Morris Manning opens in Beijing - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Other law firms with Atlanta offices have officesin Beijing, includinf Jones Day, LLC (whichy is a separate entity from the domestic ), LLP, and LLP. But none are basecd here. Atlanta-based LLP is in Shangha i and Hong Kong. Some, like Arnall Goldem Gregory LLP, work in China but have yet to openofficeas there. Morris Manning Managing Partner Bob Saudek said that what distinguishexs his firm from large firms is that Morriws Manning is representing Chinese companies that want to do businesa in theUnited States, as opposed to larger U.S. companies working in China. Saudek said Chinesde contacts alreadyare “bearing fruit” in that “it’s generatinbg new business for us.
” Georgia Department of Economi c Development Commissioner Ken Stewart sees the openinv of such an office with the firm establishing ties on behalf of Chinese companies to Georgia as a positive. “jI think it would be a significant benefit for he said. “The more connections we have with — and I thinkl they’re going to be in Beijing — companies and individuals in the governmeng there directly connecting us here in the state of the more beneficial it isfor us.” Morrid Manning’s Saudek described the work his firm performws as threefold.
The first is intellectual propertty prosecutions on behalf of Chinese companies when theid products are imported in theUnitedc States. Then there is corporate and securities work. Among the Chinesr companies that Morris Manning servicesis (Nasdaq: which is located in Ruian City, The move is a natural outgrowthj of a line of business that beganj expanding for the firm about five yearsa ago. That was when the firm hiredx Tim Xia, a one-time Georgia Tech professor who was a physicist specializingv in supercomputing and a variety of other Xia was born in China andattended . Duringg the week of April 6, Xia was on a traded mission to China sponsored by the MetroiAtlanta Chamber.
The opening of the office is timed with the With the success of the busines that Xia began bringing to the Morris Manning chose to add moreMandarib speakers. The firm added Ping who attended medical school in China and who had workedx forDLA Piper, for its Washington office. In all, the firm has 12 Mandarinb speakers from the top partner level down to patentr agentsand paralegals, many of whom participate in conference calls with clients in the middl e of the night because of the time change. Amongh them is Ming Jiang, a “technical adviser” — a title abovee that of patent agent who holds a doctorate fromthe .
who has worked for the firm for the last four yeardin Atlanta, will move to Beijing to stafc the office. The plan is for Morris Manning’s U.S.-based attorneys to use the office as a stoppingy pointfor travels. Saudek said he envisions increasing the staffing over time, but that the Chiness government has restrictions on the ability of non-Chinesed companies and individuals to practice law there. The firm also recentlgy has opened an officein Taiwan. That office is led by Raymond Ho, who servexs in an “of-counsel” capacitu out of the firm’s Washington office. Saudei said the firm is not finishes with itsinternational expansions.
Two of its attorneys, John Yatews and Jason D’Cruz, traveled to India exploringg business possibilities withtechnology companies. Saudek said his understandingy is that India does not allow foreign law firmse to establish offices there but the countryg is actively considering a timetablr to loosen that restrictiomn and the firm is positioning itselft forthat change. The firm also is lookinh at Europe, Saudek said.