GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING IN SHANGHAI

Making the move

Recent years have seen a shift in the nature of much of the legal work being undertaken by international firms in the PRC. Increasingly capable and thus competitive local firms now undertake a large proportion of the vanilla FDI work that was once the bread and butter of many foreign firm China practitioners. However, international firms are finding new areas of business. As leading red-chips have started to look overseas both to raise capital and to find investment opportunities, they have become much sought after clients. Some foreign firms are even developing dispute resolution practices, primarily to advise upon CIETAC arbitrations.

The biggest demand for overseas lawyers is usually in the following disciplines:

		Projects
		Corporate/commercial
		Corporate Finance
		Banking & Finance
		Capital Markets
		IP
		Commercial Arbitration
		Foreign Direct Investment

The ability to speak, read and write Mandarin Chinese is almost always essential for roles in the PRC. Firms also usually want candidates to have previous experience of working in the China market.