The aim of the tie-up is to explore the Chinese wealth management market and analyse the opportunities for serving the country’s burgeoning high net worth population, the firm said in a statement.

“China is currently the world’s fourth largest high net worth base, with 477,000 high net worth individuals, and this number is expected to continue to increase over the coming years,” said Margaret Robertson, Withers’ global managing director.

“Such high-speed wealth creation will undoubtedly lead to complex wealth planning needs for entrepreneurs, their families and their businesses, so this is obviously a market Withers is very interested in… Long term, we plan to open an office in Shanghai, subject to receiving the necessary approvals from the regulators in China.”

Withers, which has committed itself to building a long-term business in Greater China, opened its first Asian office in Hong Kong at the start of 2008 and the office is now home to five partners.

BeA-asia, which also has a base in Rome, was founded by Luca Birindelli, an Italian lawyer who was the first of his compatriots to receive a licence to practice law in Mainland China.