ATLANTA--()--Troutman Sanders LLP today announced the opening of an office in Beijing, the law firm’s third office in China since it entered the world’s most populous nation in 1997.
Troutman Sanders joins only 20 other members of the prestigious Am Law 100 with offices in the China cities of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It also remains the only Atlanta-based law firm with offices in mainland China.
“Our office in Beijing will support Troutman Sanders’ growth throughout China and further boost the robust capital markets work we are already practicing in Hong Kong,” said Chairman Robert W. Webb, Jr. “This new office will also expand our outbound mergers and acquisitions practice and assure us continued growth in the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic economy.”
The firm’s Hong Kong office was founded in 1997, followed a decade later by the opening of a Shanghai office. Combined, all three offices will employ about three-dozen lawyers.
The Beijing office will be led by Office Managing Partner Allen Shyu, an accomplished corporate attorney who most recently was a partner in the Hong Kong office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Shyu received his J.D. and his M.A. from the University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan and his B.A. from National Taiwan University. He is qualified to practice in the United States and has been a member of the Illinois and Indiana state bar associations since 1997.
Shyu began his legal career as an associate with leading Taiwanese law firm Lee & Li, where he was a member of the Financing & Capital Markets Department. He moved to Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong in 2000, became a partner there in 2006, and was a member of the firm's U.S. Securities Group covering the Asia Pacific region. In 2010, Shyu joined Orrick’s China corporate group and led a string of successful global offerings by numerous Chinese companies.
With 15 years of experience representing issuers from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong in their U.S. and global offerings, as well as investment banks, securities houses and venture capital and private equity firms, Shyu will work closely with Troutman Sanders’ growing team of U.S. and Hong Kong law qualified corporate and capital markets lawyers in Hong Kong, Shanghai and the United States.
Joining Shyu from Orrick are four senior U.S.-registered securities attorneys, Joyce Ip, Chun-Hui Lin, Ingrid Ling and Sophie Chu, each with more than six years of experience in providing legal services in Greater China. They will join two other U.S. securities attorneys already based in the firm’s Hong Kong office, partner Joe Sevack, who joined the firm from Paul Hastings in 2010, and associate Michelle Graffum, who came to Troutman Sanders from O’Melveny & Myers in 2011.
Shyu mainly advises clients on Hong Kong and U.S. capital markets transactions and regulatory issues, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital/private equity matters. He has worked on numerous transactions for mid- and large-sized Chinese state-owned and private companies, handling the U.S. securities aspects of global public offerings. Shyu also provides regular counsel to companies in the Greater China region targeting U.S. and other international companies for acquisition and investment opportunities. His experience and commitment in the capital market and cross-border M&A transactions will compliment Troutman Sanders’ strategy to constantly expand its services in Greater China and other Asian countries, as well as to offer more business opportunities to its clients in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
“This opportunity to expand Troutman Sanders in Beijing was one that I could not pass up,” said Shyu, who speaks English, Mandarin and Taiwanese. “I believe I can contribute to Troutman Sanders’ achievements in China and throughout Asia, where the firm already has more than a decade of success in assisting companies to invest and do business in Asia, as well as assisting Asia-based clients with their U.S. investments and operations.”
About Troutman Sanders:
Troutman Sanders LLP is an international law firm with more than 600 lawyers and offices located throughout the United States and China. Founded in 1897, the firm’s lawyers provide counsel and advice in practically every aspect of civil and commercial law related to the firm’s core practice areas: Business Law, Energy and Industry Regulation, Finance, Litigation and Real Estate. Firm clients range from multinational corporations to individual entrepreneurs, federal and state agencies to foreign governments, and non-profit organizations to businesses representing virtually every sector and industry. See troutmansanders.com for more information.