| King & Wood PRC Lawyers 金杜律师事务所 |
|
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Beijing, PRC |
| No. of offices | 15 |
| No. of attorneys | 990 |
| Major practice areas | General practice, Corporate, Finance, Securities & Capital Markets, International Trade, Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property |
| Date founded | 1993 |
| Company type | Partnership |
| Website | |
| www.kingandwood.com/ | |
King & Wood PRC Lawyers (simplified Chinese: 金杜律师事务所; traditional Chinese: 金杜律師事務所; pinyin: Jīndù Lǜshī Shīwùsuǒ) is among the first law firms established when law firms were repermitted in the People’s Republic of China during the modern era. It is now the country’s largest with 210 partners and 990 fee earners.
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In 1993 King & Wood’s founding partners were still working with a state-sponsored organization, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, when the central government permitted private ownership of law firms allowing them to create the firm.
To advance its policy of market-based reforms in the 1980s, China adopted reforms to align its legal system with international norms, particularly in the area of commercial law. These began with the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law, the first law governing foreign investment, enacted in 1980. Since then, some 300 pieces of legislation have been issued relating to economics and trade. The Chinese legal market has grown with the increasing sophistication of Chinese law.
The name of the firm is an example of Western-oriented marketing by a Chinese firm. There is no "Mr. King" or "Ms. Wood" among the founders of the firm, the names having been chosen for their "ear appeal" among prospective Western clients. The corresponding portion of the Chinese name, is 金杜 ("Jin Du"), which likewise do no refer to a specific "Mr Jin" or "Mr Du".
King and Wood maintained a strategic alliance with Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin between 2007 and 2011.[1][2] In November 2011, the partners of Mallesons Stephen Jaques voted to merge with King & Wood in 2012.[3][4] From 1 March 2012, the firms will merge and be know as King & Wood Mallesons, with a fully integrated Hong Kong office initially.[5]
King & Wood employs nearly 990 attorneys throughout China, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States and has now grown to become the largest law firm in China by number of lawyers. [6] These lawyers are spread throughout 15 offices throughout the world, but predominantly on the mainland. [7]
The firm specializes in assisting foreign companies do business in China. Its main practice areas includes banking, foreign investment, international trade, litigation and arbitration, and securities. [8]
The firm’s clients include Citigroup, China Life, the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, Wal-Mart, PetroChina, and the Bank of China. [9] King & Wood advised on the largest IPO in Chinese history for PetroChina, allowing the company to temporarily become the highest valued company in the world at over $1 trillion. [10] [11]