Singapore Big Four law firm Allen & Gledhill has opened a new office in Shanghai, its first office in the PRC as well as outside the ASEAN region.

The new office expands the firm’s regional network, which also includes offices in Myanmar and Vietnam and an alliance with Rahmat Lim & Partners in Malaysia.

Allen & Gledhill also recently split with its erstwhile Indonesia alliance partner, Soemadipradja & Taher, but is set to launch a new Jakarta alliance firm called AGI Legal, helmed by newly promoted partner Aris Budi Prasetiyo. 

This network will “enable us to provide clients in China and ASEAN with a comprehensive suite of legal services throughout Asia,” Allen & Gledhill said in a statement.

The Shanghai office will advise on general corporate, M&A, joint venture, banking and finance, real estate, private equity and wealth, arbitration and compliance. These services are delivered by locally qualified lawyers with experience in cross-border matters, the firm added.

The office launch comes at a time when Singapore firms have been pursuing a regionalization strategy. In September last year, Drew & Napier’s regional law network, Drew Network Asia, added Thailand’s largest law firm, Tilleke & Gibbins, as a member. Two smaller firms, JTJB and PDLegal, also announced expansions in Thailand. 

Allen & Gledhill was one of five foreign law firms allowed to set up representative offices in China, according to an announcement from the country’s Ministry of Justice in June last year. The others were HFW and Morgan, Lewis ＆ Bockius (both Shenzhen), Malaysia’s Ricky Tan & Co (Haikou) and Cyprus’ Areti Charidemou & Associates (Chongqing).