Shanghai law firms do their part to help Chinese companies go global

Fifteen Shanghai-based law firms have established 31 overseas branches that have helped many Chinese enterprises go global, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice announced at a recent media event.

Thirteen of these overseas branches were established in and after 2019, and the number of such branches and the number of countries and regions where they are located have both been increasing over the years, added the bureau officials.

Seven branches are located in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, six are located in the United States, and the rest are located in countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Australia, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore.

"The expansion of the law firms is growing in tandem with the need of Chinese enterprises to go global, especially in regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Their international development also plays a role in determining the level of foreign-related legal services and international competitiveness of this city," said Ye Bin, the director of lawyer affairs at the bureau.

To provide high-quality legal services for foreign enterprises in Shanghai, the city has since 2014 allowed joint ventures between Chinese and foreign law firms to be registered within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

There are eight such joint ventures with 112 lawyers, including 16 from the foreign law firms so far, said Ye.

"The fields of business covered by the joint ventures are extensive, and Chinese and foreign parties can play a supplementary role to one another by playing up their respective advantages in professional characteristics and resource networks," he said.

Ye noted that the eight foreign law firms involved in the joint ventures are from mainly the US, the UK, and Australia.

As foreign-invested enterprises and foreign trade imports and exports play an important part in driving the city's economy, the provision of efficient and convenient commercial dispute resolution mechanisms and the establishment of mechanisms integrating commercial mediation, arbitration, and litigation are critical, added the bureau.