The Red Circle ("红圈" in Chinese) is an informal term for leading law firms in China.
The term was first used by The Lawyer in a report in March 2014, which used the term to credit 8 firms as first-tier law firms in China. The 8 firms include: Commerce & Finance (通商), Global Law Office (环球), Haiwen & Partners (海问), Jingtian & Gongcheng (竞天公诚), Jun He Law Offices (君合), King & Wood Mallesons (金杜), Zhong Lun (中伦), in Beijing; and Fangda (方达) in Shanghai. The list was later repeated by The Lawyer in its 2014 issue of a China-focused legal market report. Since then, the term and the list have been adopted in China by other media.
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Red Circle (law firms) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA