King & Wood
 | |
| No. of offices | 26[needs update] |
|---|---|
| No. of employees | 2000+ lawyers |
| Date founded | 1993 (originally) 2026 (re-reestablished as separate brand following Mallesons split) |
| Website | https://www.kingandwood.com |
King and Wood (Chinese: 金杜律师事务所) is a "Red Circle" law firm based in China. It has offices in 5 jurisdictions with over 2,000 lawyers.[1][2] It was originally founded in 1993 and was re-established in 2026.
Prior to the formation of the current form of King & Wood, its predecessor was King and Wood Mallesons, which was the largest international commercial law firm based in the Asia-Pacific formed of SJ Berwin, one of the United Kingdom's "Silver Circle", Mallesons Stephen Jaques, one of the "Big Six" Australian law firms, and King & Wood, one of China's "Red Circle" law firms.
History
[edit]Founding
[edit]King & Wood was among the first law firms established in the People's Republic of China during the modern era. It was founded in April 1993 by Wang Junfeng and other partners who had previously worked at the state-sponsored China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).[3] The firm's establishment was made possible when the central government permitted private ownership of law firms.[3] Wang Junfeng subsequently became the firm's Global Chairman and is widely credited as its principal architect.[4][unreliable source?][5]
King & Wood was notably the first Chinese law firm to adopt the lockstep partnership compensation system, under which partner remuneration is tied primarily to seniority. The firm retained a flexible range of point adjustments to accommodate fluctuations in partners' individual performance.[3] By 2000, it had become one of Beijing's "Big Four" domestic firms alongside Haiwen & Partners, Jingtian & Gongcheng, and Fangda Partners.[6]
The firm opened its first out-of-Beijing offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen (1995), followed by Chengdu (1998) and Guangzhou (2002).[3] Unlike competitors who acquired existing firms, King & Wood built by transferring Beijing partners to new cities and requiring local hires to undergo headquarters training at their headquarters.[3][7]
Domestic expansion
[edit]The firm underwent two distinct phases of domestic expansion. In the first phase, between 1995 and 2002, King & Wood opened offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen (1995), Chengdu (1998), and Guangzhou (2002).[3] A second wave of expansion between 2006 and 2009 saw the firm establish offices in Chongqing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Tianjin, Qingdao, Suzhou, Jinan, and Hong Kong.[3]
Unlike many Chinese firms that expanded through lateral mergers, King & Wood pursued an integrated model by sending Beijing-based partners directly to new cities and required incoming local partners to spend time at its Beijing headquarters to absorb firm culture before taking up their local roles.[3] By the late 2000s, the firm counted major corporate clients including Citigroup, China Life, Walmart, PetroChina, Bank of China, and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[8]
Prior to merging with Mallesons Stephen Jaques, King & Wood maintained an alliance with Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin.[9]
Formation of King & Wood Mallesons
[edit]Following a vote by partners in November 2011, King & Wood merged with the Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques on 1 March 2012 to form King & Wood Mallesons (KWM).[10][11] The combined firm adopted a Swiss verein structure, creating three financially independent partnerships in mainland China, Australia, and Hong Kong.[3] Wang Junfeng stated at the time that a primary objective for the Chinese partnership was to gain management experience and develop King & Wood into a global brand rather than to maximise short-term profit.[3]
In 2013, KWM expanded further by merging with London-based SJ Berwin, a member of the UK "Silver Circle" of elite law firms.[12][13] At its peak, KWM was the largest international commercial law firm based in the Asia-Pacific.
Separation and re-establishment
[edit]In December 2025, KMW announced that their Chinese and Australian partnership will come to an end on 31 March 2026, with the law firm reverting to the pre-merger brands of "King & Wood" and "Mallesons" for China and Australia respectively.[14][15] The change however came a day prior to the announced date.[16][unreliable source?]
Following the split, King & Wood retained offices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and the United States, whereas Mallesons had retained KMW's offices in Australia and Singapore.[17]
Practice areas
[edit]King & Wood advises on a broad range of practice areas, with a focus on cross-border transactions and Chinese regulatory matters. Its core practice areas include:[18][19]
- Banking and finance
- Capital markets and securities
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Competition, trade and regulation
- Dispute resolution and international arbitration
- Intellectual property
- Private equity and investment funds
- Tax
- Telecommunications, media, entertainment & technology
The firm has historically served both multinational corporations investing into China and Chinese enterprises expanding internationally.[3][20]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons | Rankings, Lawyers & Practice Areas | Law.com". www.law.com. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons - a major international law firm on the importance of its London base". www.theglobalcity.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "The Rise of Big Law in China". Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ↑ "Wang Junfeng". Leaders in Law. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ↑ Peerenboom, Randall, ed. (2002). "The Development of the Legal Profession". China's Long March Toward Rule of Law. Cambridge University Press. pp. 321–325. ISBN 978-0511493737.
- ↑ Clarke, Donald C. (2018). China's Legal System. Cambridge University Press. pp. 245–247. ISBN 978-0521719292.
- ↑ Wang, Haiyan (15 June 2009). "King & Wood's Expansion Strategy". China Law & Practice. Retrieved 2026-04-01.
- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons – Beijing – Chambers Global 2014". Chambers and Partners. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ↑ Boxsell, Alex (6 October 2011). "Mallesons firms up Asian link". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ↑ "Australian law firm votes for Chinese merger". Financial Times. November 2011.
- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons's Expansive Struggles". Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
- ↑ "SJ Berwin merges with King & Wood Mallesons in Asia push". Financial Times.
- ↑ "Asia's King & Wood law firm, London's Berwin to merge". Reuters.
- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons China and Australia partnerships announce formal separation - KWM". www.kwm.com. Retrieved 2025-12-14.
- ↑ reporter, Janek DrevikovskyLegal affairs (2026-03-27). "KWM is dead, long live Mallesons. But can the law firm escape its past?". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
- ↑ "Mallesons. Always. | Mallesons". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
- ↑ "Locations". www.mallesons.com. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
- ↑ "Expertise". www.kingandwood.com. Retrieved 2026-04-01.
- ↑ "L500 | King & Wood Mallesons > Hong Kong | Legal 500 law firm profiles | Rankings". www.legal500.com. Retrieved 2026-04-01.
- ↑ "King & Wood Mallesons, Greater China Region". Chambers and Partners. Retrieved 30 March 2026.