The game of musical chairs between partners in international firms is heating up again in China, as the country becomes an increasingly important part of the firms' strategic vision for growth.

Corporate M&A lawyer Jem Li, who was admitted to the partnership of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Beijing this April, has fast-tracked his career by taking on the managing partner position at Winston & Strawn's Beijing office. Two corporate associates, Helen Zhang and April Wang, have also joined the firm from Cadwalader.

After spending about 20 years in the US, Li returned to China to practice law in 2004 and since then has increasingly focused his cross-border M&A practices on Chinese outbound transactions and investments. One of the reasons for his move is because of Winston's wider global presence (14 offices in America, Asia and Europe) compared to Cadwalader (five offices).

Li's appointment follows the August departure of partner Ge Xiangyang, who joined Winston & Strawn from Baker & McKenzie in November 2009 to help launch and lead the firm's Beijing office. Ge now serves as the head of projects at Mayer Brown JSM in Beijing.

In June 2010, Cadwalader hired DLA Piper's Beijing partner Rocky Lee as its Asia managing partner. Unsurprisingly, it is seeking lateral hires to fill the vacancy in its Beijing office. ALB

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