Global Law Office, founded in 1984 and one of the oldest law firms in China, has fostered new growth initiatives and regained its upward momentum in recent years. The firm reported 25% revenue growth for the financial year to 31 December 2008.
Liu Jinrong, newly elected to managing partner in May 2009, attributes the growth to a number of strategic lateral moves and a strong flow of mandates from its mid-cap clients.
In the past 12 months, Global has added 11 partners to its Beijing and Shanghai offices. Experienced capital markets lawyer Gu Weiwei, who was previously a senior associate in King & Wood, is the newest addition to Global's partnership.
"The joining of the new partners has helped bolster our credentials in certain practice areas," said Liu. Gu's appointment, for example, is set to strengthen the firm's domestic capital markets practice, an area that the firm hasn't traditionally focused on. The appointment of Kou Liyun from Herbert Smith, meanwhile, will reinforce the firm's leadership in international arbitration. Other noticeable new partners include Zang Hongliang (aviation) and Lu Yingchun (banking & finance) from Jingtian & Gongcheng, and Zhou Lei and Ying Jin (venture capital and renewable energy) from AllBright.
"The market has been through a quite time, which gives a lot of the lawyers an opportunity to rethink their career goals and makes them more willing to take a chance and make a move. We've been a beneficiary of such mentality," said Liu.
In light of the changes in client demand, Liu pointed out that the firm's growth in revenue was made possible due to increasing instructions from the mid-cap segment.
"Due to the impact of the GFC, many large corporate clients who are more exposed in the global market have significantly reduced their budget for external counsel and have been slow in making transactions," said Liu. "On the contrary, many small and mid-sized businesses remain active in the current market and we have received a solid stream of new mandates from these clients."
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