The booming China market has many enticements for U.S. lawyers thinking of opening offices there. For Texas attorneys, the key allure is the energy business. Other hot practice areas: structured finance, international arbitration, IP and cross-border M&A. But there's also work for large and small firms with no Asia outpost. When Chinese clients come to Texas, "they want somebody who knows the language and the culture," says Tom Tong, who left Locke Liddell & Sapp to open a bilingual firm focusing on China.
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