Now in 2019, to mark our 10 year anniversary in China, we take a look back at our China journey. The decision to set up a representative China office was made to allow us to strengthen our connections with Chinese companies. However, this was not the start of HLK’s China journey. Our attorneys first started visiting China in the 1980s. Our initial trip, as well as the countless trips that followed, enabled us to forge strong links with a range of specialist Chinese intellectual property firms and government organisations which have been critical to our success in China.
Since 2009, our representative China office has been led by Li Min (Ellie) who is responsible for coordinating all of our activities in China. Ellie not only helps to connect Chinese clients with the wealth of experience available from our European attorneys but, also acts as a point of liaison and information resource within China.
Over the years HLK have seen more and more Chinese clients entering into European markets with increased demands in IP protection. The success and strength of our Chinese relationships prompted us to expand our offerings into other parts of Asia and to establish a team of attorneys who are Asia experts. This team is formed of both patent and trademark attorneys and is led by our Asia Lead Partner, Daniel Chew. As a fluent Mandarin speaker with extensive experience of working with Asian clients, Daniel was the perfect choice to oversee our HLK Asia effort.
All of this brings us to where we are today – a pan-European firm with exceptional Asia expertise who, are not only celebrating 10 years in China, but who have also been collaborating with Chinese businesses and attorneys for more than 20 years.
Throughout this year we will be hosting a number of events for our clients and contacts to celebrate this key milestone.