Zhong Lun Law Firm is pleased to announce the official opening of its new London office with the joining of a team of five solicitors and a total staff of nine legal professionals and support staff. Zhong Lun, one of the China “Big 3” national full-service law firms in the PRC, is the first top-tier Chinese law firm to enter the London market.
The new London office is headed by partners Haibin Xue, Linna Li and Emily Wang (brief CVs are attached below). The lead members of the new team in London are all fully bilingual and include solicitors who are qualified both in England and in China. The London office will focus on both inbound and outbound China-related matters in the UK and European markets.
The new London team has extensive experience in a broad range of corporate, commercial and financing matters as well as dispute resolution matters, including AIM listings for Chinese clients and M&A projects for Chinese clients in the UK and Europe and for UK and European clients in China. In order to better leverage the overall market-leading practice capabilities of Zhong Lun in China, the London team will draw upon the extensive resources of the firm’s more than 700 legal professionals in mainland China as well as in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Leading partners in key practice areas in the firm will also regularly travel to London to work closely with the London team.
Zhong Lun managing partner Zhang Xuebing led the initiative to set up the new London office. Zhang issued the following statement: “This is an important strategic step for Zhong Lun as part of the continuing expansion of our firm’s international reach. We are very pleased to have such a strong team join us to help establish our presence in this key legal market and leading global financial center.”
Zhong Lun international managing partner Robert Lewis commented: “Our new London office will provide an important platform for us as a firm to develop closer ties with London-based law firms as well as UK and European clients for China-related work. At the same time, working in coordination with partner firms in the local London and European markets, we will be able to provide the full range of legal services for our Chinese clients going to the UK and Europe. Our goal is to use this new platform to facilitate deeper cooperation, and not competition, with our partner firms in the London and European markets.”
New London office managing partner Haibin Xue stated: “It was critically important to us to join one of the truly elite Chinese law firms so that we are better positioned to offer UK and European clients top-shelf service for China legal matters. Because our London partners are all qualified solicitors, we can work with our counterparts in local London firms on a peer-to-peer basis, but at the same time we can draw upon our own extensive experience in China-related projects to provide both direct support as well as seamless coordination with our Zhong Lun colleagues in China for China law issues.”
The Zhong Lun London office will be relocating to new offices in Austin Friars in the central area of the City of London in May 2012. A launch event for the new London office is tentatively scheduled for the last week of April 2012; details to come.
