Yingke is almost certainly the largest law firm you’ve never heard of. The Chinese legal giant boasts a staggering 4,153 lawyers, making it the world’s second-largest law firm by attorney head count, according to The American Lawyer’s Global 100 survey—just 200 attorneys behind top-placed Baker & McKenzie.
Its vast size is even more remarkable when you consider that the firm was only established in 2001. Even as recently as 2009, Yingke still had just one office, in Beijing, and a mere 150 lawyers. Then along came Linda Yang. My guest joined the firm in 2009 as its new executive chair and immediately implemented an ambitious growth strategy that would make even committed expansionists like DLA Piper’s Nigel Knowles and Norton Rose Fulbright’s Peter Martyr raise an eyebrow.
