On January 8^th, 2017 the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Council Legislative Affairs Office jointly promulgated the Opinions on the Development of the Foreign-Related Legal Services Industry. The Opinions address the following issues:

1. Expansion of foreign-related IP legal services, strengthening of legal services for the protection of patents, trademarks and copyrights and the resolution of foreign-related IP disputes.

2. Support for domestic law firms that establish offices in countries representing the world’s primary economic powers by establishing overseas branch offices, conducting overseas M&A, establishing joint ventures, etc.

3. Support and regulation of domestic law firms cooperating with overseas law firms by means of business alliances, and research into the establishment of a mechanism for the engagement of foreign lawyers as legal counsel by domestic law firms.

4. Foreign-related government bureaus (e.g. foreign affairs or commerce) should hire office lawyers, and foreign-related enterprises should hire in-house counsel as needed.

Via www.moj.gov.cn