Law firm partners stand tall among their peers

Peng Xuefeng (left), Dacheng's founding partner and chairman of the world's biggest law firm's global board, with Dentons Global Chairman Joe Andrew during the merger contract signing ceremony on Jan 27 in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Dacheng, Dentons merger will help more Chinese law firms go global, says top attorney

Though the entire global legal industry is pondering the odds of success for Dacheng and Dentons after their merger, Peng Xuefeng, founder and president of the Beijing-based Dacheng Law Offices, remains unflattered and says that it was a "now-or-never" opportunity.

Dacheng's alliance with international law firm Dentons has created the world's largest law firm by attorney headcount. The legal giant is also the first global law firm that has a significant presence in the world's two major economic powers - the United States and China.

No sooner had the two firms made the announcement, than it unleashed ripples in legal circles, triggering talk and speculation of whether it would prove to be successful and would lead to a wave of combinations of Chinese law firms and their Western peers.

"We would not have come this far had it happened earlier or later," Peng, the 53-year-old veteran legal eagle, said in an interview with China Daily.

The timing could also have not been more favorable for Dacheng and Dentons as the Chinese legal industry has evolved radically with the country's rapidly growing economy that has never become as internationally integrated as it is today.

Although several Chinese law firms have established an overseas presence with offices, they are feeling increasingly marginalized in the trend of rising outbound investment and mergers and acquisitions made by Chinese companies. Part of the reason why the Chinese law firms often fail to clinch such deals is due to limited resources and lack of international expertise, said industry experts.

Foreign law firms, on the other hand, are facing another dilemma in China. Although the country has become much more open since it adopted market reforms, some international law firms find it even harder to navigate in the vastly complex Chinese market.