If you are going to set up a representative office in China, it is good to have friends around for moral support. This seems to be the approach at Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May, which has announced plans to apply for a licence to set up an office in Beijing and co-locate with two of its “best friend” firms, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek of the Netherlands and Uría Menéndez of Spain. 

 

This co-location business model has proven successful in Brussels, where Slaughter and May shares office space with four of its “best friends” – Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Bredin Prat, Hengeler Mueller and Uría Menéndez.

 

George Goulding (pictured), the firm’s partner in Hong Kong, will relocate to Beijing and head the new office once the licence is granted. Goulding said it is the right time for the firm to expand its Asia presence: “The decision to expand into Beijing has been made based on the evolution of the relationship with our best friends, the evolution of the market and the evolution of our PRC practice,” said Goulding.

 

The firm has participated in an increasing number of large cross-border transactions involving Chinese companies. Recent deal highlights include advising China Resources Logic on its acquisition of China Resources Gas, advising CITIC Group on its sale of shares of CITIC Canada Energy Limited to JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration production, and advising the underwriters on the US$1.5bn IPO of Alibaba.com.

 

The Uría Menéndez office will be headed by partner Juan Martín Perrotto and will be staffed by at least three senior lawyers. In addition to servicing European clients in China, the new office also intends to advise on Chinese investments in the most attractive European and Latin American economies.

 

However, as some of these “best friend” firms have offices in the same cities, such as London and Brussels, there will inevitably be some level of competition between them. However, Slaughter and May is confident that rivalry will not be a major problem.

 

“What we have to gain by working together and supporting each other is vastly more important and significant than the occasional job here and there where we are competitors,” said Goulding.

 

The firms will need to apply for licences separately and their operations in Beijing will also be separate. All of them expect to launch in Beijing sometime in 2009.

 

This is not the first co-location arrangement in China – CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France), and its alliance firms CMS Cameron McKenna (UK) and CMS Hasche Sigle (Germany) share an office in Shanghai.