US law firm Seyfarth to exit Shanghai in latest China market retreat

By Sara Merken

June 5 (Reuters) - Law firm Seyfarth Shaw is planning to close its Shanghai office later this year, as major U.S. law firms continue to reduce their footprints in the Chinese legal market.

The Chicago-founded firm, which has about 900 lawyers globally and is known for its labor and employment work, will continue to serve clients in the region by consolidating its presence in Hong Kong, a firm spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.

Seyfarth's website lists six lawyers in Shanghai, where it opened in 2013, and several of the lawyers are co-located in Hong Kong or elsewhere. The team advises clients on cross-border transactions, among other areas such as real estate and employment, according to the website.

Large U.S. law firms for more than two years have been shuttering offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong amid muted deal activity, geopolitical tensions and growing pressures on foreign businesses in the country. Earlier this year, firms including Wilson Sonsini, Cleary Gottlieb and Winston & Strawn have said they would close offices in at least one of those locations.

The United States and China struck a 90-day deal on May 12 to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since President Donald Trump's January inauguration. Though stocks rallied, the temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday agreed to further talks between the countries to hash out differences on tariffs. The highly anticipated call came amid accusations between Washington and Beijing in recent weeks over "rare earths" minerals in a dispute that threatens to tear up the fragile truce in the trade war between the two biggest economies.