Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has bagged six new lawyers for its fledgling Beijing arm after a double raid on U.K. giants DLA Piper and Allen & Overy.
DLA Piper corporate partner Janet Jie Tang joins Akin Gump as a partner along with a three-lawyer team, comprising corporate lawyers Lu Ying and Zeng Linyan and intellectual property lawyer Wang Yuanming.
Recent deals for Tang include advising on the acquisition of two Chinese cosmetics companies, as well as acting on the negotiation of data management contracts with a domestic telecoms outfit.
The team is joined by capital markets lawyer Holly Smith, who moves from the local arm of London giant A&O, while IP specialist Lien Yea-Ling joins from Catch IPR Consultancy in Taipei.
The hires effectively double Akin Gump’s presence in the region, with the Texas-based law firm now boasting 11 lawyers in Beijing, some nine months after launching the office.
Commenting on the hires, Akin Gump Beijing chief Eliot Cutler said: “Our new colleagues round out our ability to provide a full range of legal services to Chinese clients investing overseas and to foreign companies doing business in China.
“This expansion demonstrates our commitment to China and to helping our clients take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that characterize this period of remarkable development and change.”
