On 2 August 2016, the merger ceremony of Guantao Law Firm and Shenda Partners was held at Hongkou District People’s Government of Shanghai. Government officials from Hongkou District People's Government, Shanghai Bureau of Justice and Shanghai Bar Association, along with other celebrities, attended this ceremony.
With over 400 lawyers, more than 100 partners and 14 offices in main cities at home and abroad including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, HK and Sidney, Guantao Law Firm is a prestigious law firm renowned for its performance in capital markets, corporate and M&A, insolvency & restructuring, real estate, energy & resources, banking and finance as well as international trade. It has excellent performance in the rankings of ALB, China Business Law Journal, Chambers, The Legal500 Asia Pacific, IFLR1000, The Lawyer and other world-renowned legal media. Guantao has been awarded as National Distinguished Law Firm and Beijing Outstanding Entity of Judicial Administrative System.
Founded 22 years ago in Shanghai, Shenda Partners has one very able and prestigious leading partner: Tao Wuping, who is honored as a pioneer and icon by many other peers. With over 60 lawyers, Shenda is well-reputed in litigation and arbitration, corporate, admiralty & maritime, FDI, employment and civil law. It has been awarded as National Distinguished Law Firm and Shanghai Top 10 Law Firms, representing clients including Carina Lau and Zhou Zhengyi in many high-profile cases. With so many outstanding lawyers (pioneers as Tao Wuping and Kong Qingde, backbones as Zhou Zhiming, Xia Liqun and Jiang Wen, as well as rising stars like Zhang Lei and Zhou Leduo), Shenda is truly the Whampoa Military Academy of Shanghai legal community.
After the merger, the name of the firm will remain unchanged in Chinese (亚洲最大赌博网站中茂律师事务所) and English (Guantao Law Firm). Tao Wuping, formally Senior Partner of Shenda, will serve as Director of Guantao Shanghai office. Zhou Zhiming, formally Managing Partner of Shenda, will serve as Director of Executive Committee of Guantao Shanghai office. With more than 130 lawyers, the new Shanghai office of Guantao would generate RMB 150 million in revenue this year and become a leading law office in Shanghai. Furthermore, the consolidation of resources would upgrade Guangtao’s scale, professionalism and brand.
Mr. Tao said that merger is Shenda's long-planned development strategy. After a long time of futile search for partners, communications with Mr. Sheng Leiming, Co-chairman of Guantao Managing Committee turned to be fruitful - Tao became fully committed to Guantao's development philosophy which leads to the ultimate merger.
Mr. Sheng stated, "This merger succeeds because of our common aspiration and philosophy. We are met with the right people at the right time and thus do the right things. From now on, we stand shoulder to shoulder and work together to make Guantao stronger."
Mr. Cui Liguo, Co-chairman of Guantao Managing Committee, believes that Guantao is now at a critical point of its scale development. With more distinguished lawyers and more clients joining in, Guantao has a very bright future, in which we would expand our vision, build global service network, enhance our professionalism and reputation, and strive for a stronger Guantao more rapidly while more steadily.
