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Rankings published in 2026
Banking - Foreign
Tier 3
13 firms ranked
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Tier 1

A&O Shearman
16 practice areas
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Clifford Chance
16 practice areas
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Linklaters
15 practice areas
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Tier 2

Baker McKenzie
14 practice areas
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Kirkland & Ellis
8 practice areas
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Norton Rose Fulbright
13 practice areas
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White & Case
12 practice areas
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Tier 3

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
15 practice areas
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Latham & Watkins
15 practice areas
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Paul Hastings
16 practice areas
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Reed Smith
7 practice areas
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Ropes & Gray
8 practice areas
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
9 practice areas
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Capital markets - Foreign
Tier 2
25 firms ranked
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Tier 1

Clifford Chance
16 practice areas
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Davis Polk & Wardwell
8 practice areas
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Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
13 practice areas
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Tier 2

A&O Shearman
16 practice areas
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Freshfields
12 practice areas
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Kirkland & Ellis
8 practice areas
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Latham & Watkins
15 practice areas
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Linklaters
15 practice areas
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
9 practice areas
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Tier 3

Baker McKenzie
14 practice areas
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Cooley
5 practice areas
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DLA Piper
14 practice areas
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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
13 practice areas
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O'Melveny & Myers
8 practice areas
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Paul Hastings
16 practice areas
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Sidley Austin
11 practice areas
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Slaughter and May
6 practice areas
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Sullivan & Cromwell
8 practice areas
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Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
5 practice areas
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Tier 4

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
10 practice areas
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Milbank
12 practice areas
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Morgan Lewis & Bockius
5 practice areas
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Reed Smith
7 practice areas
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Notable

Dorsey & Whitney
6 practice areas
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Ropes & Gray
8 practice areas
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M&A - Foreign
Tier 2
45 firms ranked
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Tier 1

Clifford Chance
16 practice areas
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Freshfields
12 practice areas
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Kirkland & Ellis
8 practice areas
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Linklaters
15 practice areas
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Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
13 practice areas
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Tier 2

A&O Shearman
16 practice areas
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Baker McKenzie
14 practice areas
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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
10 practice areas
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Davis Polk & Wardwell
8 practice areas
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Latham & Watkins
15 practice areas
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Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
6 practice areas
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
9 practice areas
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Weil Gotshal & Manges
7 practice areas
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Tier 3

DLA Piper
14 practice areas
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Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
8 practice areas
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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
13 practice areas
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Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
15 practice areas
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Morgan Lewis & Bockius
5 practice areas
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Morrison & Foerster
11 practice areas
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Norton Rose Fulbright
13 practice areas
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O'Melveny & Myers
8 practice areas
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Paul Hastings
16 practice areas
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Sidley Austin
11 practice areas
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Slaughter and May
6 practice areas
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White & Case
12 practice areas
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Tier 4

Ashurst Perkins Coie
8 practice areas
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CMS
4 practice areas
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Cooley
5 practice areas
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Jones Day
11 practice areas
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Milbank
12 practice areas
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MinterEllison
6 practice areas
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Pinsent Masons
9 practice areas
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Reed Smith
7 practice areas
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Ropes & Gray
8 practice areas
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Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
5 practice areas
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Notable

Cuatrecasas
4 practice areas
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Dorsey & Whitney
6 practice areas
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GRATA International
6 practice areas
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Garrigues
6 practice areas
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Gide Loyrette Nouel
9 practice areas
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Goodwin Procter
5 practice areas
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LPA Law
3 practice areas
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Nishimura & Asahi
3 practice areas
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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
3 practice areas
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Taylor Wessing
7 practice areas
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Private equity - Foreign
Tier 2
26 firms ranked
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Tier 1

Clifford Chance
16 practice areas
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Kirkland & Ellis
8 practice areas
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Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
6 practice areas
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
9 practice areas
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Tier 2

A&O Shearman - China
16 practice areas
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Davis Polk & Wardwell
8 practice areas
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Freshfields
12 practice areas
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Goodwin Procter
5 practice areas
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Latham & Watkins
15 practice areas
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Morrison & Foerster
11 practice areas
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Paul Hastings
16 practice areas
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Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
13 practice areas
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Weil Gotshal & Manges
7 practice areas
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Tier 3

A&O Shearman
16 practice areas
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Baker McKenzie
14 practice areas
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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
10 practice areas
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Cooley
5 practice areas
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DLA Piper
14 practice areas
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Debevoise & Plimpton
5 practice areas
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Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
8 practice areas
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Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
15 practice areas
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Morgan Lewis & Bockius
5 practice areas
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O'Melveny & Myers
8 practice areas
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Ropes & Gray
8 practice areas
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Sidley Austin
11 practice areas
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Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
5 practice areas
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Linked Reviews
Financial and corporate

Established in California in 1934, Latham & Watkins is an international firm with 2700 lawyers across 29 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm’s office in Hong Kong leverages off its Asia network of offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.  

Focusses / specialisms

Latham & Watkins traditional strength in Hong Kong is in M&A and capital markets, but in recent times, it has made its presence felt in regional private equity, restructuring and insolvency, regulatory and leveraged finance, where it has a unique practice that acts for lenders, sponsors and borrowers.  

Key clients

Key clients of the firm include Zhengzhou Zhongrui Industrial Group, China National Chemical Corporation, ESR Cayman, Bank of America, Vipshop Holdings, Huachen Energy and China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company.

Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)

The firm’s capital markets team kept busy advising on Hong Kong and US IPOs, high-yield bond issuance, corporate and convertible bonds and programme updates. 

In finance the firm acted in a range of conventional finance mandates, lender and sponsor leveraged finance, margin financing and bridge loans. 

The corporate team were busy with take-private mandates, investments, mergers, joint ventures, spin-offs, and acquisitions in the transport, automotive, telecommunications, data centres, healthcare, technology, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage industries. 

The private equity team assisted clients in various rounds of funding while the regulatory team handled a host of contentious and non-contentious mandates. 

In restructuring and insolvency, the firm acted for bondholders and advised in financial restructuring mandates alongside other matters in energy, mining and medical industries. 

The firm’s corporate team was hit with the departure of its Beijing office managing partner Yilong Du to private equity firm Warburg Pincus. 

Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)

-China Biologic Products Holdings $4.6 billion take-private

-China National Chemical Corporation $2.5 billion multiple-tranche (3.125%, 3.375%, 3.875%, 4.75%) bond issue 

-Chongqing Sincere Yuanchuang Industrial $230 million 10% high-yield bond issue 

-DouYu International Holdings NYSE IPO

-ESR Cayman HKSE IPO

-Ruangguru $150 million series C financing 

-Shanghai Huaxin insolvency

-Tencent Asset Management $6.5 billion term loan and revolving credit facility 

-Vipshop Holdings Rmb3.4 billion acquisition of Shan Shan Commercial Group 

2 results2 results
Deal Highlights
40 results40 results
Deal Name Deal Date Firm Name Jurisdiction Deal Type Lawyer Names Client Names Client Role
Champion Path Holdings Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-01-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Champion Path Holdings Ltd
Issuer
eHi Car Services Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-05-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
eHi Car Services Ltd
Issuer
Shaoxing Shangyu District State-owned Capital Investment Operation Co - Bond Issue
2021-03-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Shaoxing Shangyu District State-owned Capital Investment Operation Co
Issuer
Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management Co Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-07-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
China Merchants Bank, Bank of China, China Everbright Bank, Central China International Capital Ltd, GF Securities Co Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial Bank Co Ltd, CITIC Group Corp, Huatai Securities Co Ltd, Dongxing Securities Co Ltd, Haitong Securities Co Ltd, Guotai Junan Capital
Underwriter
eHi Car Services Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-06-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
eHi Car Services Ltd
Issuer
Chengdu JingKai GuoTou Investment Group Co Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-11-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Alpha International Securities (HONG KONG) Limited, China Everbright Bank, China Zheshang Bank Co Ltd, Guoyuan Securities Co Ltd, Haitong Securities Co Ltd, Industrial Bank Co Ltd, SPDB International Capital Ltd
Underwriter
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Bond Issue
2021-10-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Citigroup
Underwriter
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Bond Issue
2021-11-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase
Underwriter
Pearl Holding III Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-10-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Pearl Holding III Ltd
Issuer
Dongfeng Motor Group Co - Bond Issue
2021-10-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank, China International Capital Corp, CITIC Group Corp, CMBC International Holdings, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, ICBC, Shanghai Pudong Development (Group) Co Ltd
Underwriter
Huzhou City Investment Development Group Co Ltd - Bond Issue
2021-10-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Huzhou City Investment Development Group Co Ltd
Issuer
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Bond Issue
2021-12-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of Montreal, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC
Underwriter
Trustar Capital - M&A
2022-03-21
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
M&A
Trustar Capital
Buyer
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Bond Issue
2022-03-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley
Underwriter
Nanjing Lishui Economics & Technology Development Corp - Bond Issue
2022-03-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Nanjing Lishui Economics & Technology Development Corp
Issuer
Shenwan Hongyuan Financing Services Co Ltd - Bond Issue
2022-03-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank, China Minsheng Banking, China Securities Co Ltd, Citigroup, CMB International Capital Ltd, CMBC International Holdings, ICBC, Shanghai Pudong Innotek Capital Co Ltd, Shenwan Hongyuan Financing Services Co Ltd, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank
Underwriter
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Bond Issue
2022-02-01
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
Bond issue
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC
Underwriter
Cheers Inc. - M&A
2022-07-11
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
M&A
Cheers Inc.
Buyer
Loscam Holdings Ltd. - M&A
2022-11-28
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
M&A
Qiuning Sun, Zhonghua Shi
Loscam Holdings Ltd.
Buyer
New Genetron Holding Ltd. - M&A
2023-10-11
Latham & Watkins
China (National)
M&A
New Genetron Holding Ltd.
Buyer
2
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M&A
We round up top lateral hires across the PE, antitrust, M&A and corporate practices in London and New York
M&A
New hires were made in the finance, corporate and M&A practices in the UK and the US
New hires were made across corporate, M&A, regulatory, finance and antitrust practices in the UK, US, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Asia-Pacific
M&A
New hires were made across PE, M&A, capital markets and finance practices in key hubs including Milan, New York and London
M&A
New hires and promotions were made across the PE, corporate, M&A, finance and capital markets practices in Frankfurt, Munich, London, New York and São Paulo
M&A
New hires were made across the PE, banking and financial services practices in Milan, London, Frankfurt, Chicago and Boston
New hires were made across the finance, M&A and funds practices in New York, London and Paris
M&A
Two of the firm’s partners in Frankfurt and London talk about sector trends and how the firm continues to bolster its internal capabilities to meet demand
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