Shanghai. Photo: Shutterstock

Fangda Partners has hired Morrison & Foerster real estate partner Maria Wang, as the Chinese firm continues a shopping spree in which it hires lawyers from global counterparts.

Shanghai-based Wang advises on real estate transactions in China. Earlier this year, she represented LaSalle Investment Management on a $350 million acquisition of an office building in Shanghai from Singaporean developer Keppel Group. She also advised assets manager BlackRock on a $180 million purchase of a Shanghai office building from Prudential Financial.

Wang joined Morrison & Foerster as a partner in 2014 from Allen & Overy, where she had practiced as an associate.

Wang is the latest former global firm partner that has defected to Fangda, one of China’s elite law firms, in the past year. Late last year, Fangda recruited three capital markets partners in Hong Kong from Shearman & Sterling, including the U.S. firm’s Asia capital markets head and former Hong Kong office chief Colin Law. Earlier in 2018, Linklaters’ Shanghai-based former China head, Fang Jian, also jumped to Fangda.

In addition, Shanghai-based Fangda bolstered its international arbitration practice with the hire of Olga Boltenko, a former of counsel at CMS specializing in Russia-related investor-state arbitration.

Fangda was founded in 1994 primarily on a private equity and venture capital offering. As the firm expands into other practice areas, Fangda has taken a unique approach and has been building its team almost exclusively with recruits from global firms.

The 485-lawyer firm reported $169,456,000 in gross revenue in 2017, according to the China 45 report. It is one of the most profitable domestic firms, with $1,130,000 among 90 partners.

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