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Fourth BigLaw firm closes office in China

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 6, 2024, 8:16 am CST

Perkins Coie is closing its Shanghai office while emphasizing that it remains committed to its China practice and clients.

Perkins Coie still has a Beijing office that opened in 2002 and a China intellectual property agency that opened in 2019, report Law360 and Law.com. Law.com also mentions a Taipei, Taiwan, office that Perkins Coie opened in 2011.

The Shanghai office shutdown affects two lawyers and two patent consultants, the articles report. Three other Perkins Coie partners are connected to the Shanghai office, but they primarily work in the United States.

Perkins Coie is the fourth law firm to announce an office closure in China within the last eight months, according to Law.com. Other firms that recently closed offices in mainland China are Proskauer Rose, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Latham & Watkins.

“The move comes amid a flurry of movement among BigLaw firms in China,” Law360 reports, “with the majority of those firms closing offices or conducting layoffs and a handful adding new offices as the country faces an ongoing economic slump and a downturn in mergers and acquisitions activity.”

Linklaters laid off 30 lawyers in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in September. Kirkland & Ellis reportedly laid off nine lawyers in those same locations, according to a report yesterday. Kirkland & Ellis refused to confirm or deny the report in a statement issued to Law360.

“However, we would note that our Asia capital markets team, with eight partners and over 30 fee earners, continues to be one of the largest in the region,” the Kirkland & Ellis statement said.