Azmi & Associates is targeting Chinese clients looking to invest in Malaysia as part of its strategy to expand into China. The firm has launched a new Chinese-language website and a Chinadesk service for Chinese-speaking organisations. Chinadesk will focus on providing cross-border legal services to Chinese clients by creating a team of lawyers with language capabilities encompassing Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien as well as English.
The firm decided to tailor its services to meet the needs of Chinese-speaking organisations as it found that there was a trend of such companies investing in Malaysia. “What we noticed from the market is that most law firms in Malaysia don’t provide any services in Chinese, so there was no one who could actually assist Chinese-speaking organisations,” said Jeffrey Tan, partner at Azmi & Associates. “That was actually the start of our plan to have a dedicated team catering to the needs and requirements of Chinese-speaking organisations.”
The Chinadesk team at Azmi & Associates will cover energy, mining, infrastructure and technology as these are the areas in which Chinese companies tend to invest in Malaysia. The Chinese-language website is tailored on this basis and was also created to demonstrate the firm’s understanding of Chinese culture. For example, the colours used on the website are those associated with prosperity and longevity in Chinese culture.
By developing its relationship with Chinese-speaking organisations and collaborating with associate law firms in China through the TerraLex International network, the firm hopes to have a strong foundation on which to establish a physical presence in China. “The next step will be to have an office in China for all these Chinese organisations,” said Tan. “I would say that it should happen within the next year or rather by next year… I think this is also in line with the approach and strategy of our firm – we usually tend to work fast.” However, plans are currently only in their initial stages.
The firm also plans to open an office in Singapore.
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