Four leading mainland law firms have opened branches in Hong Kong this year and more from the service sector are expected to follow, Invest Hong Kong said yesterday.

The government organization's director-general of investment promotion Mike Rowse said: "Four (mainland) legal service providers have set up shop in Hong Kong this year, and we expect more companies from the service sector, such as legal, shipping and logistics, to open branches in the city in 2007."

As Hong Kong is transforming itself from a manufacturing base to an international professional service centre, it will need more service providers from across the border to supplement the existing service industry, Rowse said at a press briefing.

"Hong Kong already has the biggest law firms of the mainland." he said.

In March, King & Wood, one of the mainland's largest law firms, became the first to open a branch in Hong Kong.

The best recognized law firm on the mainland, Jun He Law Offices, followed in June. Jun He wants to "gain better access to the global market through its Hong Kong operations," the company's managing partner, Ma Hongli, had said at the opening ceremony.

Shanghai-based private partnership law firm, Chen & Co. Law Firm, and Guangdong Xin Yang Law Firm are the other two operating in Hong Kong.

The mainland legal service providers have tried to seek and forge strategic collaborations with local law firms. Hong Kong lawyers are allowed to deal only with Hong Kong-related lawsuits, and their mainland counterparts can handle cases related to the mainland.

King & Wood and Jun He have teamed up with one of Hong Kong's most established legal advisers Arculli Fong & Ng.

Guangdong shipping firm Foshan Shipping Co, too, has opened an office in Hong Kong with the help of Invest Hong Kong.

Speaking on the mainland's booming shipping and port business, Rowse said he didn't agree with the observation that the mainland had overtaken Hong Kong as an important global cargo hub.

"Ports in Shanghai and Guangdong have achieved rapid growth, but we should also look at who manages and who runs those ports, many of them are taken care of by Hong Kong operators," Rowse said.

Editor: Yan