Association with Fidelity Law to lead to joint office offering Chinese law advice
Hogan Lovells is the third international law firm to enter the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone (FTZ) after agreeing an association with local outfit Fujian Xiamen Fidelity Law Firm in October.
Chinese firm Fidelity launched a new Shanghai office as part of the association. Shanghai managing partner Wang Ping will lead the office with two intellectual property (IP) lawyers. Hogan Lovells’ team will be led by Asia corporate head Andrew McGinty and IP partner Katie Feng, based between the firm’s Shanghai office and the FTZ office.
Fidelity is based in the city of Xiamen in Fujian province of south-east China with around 170 lawyers and 32 partners, specialising in white-collar law, real estate, trade and cross-border corporate finance work. The firm has six further offices in Fujian province.
Two other global firms have opened up recently in the FTZ under a scheme which enables foreign firms to launch joint ventures to provide Chinese legal advice. In 2015, Baker & McKenzie became the first international firm to launch a joint office under the scheme when it signed with Beijing firm FenXun Partners.
Holman Fenwick Willan also entered the zone in April when it formalised its partnership with Wintell & Co.
‘I’d be surprised if other firms weren’t looking, but it took us a long time to get there.’
Patrick Sherrington,
Hogan Lovells
Before the launch of the FTZ in 2013, the only international firms to offer Chinese law capability were those with mergers in the country, such as King & Wood Mallesons.
Hogan Lovells Asia-Pacific and Middle East regional managing partner Patrick Sherrington told Legal Business: ‘It’s a long process to identify the firm you want to partner with. We did a long due diligence process over the year, which involved onsite visits and face-to-face visits to make sure we made the right decision.’
Sherrington said the firm planned to add more Chinese lawyers to the associate office by the end of the year, expanding the practice areas on offer in 2017.
Other firms are looking into similar arrangements. Linklaters is planning to spin off a three-lawyer Shanghai firm and enter a joint operations agreement with it later in order to provide Chinese advice in the region.
Sherrington added: ‘I’d be surprised if other firms weren’t looking, but it took us a long time to get there. You have to go through all the regulation hoops but also find a firm you want to do business with.’
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk