Having established a solid presence on China's booming east coast, Beijing-headquartered Zhong Lun has made the decision to enter the largely untappedcorporate legal services market in Central China.

The firm recently received government approval to open a branch office in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province. It will be the firm's sixth office after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Tokyo.

A number of lawyers are slated for the Wuhan office, but the head of the office is yet to be revealed. The office is set to provide the full spectrum of Zhong Lun's corporate legal services.

Wuhan is an important economic and commercial centre of Central China, but its corporate and commercial legal services market is lagging behind other inland cities. To date, only a few firms from Shanghai and Beijing have set up shop in the city, including  DeHeng (Beijing), Beijing Dacheng and Shanghai Jianwei. Dewell & Partners, a member of the Lovells-backed Sino-Global Legal Alliance, is one of the few notable local players that have been involved in foreign investment and cross-border transactions.

As the legal services markets in the better established commercial centres such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen become increasingly competitive due to the economic slowdown, it may become increasingly common for firms to move into central and western China to secure long-term growth.