London-headquartered law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is set to open its first representative office in China in May with an outpost in Beijing.
The office will be headed by its former chairman Peter Robinson, focusing on advising Chinese clients on their offshore investments, as well as assisting its international clients’ investments in mainland China. It has a particular focus on delivering multidisciplinary legal advice on real estate and infrastructure projects.
“The Beijing office will support the continued expansion of our work for Chinese clients who are increasing their offshore investments to make them more competitive globally, to secure supplies of natural resources, technology and expertise, and to help them diversify their portfolios,” said John Bennett, chairman of the firm’s China business committee, in a statement.
Robinson added that because of China’s size of economy and speed of growth, entering this market is significant for the firm.
“China is a leading player in the world economy, and is continuing to grow at a faster rate than more mature economies. Establishing our first office in mainland China is a key part of our strategy to ensure we are on the ground in the markets where our clients are based or are looking to invest,” said Robinson in the statement.
A continuation of BLP’s strategy of investing in Asia, Beijing is the firm’s 10th location globally, and fourth in Asia after Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Liu Zhen is China senior journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.
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