&A, private equity, restructuring, banking & finance, and real estate.
Other firms have boosted their China teams with international talents who have strong local experience. One of these firms is Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which took onboard former associate Eva Wang as a partner in July.
Wang most recently served as general counsel and vice president of legal affairs at Spreadtrum Communications, a leading NASDAQ-listed Chinese semiconductor company focused on the wireless communications market. An expert in corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on the technology sector, she will be based in Wilson’s Shanghai office.
According to the firm, Wang’s familiarity with US compliance and securities laws, export control regulations and her public company experience in China and familiarity with the local market will be used to “expand the firm’s practice in the region and mentoring our growing team”.