International law firm Bird & Bird LLP today announces a major co-operation agreement with AllBright Law Offices, one of China’s top five domestic law firms.

The co-operation agreement allows Bird & Bird to support AllBright’s domestic clientbase with their international expansion ambitions, providing these companies with access to its 28 offices in 19 countries in Europe, the Middle East and the rest of Asia Pacific. The agreement likewise secures AllBright a base in the European market, with the firm opening its first international rep office out of Bird & Bird’s City premises at 12 New Fetter Lane.

This is the latest step in Bird & Bird’s successful Asia-Pacific strategy, which has seen the firm launch in five Asia Pacific cities and enter into five co-op agreements with local firms in little over a decade. The firm has made 6 lateral partner hires in the region in the past 18 months alone, and has experienced a 46% increase in turnover when compared to the prior 18 month period.

Bird & Bird has advised on a number of China outbound transactions in the past 18 months, not least Fosun Group’s acquisition of Wolverhampton Wanderers which was named as 2016 Overseas Deal of the Year by China Business Law Journal.

David Kerr, CEO of Bird & Bird, says:

“There is a strong synergy between our vision – to be the number one law firm in the world for organisations being changed by technology and the digital world – and the ambitions of the many high-growth Chinese companies looking to expand internationally. We lead the international legal market in the tech, life sciences, renewable energy and space markets – and given these are areas that the PRC Government is committed to driving forward, we are excited to be able to help companies in these sectors recognise their international ambitions.”

Justin Walkey, Chairman of Asia Pacific at Bird & Bird, says:

“I am very excited to be working alongside AllBright as we evolve our presence in the Chinese market. We have a strong China platform and our new relationship with AllBright will allow our global network to support the many Chinese companies expanding out into other international markets.”

Wu Mingde, Managing Partner of AllBright, says:
“We need real capability and strong local law support outside of China to help our Chinese clients’ projects, investments, transactions and disputes in the UK and the rest of the world. Our agreement with Bird & Bird provides us with the perfect platform to achieve this.”