Guangdong's Grand & Holders Law Firm launched its first office in Chengdu, becoming the first Guangzhou-based law firm to open in China’s Sichuan province.

Chengdu is a city in western China that has an extensive legal environment and influence, covering nearby provinces and self-autonomous regions such as Tibet, Yunnan and Gansu, according to Huang Shan, director and partner at Grand & Holders.

Like the firm’s Guangzhou headquarters, the new Chengdu branch specialises in commercial litigations and currently has one partner and three lawyers.

Huang also noted that previously, the firm thought the Chengdu office would better serve existing Sichuan clients making investments in Guangdong. Later on, however, they were surprised to find out that many Guangdong companies are actually investing in Sichuan. As such, it made more sense to position the new branch as the legal bridge between companies based in the two provinces.

“We have done some research and found out that there are more than 10,000 Guangdong companies in Sichuan, but only one Shenzhen-based law firm has an office there,” Huang said to ALB. “We sensed the opportunity and grabbed it.”