Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) has entered into a formal association with Chinese shipping boutique Wintell & Co, making it the latest international firm to offer a more integrated approach to providing Chinese law advice.
The association is the second foreign-Sino tie-up approved by the Shanghai Justice Bureau under the Shanghai Free Trade Zone pilot scheme. Baker & McKenzie and its local association firm FenXun claimed the first of such arrangement a year ago.
Wintell & Co was founded in 2005 in Shanghai. It has around 20 partners with a focus on shipping, insurance, real estate and construction. It has five offices around China, covering key hubs such as Guangzhou and Tianjin.
It is understood that the negotiations between the two firms on the association lasted over a year.
“As the first law firm specialising in international trade to enter an association in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, this is a significant development for HFW’s practice in China,” said HFW Shanghai chief representative Henry Fung.
“It greatly enhances the scale and reach of the services we can offer to clients and with Wintell’s leading reputation in China it opens up a new target audience for the firm and provides an excellent opportunity to grow both businesses,” Fung added.
Wintell & Co senior partner Mervyn Chen said the two firms know each other very well from years of working together and this is a strong combination. “Many of our clients have businesses with a truly international outlook and will therefore benefit from the advice and support which a firm with HFW’s international expertise and geographical footprint can provide,” said Chen.
Apart from the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, a growing number of international firms have established formal association with local firms through other ways. Stephenson Harwood, for example, has recently formalised its relationship with Guangzhou-based alliance firm Wei Tu by establishing an association permitted under a free trade agreement between mainland China and Hong Kong (CEPA).
Similarly, Clyde & Co formed an association with Chongqing-based Chinese firm West Link in 2013 and Bird & Bird established an association with Beijing-based firm Xiang Kun in 2009. UK firm Field Fisher Waterhouse and Shanghai IP boutique Ryser & Associates in July 2013 via the Swiss Verein structure.
A number of international firms, including Linklaters and DLA Piper, are currently weighing up their options to tie up with a PRC firm to offer more integrated PRC legal advice.