Cleary Gottlieb will close its Beijing branch in July this year and the US firm will merge its operations in the capital to the Hong Kong office.
“We continue our commitment to serving clients in the region and believe this decision will allow us to do so more efficiently,” the firm said.
Cleary Gottlieb currently has three offices in Asia, and they are in Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul in South Korea.
The firm established its Hong Kong branch in 1980 and entered Beijing in 2006. The Beijing team has been advising clients in areas such as international securities offerings, M&A and private equity. Starting this summer, the firm’s Greater China operations will be integrated into its Hong Kong office.
Cleary Gottlieb’s website says the Beijing office houses seven lawyers, including two partners and one counsel. Partner Denise Shiu is dually based in Hong Kong, while partner Huang Cunzhen also works at the US branch in Washington. The Beijing branch’s sole counsel Fang Wei rejoined Cleary Gottlieb in 2023 from Fangda Partners.
Sources have revealed that Cleary Gottlieb expects to relocate its entire Beijing team to Hong Kong and the offer is still up for lawyers’ consideration.
Moving base will allow its China team to offer more efficient services to its clients, in fields including private equity funds, that have been expanding to the rest of Asia, according to sources. It is also easier for the team to counsel clients in Shenzhen and other parts of the Greater Bay Area from Hong Kong.
