International law firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), has been granted a licence to open a representative office in Beijing. The new office will be operational from May 2013 and will focus on advising Chinese clients on their offshore investments.
The Beijing office will also enhance BLP’s support of its international clients’ investments in mainland China with a particular focus on delivering multi-disciplinary legal advice on real estate and infrastructure projects.
Headed by former BLP Chairman, Peter Robinson, who has been on secondment in Shanghai with one of BLP’s clients, Tesco, this is BLP’s first office in mainland China and is a continuation of BLP’s strategy of investing in Asia. The firm has made significant investment building an offering in key practice areas to support demand from Asian clients, for example the continued development of BLP’s asset finance practice led, in China, by BLP of Counsel, Justin Sun.
John Bennett, chairman of the firm’s China business committee, said: “The Beijing office will support the continued expansion of our work for Chinese clients who are increasing their offshore investments to make them more competitive globally, to secure supplies of natural resources, technology and expertise, and to help them diversify their portfolios.”
Peter Robinson said: “China is a leading player in the world economy and is continuing to grow at a faster rate than more mature economies. Establishing our first office in mainland China is a key part of our strategy to ensure we are on the ground in the markets where our clients are based or are looking to invest.”
Neville Eisenberg, BLP Managing Partner, said: “We have made a significant investment into developing our international capabilities and the launch of a representative office in Beijing is an important milestone. Our strategy of focusing our growth in emerging markets has already paid dividends; we have seen 71% growth in our international revenues over the last three years.”
