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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has become the latest top US firm to call time on its Beijing office, as data reveals that the headcount of Am Law 100 firms in mainland China has fallen by 25% over the last two years.
The New York firm confirmed today its small Beijing office would be closing in July 2025. The office, which opened in 2006, currently houses two partners and five further lawyers.
Both of the office’s partners are based in other cities, with competition lawyer Cunzhen Huang also working out of Washington DC and M&A specialist Denise Shiu also based in Hong Kong.
A spokesperson said: “In July 2025, Cleary Gottlieb will merge our Beijing operations with Hong Kong, closing the Beijing office and consolidating our Greater China presence into Hong Kong. We continue our commitment to serving clients in the region and believe this decision will allow us to do so more efficiently.”
Cleary did not respond to a request for comment as to whether its lawyers based in Beijing would remain with the firm.
The move continues a wave of office closures and headcount cuts across China by leading US firms amid simmering geopolitical tensions between China and the West, tightening regulation and business drying up as the country’s economy cools.
Last month Morgan Lewis closed its office in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, while Fenwick & West shuttered its office in Shanghai. Last year at least 14 Big Law firms announced office closures in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong, among them Milbank, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Morrison & Foerster, Sidley Austin, Weil and Orrick.
Publicly available data tracked by Pirical records that over the last two years the number of Am Law 100 lawyers based in Beijing and Shanghai has declined by 25% from 569 to 424. The decline over a five-year period is 35%.
The closure of Cleary’s Beijing arm will leave it with Hong Kong and Seoul as its sole bases in Asia. The Hong Kong office currently has 31 lawyers, including six partners – four of whom work across M&A, joint ventures and capital markets transactions.
Among the leading New York firms, Cleary is particularly well known for the size and quality of its European network of seven offices. In contrast, it has four offices in the US.
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