We are pleased to announce that Ally Law’s 2026 Asia Pacific Regional Conference will be held November 26–28 at the Grand Hyatt Beijing at Oriental Plaza. Delegates and guests from member firms across the region, including Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea, will gather at the five-star hotel, which is located within easy reach of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
In conjunction with Ally Law’s regional conference, Chance Bridge Law Firm, Ally Law’s member firm in China, will host its International Business & Frontier Law Forum on Wednesday, November 25. The bilingual client seminar marks the firm’s 15th anniversary and will bring together some 150 Chinese and international legal practitioners, in-house counsel, and business leaders to discuss cross-border business transformation, global restructuring, compliance, and governance. Ally Law President Paola Sangiovanni (of Italy member firm Gitti and Partners) will deliver a keynote address about why legal networks are a better delivery mechanism for cross-border legal services than alternatives. Simultaneously translated and live streamed, the Forum will give Ally Law members a rare opportunity to gain insight into the Chinese business environment and to build relationships beyond the network.
Chance Bridge will also host the Asia Pacific Regional Ally Law conference. Its business program on Friday, November 27, begins with a keynote address, “Understanding China: How History and Culture Shape Business Relationships,” by Professor Huang Zhangkaiis, Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, and the Deputy Director of the China Center for Financial Research. “Lost in Translation: The Cross-Border Matter” follows, an interactive case study in which mixed international teams will work through evolving challenges in client communication, KYC and confidentiality, risk, negotiation, and invoicing. In “AI: What’s Working, What Doesn’t, and What We’ve Learned,” Ally firms will give brief, candid reports on their real-world AI use cases, lessons learned, and current challenges. Those reports will open a broader discussion about adoption, training, governance, client data, workflow changes, and measuring impact.
Delegates and guests will also experience two very different sides of historic Beijing. On Thursday, attendees can take in sweeping views of the UNESCO-listed Central Axis and the rooftops of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park. They will lunch at the celebrated Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park, then explore the lakes, century-old hutongs, and courtyard homes of Shichahai. Alternatively, in the historic Qianmen district, they can learn one of China’s oldest artistic traditions from a master artisan and carve a personalized traditional seal to take home. That evening, Chance Bridge hosts a dinner of refined Huaiyang cuisine at Huai Si Jiu Yan. The historic courtyard restaurant was once a practice space for Mei Lanfang, the legendary performer who helped bring Peking Opera to international audiences.
On Friday, accompanying guests can enjoy an introduction to Chinese tea culture in a traditional courtyard residence. Friday evening’s closing dinner takes place at 1949 – The Hidden City, a former factory complex transformed into one of Beijing’s most atmospheric dining venues, known for its Peking duck. On Saturday, attendees can choose among three excursions: a market tour and hutong cooking class followed by a visit to the Palace of Prince Gong and a bike tour along the Central Axis; a curated tour of the 798 Art District, China’s best-known contemporary art quarter; or a guided private tour of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall.
Said Sangiovanni, “Our Asia Pacific members serve clients in some of the world’s most dynamic and complex markets, and few business relationships matter more to those clients than those with China. We are grateful to Chance Bridge for opening its anniversary Forum to our members. It’s a chance to hear directly from Chinese and international business leaders, not just from one another. And with a Saturday visit to the Great Wall, we’ll finally get to see a cross-border barrier that no one in our network is trying to take down.”
The Beijing meeting concludes Ally Law’s 2026 calendar of regional gatherings, which began with the EMEA Regional Conference in Copenhagen and continued with the Americas Regional Conference in Los Angeles. These regular meetings give members a distinct advantage over law firms outside the network, helping ensure that current insights and experiences are shared among the organization’s network of professionals.
