City law firm Mayer Brown is poised to spin off its China operations amid growing tensions between Beijing and the West. The move by Mayer Brown, which is headquartered in Chicago but employs hundreds of lawyers in London, will see its Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing offices hived off from its global network. It currently employs around 170 in mainland China and Hong Kong, having operated in the region for more than 25 years. The firm’s Chinese operations are expected to be rebranded as Johnson, Stokes and Master, the name used before the Hong Kong-based firm merged with Mayer Brown in 2008, as first reported by the Financial Times. It comes amid Beijing’s crackdown on foreign businesses through anti-espionage and data security laws. Mayer Brown’s presence in East Asia has not been without controversy in recent years. In 2021, bosses faced a backlash after the firm ceased working for the University of Hong Kong after it ordered the removal of a statue memorialising the Tiananmen Square massacre, called the Pillar of Shame. CY Leung, the former leader of Hong Kong, subsequently called for Chinese companies to boycott Mayer Brown. At the time, he said: “No client in Hong Kong or...