Tahota Law Firm has expanded to Qingdao and Suzhou, increasing the number of offices around the globe to 33.
The Qingdao office, which opened in May, consists of around 50 lawyers. It was jointly established by executive director Qi Songtao and management committee directors and senior partners Cao Lei, Wu Yupeng, Hong Shuliang and Yu Xiaoni.
Collectively, they advise clients on customs, maritime, finance, M&A restructuring, as well as culture, tourism and entertainment.
Qi told China Business Law Journal: “Qingdao’s maritime industry is well developed, covering areas such as shipping and logistics, shipbuilding, marine engineering and marine fisheries. The location has been an ideal training ground for practising foreign-related customs and maritime law, it has also provided plenty of business opportunities.”
The five management committee members who were previously working for other law firms, including Qi, were convinced into setting up a Qingdao branch for Tahota after a meeting with the firm’s chief partner Cheng Shoutai last year.
Qi said Tahota’s business structure was relatively innovative compared to other traditional law firms.
“The traditional partnership-centric law firms … are strong in compliance but not too market-oriented and weak in transmitting information,” he said. “[Tahota] has built an internal digital market platform that displays all kinds of team collaboration projects and transactions that lawyers can participate in, and this helps to break down information barriers and encourages the sharing of business resources.”
Currently, 13 senior partners and four second-tier partners are working in the new office. “The partner-to-lawyer ratio is 1:3. We plan to hire high-end talent in the next two years and aim to exceed 100 staff within three years,” Qi said.
Following the opening of the Qingdao branch, the firm received approval from the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Justice on 6 June to establish the Suzhou office.
The Suzhou office will focus on legal matters related to urban renewal, cross-border investment and financing, IP securitisation and the digital economy. In addition to serving clients based in that area, it will also explore businesses in the Yangtze River Delta region.
