Merits & Tree Law Offices

What Merits & Tree Law Offices does

Merits & Tree Law Offices (北京植德律师事务所) is a Beijing-headquartered, fully integrated Chinese law firm serving corporate, financial, and capital markets clients across China. Originally founded in 2006 as Beijing Haokai Law Firm and rebranded in 2017, the firm operates 9 offices (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Hong Kong) with 150+ partners and more than 500 lawyers and staff. Its practice covers 13 business areas including investment and M&A, capital markets, dispute resolution, distressed assets and bankruptcy restructuring, intellectual property, banking and finance, investment funds, real estate and infrastructure, government regulation and compliance, labor and employment, family and wealth management, antitrust, and tax and customs; it also maintains 5 dedicated industry committees in life sciences and healthcare, AI and digital economy, energy and mining, e-commerce/logistics/trade, and telecom/chips/IoT.

The firm differentiates through an integrated 'company system' management model that enables seamless cross-office and cross-practice resource allocation, with each partner specializing in a single core area and many holding 20+ years of experience drawn from Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, top international law firms, and government agencies. On the technology side, Merits & Tree has built two proprietary AI tools — 'Obot 出海宝' (an RAG-and-LLM-based legal Q&A assistant for Chinese companies going abroad) and the '植德数智化律所系统' (an internal digital law firm management platform) — both of which have received industry innovation awards from LexisNexis and the Shenzhen Bar Association.

Merits & Tree generates revenue through project-based professional service fees (consulting, transaction advisory, litigation, and arbitration) on a quote-based, scope-dependent model with no public pricing. Go-to-market is sales-led and reputation-driven, supported by thought leadership across monthly reports, journal reports, books, and seminars; clients include PE/VC funds, listed and pre-IPO companies, financial institutions, state-owned enterprises, and emerging-industry corporates, with anchor engagements such as the KIP China RMB 1 billion fund formation, China Chengtong's RMB 30 billion SOE land revitalization fund, and bankruptcy restructuring mandates for HNA Group, Pangda Group, and Zhongli Group. The firm is an independent private partnership with no external funding, no parent company, and no public listing.

Name

Merits & Tree Law Offices

Legal name

北京植德律师事务所

Website

https://meritsandtree.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Merits & Tree Law Offices is a Beijing-headquartered integrated Chinese law firm with 150+ partners and 500+ professionals across 9 offices, serving corporates, financial institutions, PE/VC funds, and SOEs across 13 practice areas including M&A, capital markets, banking and finance, restructuring, and dispute resolution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111), Legal Services (5411), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate & Commercial Law (BPAHAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) & Securities Law (BPAHAAAI), Family & Private Client (Trusts & Estates) Law (BPAHAAAK)

Keywords

• Corporate legal services
• Capital markets law
• Private equity law
• Banking and finance law
• Dispute resolution law

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Professional Services: Merits & Tree generates revenue through professional legal service fees, including legal consulting, transaction advisory, litigation and arbitration representation, and other legal services. Services are provided to corporate clients, financial institutions, investment funds, and government entities on matters spanning capital markets, M&A, PE/VC, banking & finance, dispute resolution, and other practice areas.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Merits & Tree Law Offices is a full-service Chinese law firm delivering integrated, full-cycle legal services across 13 practice areas including investment & M&A, capital markets, banking & finance, dispute resolution, intellectual property, distressed assets and bankruptcy, real estate, investment funds, antitrust, HR and labor, family services and wealth management, government regulation and compliance, and tax and customs. The firm combines traditional legal advisory and litigation services with proprietary AI-powered legal technology tools (Obot 出海宝 and 植德数智化律所系统) to serve corporate, financial, and institutional clients across China.

Product overview

Merits & Tree Law Offices (植德律师事务所) is a full-service law firm offering comprehensive legal services across 13 business areas and 5 industry sectors. The firm operates on a 'company-wide integration' management model. The product portfolio includes proprietary AI-powered legal tools ('Obot出海宝' for overseas business legal Q&A and '植德数智化律所系统' for digital law firm management) alongside research publications (月度简讯 monthly reports, 期刊报告 journals, and 书籍出版 books). The AI tools integrate RAG technology with large language models to provide legal knowledge retrieval and compliance consulting for cross-border scenarios, while the publications deliver ongoing legal research and industry-specific insights to clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• M&T Academy (植德学堂): 植德内部学习平台，提供律师和实习生培训，包括Seed Plan在线学习项目、角色定位培训、机构/企业课程、行业定制课程及定制化培训。
• 植德数智化律所系统
• Obot 出海宝
• 植德商事仲裁研究中心

