Basis: Article 7 of the Regulations on the Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China

Any foreign law firm applying to establish a representative office or appoint a representative in China must meet the following conditions:

(I) The foreign law firm must be legally operating in its home country and has not received penalties for violating lawyers' professional ethics or practice standards;

(II) The representative of the representative office must be a practicing lawyer and a member of the bar association in the country where he/she received a practicing certificate. The representative must have practiced outside China for at least two years without receiving any criminal penalty or punishment for violating lawyers' professional ethics or practice standards. Specifically, the chief representative must have practiced for at least three years outside China and shall be a partner or hold a comparable position within the foreign law firm;

(III) The law firm must demonstrate a legitimate need to establish a representative office in China to offer legal services. Conditions are: 1. The application materials must be complete and meet the required legal formats. 2. Materials that require notarization must be notarized by a notary organization or notary public in the applicant's home country, certified by the diplomatic authority of the applicant's home country or an agency authorized by the diplomatic authority, and authenticated by the Chinese embassy or consulate in that country. 3. All notarized documents must remain sealed; if opened, they must be re-notarized. 4. All documents in foreign languages, including specific content pages and notarization and certification pages, must be translated into Chinese. The translation must correspond to the original content on a page-by-page basis, with the translated text aligned with the original. Seals must also be translated.

1. An Application Form for Additional Representatives of Foreign Law Firms' Representative Offices in China, and an Application Form for Foreign Law Firms to Establish (Add) Representative Offices in China

2. Application forms for establishing a representative office and appointing representatives signed by the main person in charge of the foreign law firm (two attachments) (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

3. Document confirming the legal establishment of the foreign law firm in its home country (the bound original document shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by an apostille and a complete Chinese translation)

4. Documents from the lawyer regulatory authority in the country where the foreign law firm is based, which confirm that the law firm has not been punished for violating lawyers' professional ethics or practice standards (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

5. Partnership agreement (the bound original document shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by an apostille and a complete Chinese translation) or articles of incorporation for the foreign law firm, along with a list of people in charge and partners (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

6. A letter of authorization from the foreign law firm, which appoints the chief representative and representatives for the representative office, and its translation (the bound original document shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by an apostille and a complete Chinese translation), a confirmation letter proving that the designated chief representative is a partner or holds an equivalent position within the law firm, and the translated confirmation letter (the bound original document shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by an apostille and a complete Chinese translation)

7. Practicing certificates for all lawyers designated as representatives (these shall be issued by the relevant lawyer regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions where the lawyers were licensed; the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations), documents verifying that the designated chief representative has practiced outside China for at least three years, and that other designated representatives have practiced outside China for no less than two years (these shall be issued by the relevant lawyer regulatory authorities in the places of practice; the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

8. Documents issued by the bar association in the country where the foreign law firm is based, which state that the designated representatives are members of the association (these shall be issued by the relevant lawyer association in which the representatives participate; the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

9. Documents issued by the judicial authority in the country/region where the representatives hold citizenships, which state that the designated chief representative and representatives have not been subject to criminal penalties, along with their corresponding translations (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

10. Documents issued by the lawyer regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions where the designated chief representative and representatives practice, which confirm that they have not been punished for violating lawyers' professional ethics or practice standards (these shall be issued by the lawyer regulatory authorities of the places of practice; the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

11. Professional risk insurance documents for all designated representatives (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission, and shall be notarized, and accompanied by apostilles and complete Chinese translations)

12. Photocopies of the identity documents (passports) of the designated representatives, along with their corresponding translations (the bound original documents shall not be separated without permission; the photocopies must be identical to the original documents notarized; cross-border materials shall be accompanied by apostilles)

Legal processing time: six working days

Guaranteed processing time: 20 working days

Application and acceptance: five working days

Review and decision-making: 20 working days

Issuance and delivery: one working day

Definition of the guaranteed processing time: This refers specifically to the time allocated for the "review and decision-making" phase within the overall procedures.

I.  Offline Processing

II. Online Application

https://banshi.beijing.gov.cn/

Regulations on the Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China