Top U.S. Law Firms Closing Offices In The China Market

- 22 September, 2025

KEY ISSUES

Major law firms closing doors in several China cities
Global political conflicts leading to shaky relations
It is not only U.S. base law firms shuttering offices in China
Trump and Xi Jingping to discuss further trader and geopolitical issues

K&L Gates Amongst Many to Close a China Based Office

In recent news among the many major law firms exiting China, K&L Gates has officially announced it will be closing its doors to their Beijing office. This comes following the recent uptick in geopolitical scuffles with China and market turbulence. K&L Gates stated on Friday, September 19^th, that it will downsize moving their Beijing cohort to Shanghai following the most recent leadership review of their operations and real estate portfolio.

Stacy Ackerman assumed the role as the global managing partner on July 1^st, 2025. This came in combination with a new committee co-chair. While the firm is closing the Beijing office it will still serve their Chinese market from its locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The Beijing office was founded in 2004, leading team in domestic and cross-border assignments. The Beijing office totaled 14 lawyers with six already relocated into the other cities ().

Major Legal Players Closing While Trump and Xi Jingping Discuss Political Issues

Large scale U.S. law firms have been closing offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong over geopolitical pressures on foreign business in the country. Firms such as Wilson Sonsini, Clearly Gottlieb, Winston & Strawn and Seyfarth Shaw stated they are also to close offices in one of the previously mentioned locations in 2025. The influx of U.S. and law firms based in other countries into China seems to have topped out roughly a decade ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Friday the 19^th, announced he and President Xi Jingping had made progress on their agreement to make Tik-Tok a U.S. owned entity. In another six-weeks we could see another face-to-face meeting between the two in South Korea to talk about trade, illicit drugs and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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