Bird & Bird has entered into a strategic alliance with China’s AllBright Law Offices, which will allow the UK firm to support the latter’s domestic client base with their international expansion ambitions on a preferred supplier basis.

The agreement will also give AllBright – the fourth largest local firm in China, according to ALB’s Top 50 Largest Law Firms ranking, a base in Europe market through a desk in Bird & Bird’s London office.

"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," David Kerr, CEO of Bird & Bird, said in a statement.

"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," added Wu Mingde, managing partner of AllBright. "Our agreement with Bird & Bird provides us with the perfect platform to achieve this."

In 2014, Bird & Bird entered into cooperation agreements with three domestic firms in the Asia Pacific region: IP boutique firm K&K Advocates and business law firm Nurjadin Sumono Mulyadi & Partners in Indonesia, and Hwang Mok Park in South Korea.