Cooley has launched a second Chinese office in Beijing, hiring Ropes & Gray counsel Xun Zeng as a partner.
Zeng was at her former firm for over three years, first as an associate in the private investment funds group and then as a counsel in the same practice based in Hong Kong.
Prior to that, she was an associate at Latham & Watkins for three years, and filled the same role at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison for four years in New York.
This is the second foray for the US firm into the Chinese market, having launched in Shanghai in 2011 with the relocation of California-based corporate partners Brad Peck and Patrick Loofbourrow. Peck relocated to San Diego following his retirement in 2015. He is a partner in the firm’s San Diego office.
Two Cooley associates have relocated from the firm’s existing Shanghai office, to assist in the build-out of the practice. Cooley also confirmed that its four China-based partners – Pang Lee, Loofbourrow, James Lu and Christina Zhang – would be dividing their time between Beijing and Shanghai.
Cooley business department global chair Mike Lincoln said that China is a critical part of Cooley’s global growth strategy. “We have a history of achievement across the Asia-Pacific region and, in particular, have worked with private investment fund clients over three decades,” he commented. “We can now deliver on-the-ground legal resources in China’s capital city as we further expand our international capabilities.”
