After recently adding partner Sophie Sha to its newly launched Beijing office, Jade & Fountain has added another two partners to its Shanghai office. Former Concord Partners partner Jill Lee (pictured) and Jones Day (Shanghai) senior associate Julia Kong have recently joined Jade & Fountain’s Shanghai base.
After recently adding partner Sophie Sha to its newly launched Beijing office, Jade & Fountain has added another two partners to its Shanghai office. Former Concord Partners partner Jill Lee (pictured) and Jones Day (Shanghai) senior associate Julia Kong have recently joined Jade & Fountain’s Shanghai base.Lee’s specialty lies in real estate and in advising on the establishment and restructuring of foreign investment enterprises in China, with other practice areas including corporate, commercial work and M&A. Prior to her time at Concord, she was a lawyer at Australian firm Allens Arthur Robinson. When probed about her experience in AAR, Lee said while she learned a great deal from working in a foreign firm, she felt rather restricted because she was unable to practise PRC law.
“In foreign firms, a lot of time is spent on internal knowledge exchange; there is often a need to ‘educate’ foreign colleagues before providing legal advice to clients. While this grants an opportunity to learn about other jurisdictions and its topical issues, you will find that your local legal skills may not improve as quickly as they could in a local firm,” said Lee.
On the other hand, Kong, who is qualified to practise in the US, is expert in advising deals with international aspects. Her main practice areas include M&A, PE, joint ventures and both in-and outbound investments.
Kong attributes her decision to join Jade & Fountain to her long-term friendship with partners in the firm and the desire to serve a varied clientele. “At an international firm, the focus is on foreign-related transactions, whilst at a PRC firm the focus can be on both foreign-related and purely domestic transactions. Accordingly, your clientele and the type of transactions you can advise on tend to be more varied at a local firm,” she said.
Prior to her time at Jones Day, she also worked other international firms like Blakes, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Toronto) and Baker & McKenzie (Beijing).
The new additions take Jade & Fountain’s Shanghai number to 21 partners and over 60 associates. Its Beijing office has two partners and several associates. ALB
Related stories: