The 1,700-lawyer firm has “decided to strategically consolidate our resources in our Shanghai office, which closely collaborates with our offices in Hong Kong and Singapore”, a Reed Smith spokesperson said. They added that the firm “remains deeply committed to the China market”.

The firm’s website lists seven legal professionals in its Beijing office, including partners Eric Lin and Barbara Li, counsel Katherina Yang, a trio of associates and a legal consultant. The firm is transferring some of the Beijing lawyers and staff to Shanghai, including Lin, Li and Yang, and offering assistance to those not moving over, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Lin, who was a partner at Simmons & Simmons before joining Reed Smith in 2019, advises on M&A, investments and project financings with a focus on the energy sector. Li focuses on cross-border M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances and foreign direct investment. She joined Reed Smith in 2022 from Rui Bai Law Firm, the now-defunct Chinese affiliate of Big Four firm PwC.

Reed Smith entered the Greater China legal market in 2008, when it set up shop in Beijing and merged with the Hong Kong operations of UK-based legacy firm Richards Butler. It followed that with office launches in Shanghai in 2011 and Singapore in 2012. The Hong Kong office is by far the largest, housing around 70 lawyers according to the firm’s website, compared to seven in Shanghai and 34 in Singapore.

The Beijing closure sees Reed Smith join a raft of US firms that have scaled back their China presence or left altogether over the past 18 months amid economic uncertainty, increasing regulatory pressure and fraught US-China relations.

Dechert confirmed in July it was planning to close its bases in Beijing and Hong Kong, leaving it with Singapore as its sole base in Asia. And earlier in the year Morrison Foerster said it was closing its representative office in Beijing, Sidley Austin and Orrick confirmed closures in Shanghai, Mayer Brown said that it was hiving off the bulk of its 170-lawyer Hong Kong arm and Weil said it was mulling the closure of its Shanghai office, having shut its Beijing base last year.

Last summer Dentons broke off from its China arm, Dacheng Law Offices, citing new Chinese government rules on data privacy and cybersecurity. 

That came shortly after Eversheds Sutherland’s international arm and King & Wood Mallesons’ China business formed an exclusive alliance that saw KWM close its six offices in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Eversheds portrayed the deal as a practical alternative to having a large presence on the ground in China.