One of China’s fastest growing law firms, Jade & Fountain, is opening an office in Beijing in July. The move is an expansion from the firm’s traditional base in Shanghai.
As part of its Beijing push, Jade & Fountain has hired two additional partners, Lawrence Guo Linjun from Broad & Bright, and William Lu Shaojie from Allen & Overy. The hires will strengthen the firm’s mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices.
Guo, who specializes in M&A, foreign direct investment, private equity and venture capital, securities and corporate work, has been appointed senior partner in charge of the new office. He is admitted to practice law in New York and China, and practised at international firms O’Melveny & Myers and Freshfields for 10 years before joining Broad & Bright as a partner in Beijing two years ago. He also served in an office of the central government at an early stage of his career.
Lu is qualified in China and New South Wales, and previously served as a senior lawyer at magic circle firm Allen & Overy. He has more than 10 years of experience representing clients in corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions transactions and private equity and venture capital investments, with a focus on telecom, internet, media and technology work.
Lu’s move to Jade & Fountain is the latest example of the recent trend for lawyers to move from international to domestic firms. “Aside from traditional foreign direct investment and cross-border work, a domestic firm offers the opportunity for developing a potentially fast-growing China client base,” said Lu. “A lot of Chinese clients following ‘going abroad’ strategies will now first approach a domestic firm.”
Guo said he was “interested in playing an important role in growing our team and practice areas, especially in the Beijing office”.
