China’s Dacheng Law Offices has split from multinational law firm Dentons, bringing an end to their eight-year alliance.
According to a document obtained by China Business Law Journal, Dentons says: “Effective this month, Dacheng Law Offices ‒ previously our China Region ‒ will no longer be a member of the Dentons Group, and will instead operate as a separate and independent legal entity under a ‘preferred firm’ relationship with Dentons.”
The firm attributes the decoupling as “in response to an evolving regulatory environment for Chinese law firms in China, including new mandates and requirements relating to data privacy, cybersecurity, capital control and governance.”
The Hong Kong office of the firm will remain a part of Dentons.
As a result of the delinking, Dentons will revert to using its pre-2015 law firm logo, which is expected to be relaunched within the month.
In 2015, Dacheng merged with Dentons to form what was then the largest law firm in the world by staff numbers.
Some law firms with similar operating models to Dentons and Dacheng are also experiencing challenges as China strengthens its compliance regulations.
Meanwhile, in July, King & Wood Mallesons’ China office signed a formal co-operation agreement with Eversheds Sutherland to facilitate the transfer of legal matters from the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America to Eversheds.
Read the related article here:
KWM China closes Europe and Mideast, forms Eversheds alliance
KWM China and Eversheds Sutherland have agreed to cooperate, with KWM China referring all future legal matters in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and South America to Eversheds
For more stories about law firm alliances, visit law.asia.
