Yingke – the world’s largest law firm by lawyer headcount – opened its new office in London this week, at the same time setting its target to have 100 international offices by 2026. 

The Beijing-based firm currently has 53 directly-operated offices across 41 countries around the world. Its London office, located at 1 King William Street in the City of London, was officially launched earlier this week at an event hosted by the Law Society of England and Wales. 

The firm described the launch as a “significant milestone” in its ongoing global growth that would “strengthen its presence in one of the world’s most influential legal markets”.

Yingke already has 10 offices in Europe in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary and now the UK and aims to increase this to 15 by 2026. The firm said that it would also be opening an office in Munich “soon”. 

In a speech at the Law Society event, a member of Yingke’s global board, Vicky He, said: “Currently, Yingke has more than 1.4 million company clients. An increasing number of Chinese companies are going overseas and starting to explore the market of eight billion people worldwide. Leading companies in various industries are going overseas together with their supply chains partners and investing and building factories in many countries. 

“They are looking for a law firm that can provide global solutions in different countries, is familiar with their work habits, understands their culture, is able to communicate in Chinese and provides high-quality legal services in their respective countries. There are not many law firms that can meet these conditions at the same time. Thus, clients find that Yingke has become their best and even their only choice.”

Other speakers at the firm’s event included Xue Wenxia, vice chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, and Law Society president Nick Emmerson. 

In his speech Emmerson said Yingke’s launch in London was “cause for celebration”, adding that the legal services industry contributed £60bn to the UK economy, more than half of which came from international firms.

Yingke’s new base in London is led by office managing partner Shu Qi and includes partner Ping He, two more lawyers and a team of consultants. The office will provide legal services, including international business law, dispute resolution, M&A and corporate governance, to both local and international clients.

Yingke is not the only Chinese firm to open an office in London this year – Shanghai-headquartered Duan & Duan opened in the city in the summer through the acquisition of local UK firm Jackson Lyon, which specialises in complex litigation, commercial, criminal and immigration matters. 

Yingke was founded in 2001 and since then has grown to 121 branches across Mainland China with a total of 17,000 lawyers as well as one joint law firm in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region. Alongside the firm’s directly-operated international offices it also has cooperations with law firms around the world, meaning its global network covers more than 100 countries. 

Yingke generated revenue of $1.3bn in 2023, according to data published by the American Lawyer, putting it first among Chinese firms and just inside the top 50 on the 2024 Global 200 ranking.