Recently, Longan Law Firm and the Belgravia Law Firm in the UK successfully held an online and offline combined cross-border business cooperation exchange. The offline venue was held in the meeting room of Beijing Longan Law Firm. Attending the offline meeting were: lawyers from Longan Law Firm such as Linghu Ming, Wang Haiyu, Jin Hanlai, Yang Fengyun, Li Jiaxing, and Feng Li, as well as Mr. Benjamin Wells, Managing Partner of the Belgravia Law Firm in the UK, and lawyer Wu Youxian. Those attending online were representatives from some branches of Longan in the Greater Bay Area, including: lawyers from Beijing Longan (Guangzhou) Law Firm such as Ou Yingshi and Pan Yetong, Beijing Longan (Zhongshan) Law Firm such as Xue Jiabing and Xiao Huyi, and Beijing Longan (Shenzhen) Law Firm such as Huang Qianwen.
The two sides engaged in in-depth discussions on core areas such as cross-border dispute resolution, sanctions compliance, intellectual property, and maritime arbitration, aiming to explore new paths for coordinated development of international legal services.
Focusing on professional strengths and sharing cross-border legal service experiences
At the beginning of the meeting, Lawyer Linghu Ming, a partner of Beijing Longan Law Firm, delivered a key speech on behalf of Longan. He pointed out that Longan’s branches can cooperate flexibly and efficiently, quickly forming special teams combining the headquarters and the Greater Bay Area to handle cross-border investment and financing projects uniformly. Longan’s Hong Kong office has mature service capabilities and can strongly support the advancement of cross-border projects. Over the past few decades, Longan has undertaken numerous cross-border investment and financing, mergers and acquisitions, and other non-litigation projects, and the demand for such services continues to grow. There is broad room for cooperation in the future. The firm has established a special service force led by multiple partners, including professional patent-related teams, which can provide solid support for cross-border cooperation.
Lawyer Wang Haiyu from Beijing Longan Law Firm introduced Longan’s strength in the field of intellectual property based on his rich experience in international intellectual property. As one of the earliest trademark agencies in China, 70% of Longan’s clients are internationally renowned brands. With a solid foundation in serving foreign enterprises in the early days, Longan holds a leading position in intellectual property, and has experience in handling complex cross-border intellectual property litigation and global licensing.
Lawyer Pan Yetong from Beijing Longan (Guangzhou) Law Firm, as a representative of the Guangzhou office, introduced that Longan has established offices in five core cities of the Greater Bay Area—Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhongshan, and Hong Kong—to create a full-chain service system covering cross-border litigation, international arbitration, and global debt collection. In particular, Longan’s Guangzhou office has deep experience in foreign-related litigation and international arbitration, especially in maritime dispute resolution. At the same time, the foreign-related team in the Guangzhou office focuses on sanctions and export control compliance, and is skilled in handling sanctions and export control matters related to the US, EU, UK, and French jurisdictions.
Lawyer Xue Jiabing, Director of the Management Committee of Beijing Longan (Zhongshan) Law Firm, introduced the foreign-related practices of the Zhongshan office. The Zhongshan office focuses on cultivating foreign-related talents, establishes a foreign-related legal professional committee, and creates special platforms such as Xiangshan Academy and the Overseas Chinese Mediation Studio to provide professional services to clients in the Greater Bay Area and overseas. It has established a cooperation network with law firms in more than ten countries, including Cambodia, Nigeria, and Singapore.
Mr. Benjamin Wells, Managing Partner of the Belgravia Law Firm in the UK, introduced that the firm’s headquarters is located in London, with offices in New York, Paris, and Singapore. It specializes in commercial litigation, international arbitration, and sanctions compliance, and holds special permits from regulatory authorities. Its flexible fee structure can effectively reduce the cost of cross-border legal defense for clients and provide financial support for cases with high success rates.
Deepening cooperation and clarifying diverse cooperation directions
The two sides engaged in in-depth discussions on complementary business areas and resource integration, reaching multiple cooperation agreements. In terms of business collaboration, they will focus on two areas: intellectual property litigation and international arbitration. Leveraging Longan’s local resources and the common law system experience of the UK firm, they will provide one-stop services across legal jurisdictions for Chinese and foreign clients. They will also promote emerging services such as sanctions compliance and cross-border dispute resolution arising from sanctions, expanding the scope of services. In terms of market expansion, they will integrate client resources to serve the overseas investment and dispute resolution needs of Chinese state-owned enterprises and large enterprises. They plan to hold an offline meeting in London during the International Trademark Association Annual Conference in May, jointly organize online seminars, and publish professional articles to enhance the global influence of legal services.
The successful holding of this exchange indicates that the cooperation between Longan and the Belgravia Law Firm in the UK has entered a substantive stage. In the future, Longan Guangzhou will continue to leverage its location and professional advantages, cooperate with all parties to deepen cross-border cooperation, support Longan’s global legal service network, provide legal safeguards for cross-border development for Chinese and foreign clients, and ensure the stable and long-term development of enterprises, continuously providing higher-value professional legal services!