Products and services

• Investment & M&A Legal Services Legal advisory and execution services for investment transactions and mergers & acquisitions, including deal structuring, due diligence, documentation, regulatory approvals, and post-transaction integration. Targeted at PE/VC funds, listed companies, and corporate acquirers.
• Capital Markets Legal Services Legal services for IPOs, refinancing, ongoing securities compliance, and securities-related litigation across domestic (A-share), Hong Kong, and US capital markets. Targeted at issuers, underwriters, and listed companies.
• Dispute Resolution Legal Services Commercial litigation, domestic and international arbitration, mediation, and enforcement representation before courts and tribunals. Includes securities litigation, IP litigation, and construction disputes.
• Distressed Assets and Bankruptcy Restructuring Legal Services

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Travers Thorp Alberga (TTA)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 March 2017M&T co-hosted a USD fund seminar with TTA, a Cayman and BVI law firm with nearly 40 years of history. The seminar covered topics including Cayman Islands advantages for USD fund establishment, common fund structures, and typical contract terms for overseas fund formation.
• WELEGAL法盟minorGTM or Marketing PartnerM&T co-hosts events with WELEGAL法盟, a legal innovation platform. Events include seminars on equity structure design, exit strategies, and other corporate legal topics targeting enterprise founders and in-house counsel.
• Hai Tai Law Firm (海泰律师事务所)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerM&T partnered with Hai Tai Law Firm in Zhejiang for a joint business exchange event titled '跨境赋能：上市·出海·知产全解析'. M&T partners delivered presentations on Hong Kong IPO, outbound investment, trademark services, and biotech patent strategies.
• Allianz (安联保险)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerM&T co-hosted a PE fund risk management seminar with Allianz and Willis Towers Watson, focusing on fund risk management topics including trustee liability in channel business, concealed financing purposes during fundraising, and overseas M&A disputes involving foreign directors and labor issues.
• Willis Towers Watson (韦莱韬悦)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted PE fund risk management seminar with M&T and Allianz. Willis Towers Watson contributed financial risk management expertise alongside legal perspectives from M&T partners.
• Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Law SchoolminorOthersM&T Academy partners with universities for legal education. The party school committee and law school jointly organized a speech competition '以法为帆, 逐梦浪潮' for law students and young lawyers.
• Beijing Foreign Studies University Law SchoolminorOthersM&T entered into an internship practice base cooperation agreement with Beijing Foreign Studies University Law School, providing practical legal training opportunities for students.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Tian Yuan Law Firm: Beijing-headquartered Chinese firm with deep capital markets and M&A practice, particularly strong on HK and US IPOs. Directly comparable on cross-border listing mandates and PE/VC sponsor clients.
• JunHe LLP: Top-tier Chinese full-service firm with comparable practice breadth including PE/VC, capital markets, M&A, and dispute resolution. Closely comparable on talent profile (partners from top global firms) and client roster (financial institutions, listed companies, PE sponsors).
• Zhong Lun Law Firm: One of China's largest full-service law firms with 1,000+ lawyers across 18+ domestic and international offices. Direct competitor across M&A, capital markets, PE/VC, dispute resolution, and restructuring — operating on a similarly integrated model but at materially larger scale.
• Fangda Partners: Elite Chinese law firm focused on M&A, PE/VC, capital markets, and dispute resolution with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other major hubs. Direct competitor for cross-border sponsor mandates and capital markets work.
• Global Law Office: Beijing-headquartered Chinese firm with comparable scale and similar practice emphasis on capital markets, M&A, banking & finance, and dispute resolution. Directly competes for SOE and listed-company clients in the same practice areas.
• AllBright Law Offices: Large Chinese full-service firm with 2,000+ lawyers across 20+ offices, offering overlapping practice areas including PE/VC, M&A, capital markets, IP, and dispute resolution. Direct competitor for both domestic and cross-border corporate mandates.
• Han Kun Law Offices: Mid-to-upper tier Chinese firm with strong PE/VC, M&A, capital markets, and TMT practices. Comparable headcount and similar positioning targeting financial sponsors and growth-stage companies — overlapping significantly with Merits & Tree's core PE/VC fund formation franchise.
• Hai Tong & Partners: Beijing-founded Chinese firm historically strong in PE/VC and M&A. Comparable scale and similar practice emphasis on sponsor-side mandates, with significant overlap in target client segments.
• Jingtian & Gongcheng: Chinese full-service firm with strong capital markets, M&A, and PE/VC practices. Comparable profile on talent (many partners with overseas training) and similar client mix across financial institutions and listed corporates.

Broad incumbents

• King & Wood Mallesons: The largest China-headquartered global law firm with 1,500+ lawyers and deep cross-border practice. Overlaps heavily on M&A, capital markets, banking & finance, and outbound investment; competes for the same marquee SOE and PE/VC mandates but with substantially stronger international footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Merits & Tree Law Offices