The move follows the opening of the firm’s Seoul office in March 2013 and will take the firm’s total offices to 16 in 14 different markets.  The office will be based in the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in Shanghai, an area that boasts 14 major universities and colleges.

Capital markets

MLA’s China-US practice already has eight Mandarin-speaking lawyers and deals with the operations of Chinese companies in US capital markets. Tom Wardell, the China-US team’s leader, spoke of the ‘continued client demand’ that led to the opening of the new office as a strategic step for expansion. ‘We have a significant number of Chinese clients and we hope to leverage our presence in Shanghai to their benefit and to the benefit of other Chinese and US companies seeking access to both markets,’ he added.