Here we go now the mainland firms are flooding into Hong Kong .. swing a cat and hit at least half a dozen lawyers in this dirty old town
Law.com have the report
Chinese law firm Fangda Partners is to open an office in Hong Kong with a partner hired from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Shanghai-based Fangda will open the office this summer, once it receives regulatory approvals, it has confirmed. The firm will enter into an association with a Hong Kong firm to be set up by Peter Yuen, who is currently a litigation partner at Freshfields.
Yuen has practiced at Freshfields since 1996, and has experience in both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese litigation, as well as arbitration. He became a partner in 2007. While at Freshfields, he represented three Chinese investors in a $500 million investment treaty arbitration filed against the Mongolian government in 2010 over the cancellation of mining licenses. He has also acted for clients in litigation including commercial, banking, regulatory and intellectual property disputes.
Initially, Fangda will focus on advising its existing corporate clients on mergers and acquisitions, and on investment-related disputes in Hong Kong. The firm plans to staff the office with around six to 10 lawyers, and is also likely to relocate a private equity specialist to the office to assist Chinese investors, managing partner Yang Gao said.
Hong Kong will be the fourth location for Fangda, which has around 200 lawyers in its offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
Gao said the firm regards Hong Kong as an important part of the China market. But while a handful of Chinese firms have opened overseas offices in New York and London, Fangda has no plans to do so, and instead will focus on growth in Greater China, he added. The firm will also continue to work with leading law firms in Hong Kong.
Full report at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202550129575
