Tianjin may have lived in the shadow of its neighbour, Beijing, for as long as anyone can remember but recent economic developments are guaranteed to catapult the city, and its quickly-maturing legal services market, into the national spotlight. From the development of Tianjin Binhai New Area, Eco-City and rocket industrial base to the Tianjin Equity Exchange and Binhai Intellectual Property Exchange International, Tianjin is drawing in investors from all over the world.

挪威四大律师事务所之一的威宝已经和巴西领先的律所之一VRBG律所达成独家最佳伙伴联盟关系，此举标志着挪威、中国和拉丁美洲在海洋、石油和天然气板块的合作日渐升温。

最近几周，中国在通往人民币国际化的道路上，似乎采取了进两步退一步的策略。消息称，中国人民银行在六月早些时候向外资银行发出一份通知，敦促各行加强对客户境外人民币交易的核查，以确保人民币交易有着真实货物交易、服务贸易或商业需求的基础。

Blank Rome LLP, one of America’s largest law firms, has opened an office in Shanghai — its second office in Greater China. Blank Rome’s Hong Kong office opened in 2006 due to their affiliation with international law firm,Healy & Baillie LLP.

美国众达前合伙人陶景洲近日以亚洲区管理合伙人的身份加入美国德杰，他将主要负责发展律所的洲事务。在加入众达之前，陶景洲曾是欧华北京代表处的管理合伙人。

“ALB中国发展最迅速的十家律师事务所”评选活动正式启动。在律所人数，收入和利润，开拓境内境外市场等方面表现杰出的律所将记入史册。评选结果及律所管理合伙人的简介将同时刊登在即将发行的ALB杂志上。 ALB在中国内地拥有二万多名业内读者及众多网上读者。

Submissions are now open for the ALB China Fast 10- the definitive listing of the country’s fastest-growing law firms of 2010. In this feature we will be chronicling the feats of law firms throughout the nation who were able set themselves apart from the rest by their lightning growth by increasing headcounts, posting increased revenues and profits and broadening their regional and global footprints.

Herbert Smith, Blake Dawson and Clayton Utz all received instructions for a LNG deal that sees Chinese state-owned resources company Sinopec acquire a 15% stake in Australia Pacific LNG – in the largest LNG supply agreement in Australian history by annual volume.

There is no longer any doubt that the Guangzhou legal market is in the top three after Beijing and Shanghai in terms of client pulling power and total annual income. 2010 saw 20 new players burst onto the scene bringing the total number of law firms to 394. And even though the revenue amassed by these firms is estimated to have increased substantially on 2009 figures, it is worth noting, though that the total revenue generated by the Guangzhou legal services market is still only one third the value of Beijing’s and a mere two thirds that of Shanghai’s.

To ramp up its China practice, international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP has promoted its Hong Kong-based partner Teresa Ko as the chairwoman of its China practice and transferred three other partners Jenny Connolly, Melissa Thomas and Simon Weller to its China branches.