Pinsent Masons has ended its alliance with a Chinese law firm after six years.
The global firm has cut its alliance with Beijing Hesen Law Firm, with a spokesperson telling industry publication «Legal Week» (Paywall) that the alliance ended six months ago. Pinsent Masons had an agreement to exclusively share contentious and non-contentious projects and construction work.
«We retain a strong PRC practice and our ability to transact work in Beijing is unaffected,» the spokesperson said. The firm has also started a major review that threatens up to 100 jobs in the U.K., several publications in the country reported. About 105 jobs are expected to be cut. The redundancy consultation puts all of its U.K. legal personal assistants (PA) at risk.
Pinsent Masons was one of the first foreign law firms approved by the Chinese Ministry of Justice to establish a representative office in Guangzhou in 1993 followed by Shanghai in 2002 and Beijing in 2007. In Asia the firm currently has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.
