Beijing-headquartered Merits & Tree Law Offices has opened a Silicon Valley office, its ninth globally, to strengthen its legal service capabilities in North America.
The firm already has offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
The Silicon Valley office is headed by Zhang Guanglei, the firm’s lead partner for its cross-border dispute resolution practice, who will divide his time between Silicon Valley and Beijing.
He told China Business Law Journal: “Choosing Silicon Valley is not simply a geographical expansion for us, but also means putting ourselves directly at the heart of global innovation and business transformation, where we can better understand emerging industries and business models, as well as the legal issues that come with them.
“We have the local capability to practise US law and can also integrate high-quality legal service resources across different regions and practice areas in the US according to clients’ needs.
“Looking ahead, we expect the Silicon Valley office to bring new perspectives and possibilities to Merits & Tree’s internationalisation as it continues to build client trust and professional capabilities.”
Zhang has longstanding experience in cross-border dispute resolution, with a particular focus on international arbitration, cross-border litigation and China-US legal matters.
Before joining Merits & Tree, he was an equity partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng based in Beijing and Shenzhen. He is qualified to practise law in China, New York state and California and was named to China Business Law Journal’s A-List of elite lawyers in 2020.
The Silicon Valley office covers cross-border disputes, corporate and transactional matters, regulatory and compliance, intellectual property and private wealth, with a focus on technology and artificial intelligence, life sciences and healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and mobility and energy and infrastructure.
The new office is located at 340 Middlefield Road in Mountain View, California, which is at the heart of Silicon Valley and close to numerous technology companies, including Google’s headquarters.
Chinese law firms with offices in Silicon Valley include King & Wood (2001), JunHe (2010), Grandall Law Firm (2014), DeHeng Law Offices (2018), Han Kun Law Offices (June 2025), Guantao Law Firm (November 2025) and Man Kun Law Firm (2026).
Merits & Tree said in a press release that the Silicon Valley office would work closely with its other domestic and overseas offices to “provide legal services to Chinese companies investing, operating and expanding in the US, as well as to US and international companies investing, operating and conducting other cross-border business in China”.
