Recently, Patrick MAK and Jules ZHAO from Patrick Mak & Tse Solicitors have successfully obtained the license to practice law in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and joined the Guangzhou Office and Shenzhen Office of JT&N respectively, officially becoming attorneys practicing in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
With the continuous promotion of the national “bringing in” and “going global” strategies and the in-depth implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative, the strategic importance of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to China’s future regional economic development pattern will be further enhanced. Therefore, the legal service industry in the Greater Bay Area has generated a new market-oriented demand, and it is an inevitable trend to absorb a constant stream of professional legal talents.
In August 2020, the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) voted to authorize the State Council to carry out pilot work in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing cities in Guangdong Province for Hong Kong legal practitioners and Macao practicing attorneys to obtain a license to practice in the mainland of China and to engage in the practice of law. Qualified Hong Kong law practitioners and Macao practicing attorneys passed the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area Attorneys Practicing Examination and were awarded attorney licenses (Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area). These attorneys are called “Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area Attorneys”.
Over the past 20 years, JT&N has contributed its wisdom and strength in building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area and a new model of socialism with Chinese characteristics. With JT&N’s Shenzhen Office as the midfield and JT&N’s Guangzhou Office and JT&N’s Hong Kong Office as the front, JT&N has formed a three-way offensive pattern in the Greater Bay Area and has started to build Guangzhou Nansha associate office, achieving more potential in the blue ocean of legal services in the Greater Bay Area. With two outstanding Hong Kong attorneys being awarded the license to practice as attorneys in the Greater Bay Area and joining JT&N’s offices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, JT&N’s talented team of attorneys in the Greater Bay Area is growing stronger and stronger, and its cross-border comprehensive legal service capability continues to improve.
In the future, JT&N will continue to deepen its business layout in the Greater Bay Area, further strengthen the scope of business radiation in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, and make unremitting efforts to build a dynamic and internationally competitive first-class legal service market and world-class city cluster in South China.
Patrick MAK: He is a practicing attorney of the High Court of Hong Kong SAR, a marriage celebrant, and a notary public appointed by the Ministry of Justice of China. He has been engaged in legal work for nearly 30 years and is currently a standing member of the Jinan Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Shandong Province. Attorney MAK is mainly engaged in litigation, corporate winding up, public company resumption, and commercial law matters. For the last decade or so, he has focused on matters such as mergers and acquisitions, financing, relicensing applications, and listings of domestic enterprises to foreign countries. Attorney MAK maintains close relationships with several large international professional services firms, funds, and institutional investors, and provides professional services to many domestic enterprises for offshore M&A, financing, and offshore listing.
Jules ZHAO: Attorney Jules ZHAO is a practicing attorney in Hong Kong, holding LLB, LLM (Common Law), and Juris Doctor degrees respectively, and is currently a senior partner of Patrick Mak & Tse Solicitors.
With more than nine years of experience in legal practice in Hong Kong, attorney ZHAO mainly provides services to domestic enterprises on Hong Kong-related legal matters and is mainly engaged in projects such as offshore equity acquisition, structural restructuring, Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing, offshore financing, fund, and compliance business. Attorney ZHAO currently serves as an independent non-executive director of two companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
He is an attorney of the leading talent pool of foreign-related attorneys in Guangdong Province and serves as the first batch of labor and personnel dispute arbitrators of Hong Kong and Macao in China. In addition, attorney ZHAO is currently a member of the 15th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Jinan, Shandong Province.