Following the departure of partners Sun Kai and Xu Yilin from Skadden’s Beijing office, a source has told China Business Law Journal that the firm will relocate partners from its Hong Kong and former Shanghai offices to lead the branch in the capital.
Skadden’s website states the firm currently has eight counsel and associates based in Beijing, but no partners based at the capital’s branch.
A source told China Business Law Journal that Skadden remains committed to developing its China practice and would relocate Hong Kong-based corporate partner Du Shu and former Shanghai office leader Wu Yuting to Beijing as co-managing partners.
Last year, Skadden wound up its Shanghai branch and announced that it planned to rescale its China corporate practice. The US-headquartered firm currently still operates two offices in China – in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Skadden’s former corporate partner Sun recently joined King & Wood Mallesons’ Hong Kong office, while partner Xu joined Cooley’s Beijing office at the end of last year.
Sun, who has been practising for around 15 years, has participated in many HKEX and NYSE IPOs, bond issuances and acquisition deals. When he was working for Skadden, he assisted Midea with its HKD31 billion (USD3.96 billion) IPO in Hong Kong and supported DiDi’s USD4.4 billion listing on the NYSE.
