Chicago-based IP firm Brinks Gilson & Lione has filed an application with the municipal justice bureau in Shenzhen, China to establish an office there. If approved, it would make Brinks Gilson the first foreign law firm to open an office in the city.

The office will also be the law firm’s first outside of the U.S.

Litigation partner Harold V. Johnson will be the managing shareholder in Shenzhen. His practice includes litigation in patents, trade secrets, unfair competition and antitrust, patent prosecution and counselling in matters of intellectual property.

The Shenzhen location is the second one Brinks Gilson has announced this week. The firm is also opening a new office in Tampa, Florida.