Last year saw an IPO boom led by Chinese companies seeking listings in both the mainland and Hong Kong. China’s law firms expect plenty more of the same for 2010.

China is emerging as a real IP player on the world stage and IP lawyers are happily marching towards a bright, and busy, future.

The lawyers of King & Wood received an early Christmas present when long-time client China Pacific Insurance (CPIC), a leading composite insurance group in the PRC, made its debut on the HKSE on 23 December following a long period of preparation.

International law firm Reed Smith, known as Reed Smith Richards Butler in Hong Kong and Beijing following a January 2008 merger, is preparing for a busy year in the capital markets arena and has boosted its capabilities with the hire of Michael Fosh

Managing partner of Sheppard Mullin’s Shanghai office David Huebner is exchanging law in Shanghai for diplomacy in Wellington as he takes up his new position as US ambassador to New Zealand and the Independent State of Samoa.

Legal advisors have to evolve as fast as Alibaba itself to keep, or win, mandates. ALB meets the company’s in-house team

PRC law firms have been involved with the listing of GLG, a Canadian company with substantial Chinese operations, on the NASDAQ.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been engaged by DLA Piper to conduct a review of its partnership model.

Lawyers for China Minsheng Banking Corp (CMBC), the first and largest privately owned joint stock commercial bank in the PRC, had to work together to juggle the requirements of the Shanghai Stock Exchange as well as the HKSE in order to complete the launch of CMBC’s IPO in Hong Kong.

China High Precision Automation Group's recent IPO attracted the who’s who of the legal industry’s top tier, with Dacheng, King & Wood and Jun He acting as PRC counsel.