Shanghai, already home to 100 foreign firms, has recently welcomed the newest addition to its expanding expat community - Portuguese firm CCA Advogados.
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Shanghai, already home to 100 foreign firms, has recently welcomed the newest addition to its expanding expat community - Portuguese firm CCA Advogados.By establishing its first overseas office in Shanghai, CCA Advogados has become the first Portuguese law firm to launch in China. The 35-lawyer firm, which is strong in Portugal's small-to-medium-sized enterprise market and is part of a platform of European law firms, shares its Shanghai premises with Belgian firm De Wolf & Partners and Swiss firm Bonnard Lawson.
CCA's Shanghai team will initially consist of two lawyers - partner Domingos Cruz and an associate will relocate to Shanghai at the beginning of 2011. They will work alongside more than 20 lawyers from their European alliances in the joint Shanghai office.
"One of the main reasons behind our decision of "investing" in China was our previous contacts with China," said Domingos Cruz. For example, the firm helped its client with the acquisition of two Chinese companies in the TMT sector two years ago (with local law support by King & Wood) and was involved in the incorporation of some wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOEs) in Shanghai.
"Another important reason is the growing trade ties and cross-border investment China has with Europe, South America and Africa, particularly Chinese companies' increasing interest in expanding and investing in Spain and Portugal, Brazil and Angola," Cruz added. "Just last week, the Chinese president visited Portugal and signed several memorandums of understanding that will most certainly improve the trading between the two countries."
While strong competition is coming from several large international firms that are long-established in China, Europe, South America and Africa, the new entrant is committed to gaining its foothold in this market. "We are a full-service firm and we are very experienced in helping SMEs going abroad. Competition from global law firms is a big challenge, but we are using all the resources and channelling it to our new Shanghai operation. We believe we can offer more flexible services and faster responses than the global firms," said Cruz. ALB
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