Duan & Duan is one of the most unique and well-known local law firms in China. The firm has become well recognized as the pioneer and leader in international legal services for both foreign companies entering China and PRC companies doing business abroad. The establishment of the firm and its subsequent growth is memorable and noteworthy.
As recently as 1993, lawyers in China were all "legal workers of the State". Based on their experiences in the U.S., Europe and Hong Kong, Duan & Duan's founders envisioned a private partnership law firm practicing in accordance with the world class legal service standard would definitely help foreign clients in their commercial activities in China. After a great deal of lobbyism and negotiation with the PRC authorities, the founders of Duan & Duan finally secured special approvals from various PRC authorities, such as the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Education. This allowed the founders to establish the first privately owned and financed law firm China had ever seen. Moreover, Duan & Duan was also the first company of any kind in China to be established by students returning from study abroad.
Having an inherent distinction for joint contribution, cooperation, teamwork spirit and steady expansion, Duan & Duan was named after the last names of the two core-founding partners.
The growth of Duan & Duan is inexorably linked with the PRC's growing stature on the world stage. One year after its establishment, with permission from the PRC Ministry of Justice, Duan & Duan witnessed its first overseas branch office in Seattle, Washington, USA, which makes Duan & Duan one of the first two Chinese law firms expanding legal services abroad. In the new Millennium, Duan & Duan multiplied its Shanghai headquarter office premises area ten times larger and set up its Pudong office in JinMao Tower.
Duan & Duan is now staffed with 50, more than 20 of whom are experienced attorneys and counsels. The firm's advanced management, and its ability to straddle legal systems, languages and cultures has led to the representation in China of a number of the worlds' largest Fortune 500 companies. Since 1993, the firm has represented these companies as they have entered the Chinese marketplace, and has grown as their clients' business in China has expanded. Duan & Duan has also grown in conjunction with their representation of many large Chinese companies in their business dealings abroad. The firm spares no effort to help these companies contribute to China's continually growing economy.
During this ten years' development, Duan & Duan is honored with almost all the important awards and prizes for law firms in China, for instance, named as Model Law Firm by the PRC Ministry of Justice. Various legal publications have quoted Duan & Duan many times as one of the excellent law firms in mainland China.
