近日，总部位于伦敦、以服务科技领域著称的鸿鹄律师事务所正式开设深圳代表处，这也是鸿鹄继香港（1995年）、北京（2004年）、上海（2008年）之后，在大中华地区设立的第四家分支机构。
深圳代表处由该所常驻香港的知识产权业务合伙人梁敦瀚律师领导，他于2012年加入鸿鹄，目前担任该所中国知识产权业务的联席负责人。鸿鹄其他大中华区办公室的合伙人则将“在深圳办公室度过大量时间”，将此处作为会见客户、展开大湾区服务的中心。此外，“很多海外同事在过去几个月中也开始利用深圳办公室来会见客户及商业伙伴”。
未来，鸿鹄希望借由深圳办公室，为客户提供全方位服务，包括公司、商事、隐私及数据保护、争议解决、劳动法，以及市场领先的知识产权服务。
根据广东省司法厅信息，早在2020年，鸿鹄便通过其在香港的实体获批设立了深圳代表处，不过受到过去三年的疫情影响，“我们一直无法启动使用计划，伴随疫情后的旅行限制解除，我们现在可以执行针对深圳办公室的计划了”。
鸿鹄表示，深圳是中国诸多规模最大、最具创新性的科技和生命科学企业的总部所在地，同时也是各行各业众多初创企业、孵化器和加速器的发源地。“几家总部位于深圳的企业已经是鸿鹄在全球范围内的重点客户，因此开设深圳代表处对我们来说是很自然的一步战略。很多年来客户都说，他们希望我们能来大湾区，和他们站在一起，我们听取了这样的建议。”
深圳代表处对于鸿鹄未来的中国业务发展也有重要意义。“实现进一步的‘在地化’后，我们的中国合伙人能够强化对大湾区客户的支持，继续帮助他们解决全球范围内的法律问题。深圳作为鸿鹄新的办公所在地，也将为全球客户的业务需求提供支持。”
这也是今年以来，第三家宣布新设深圳代表处的国际律所。
Bird & Bird opens Shenzhen office to provide 'on-the-ground' support for clients
London-based law firm Bird & Bird, known for serving the tech sector, has officially opened a representative office in Shenzhen. This marks the firm's fourth branch in Greater China after Hong Kong (1995), Beijing (2004), and Shanghai (2008).
The Shenzhen office is led by IP partner Hank Leung, who joined the firm in 2012 and currently serves as co-head of intellectual property practice in China. Partners from the firm’s other Greater China offices will spend a significant amount of time in the Shenzhen office. Additionally, “many of our international colleagues have started to use the office as a base for meeting Shenzhen-based clients and business partners in recent months,” the firm told ALB.
In the future, Bird & Bird aims to provide clients with full scope services, including corporate, commercial, privacy and data protection, dispute resolution, employment, and market-leading intellectual property services through its Shenzhen office.
According to the Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice, Bird & Bird had already obtained approval to establish a Shenzhen office through its Hong Kong entity back in 2020. However, due to the impact of the pandemic over the past three years, 'we were unable to properly activate our plans to use the office. But since the removal of Covid restrictions we are now able to execute on our development plans for our Shenzhen office.'
Bird & Bird stated that Shenzhen is headquarters to many of China’s largest and most innovative technology and life sciences companies as well as being home to numerous startups, incubators, and accelerators across a range of sectors. 'We already count several Shenzhen-headquartered companies as key global clients, so it’s a natural next step as part of our China growth strategy and ambition. For many years now we have been told by our existing clients that they wanted us to be here in the GBA region with them. We have listened.'
The Shenzhen office is also of great significance to Bird & Bird's future business development in China. 'With an enhanced local presence, the firm’s Greater China partners will strengthen our ability to support clients based in the GBA with their legal needs across the globe, working closely with Bird & Bird partners around the firm’s international network, and offer our clients another location from which we can support their businesses in the world’s second biggest economy.'
This marks the third international law firm to announce the establishment of a new Shenzhen office this year.
