On August 26, 2010, CBLA, China General Chamber of Commerce and Sidley Austin jointly hosted a seminar on the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on Chinese banks and companies. The seminar was designed to address issues and provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that are of special interest to Chinese banks and companies that have, or expect to have, a presence in the U.S. Over 120 participants, including leaders and representatives from some of the largest Chinese banks, state-owned enterprises and private companies, attended the seminar. The seminar was held at Sidley’s New York office.
(Xiaojing Li, CGCC and Bank of China) Sidley’s Managing Partner in New York, George Petrow and CBLA director Alex Yong Hao
delivered introductory remarks. Xiaojing Li, President of CGCC and General Manager of Bank of China U.S.A., gave the keynote speech. The panel consisted of the following Sidley partners: Joseph Armbrust, William Eckland, Connie Friesen, Robert Golub, Jonathan Kelly, Richard Klingler, Robert Pietrzak, Xiaowen Qiu, Irving Rotter, Michael Sackheim, and Andrew Shoyer. Panelists discussed the general theme of the Dodd-Frank Act and addressed the potential consequences and issues most relevant to Chinese banks and companies in the finance, energy, insurance, and real estate sectors.
(From left to right: Joseph Armbrust, Robert Golub, Irving Rotter, Richard Klingler, Connie Friesen, Xiaowen Qiu, and Robert Pietrzak) The panel discussion was moderated by CBLA director Nan-I Chen. Following the panel dis-cussion, the attendees and panelists continued exchanging thoughts and viewpoints about the Dodd-Frank Act over a delicious meal of steamed sea bass and twice-cooked pork, among
F A L L 2 0 1 0 N E W S L E T T E R
Seminar on Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act
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other authentic Chinese dishes. The event was successful in bringing together a major U.S. law firm with Chinese industry heavyweights in New York; it also marked yet another successful cooperation between CBLA and its institutional members. CBLA officers Esther Chiang and Mingzhang Zeng contributed significantly to the organization of this event.
CBLA and Kirkland & Ellis co-sponsored a seminar entitled “Intellectual Property in the United States: What a Chinese Company Should Know.” The seminar was held at Kirkland & Ellis’ New York office on June 24, 2010. The panel was composed of some of the most prominent intellectual property lawyers in the country: Dale Cendali, Paul Bondor, Claudia Ray, and Edward Sadtler from Kirkland & Ellis, and Michelle Francis from the Francis Com-pany. Xiaoyan Zhang, an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis and a director of CBLA, moderated the panel discussion. The topics covered by the panelists were com-prehensive and practically relevant, which included: (1) an overview of U.S. trademark and copyright law; (2) U.S. patent litigation; (3) international arbitration with respect to intellec-tual property; and, (4) intellectual property transactions. Drawing from their respective expertise in these areas, the panelists presented the basic legal framework in these areas and shared many practical tips for Chinese compa-nies.
(Dale Cendali, Kirkland & Ellis) The seminar generated a lot of interest, drawing an audience of nearly 100 people, including representatives from Chinese companies’ New York offices, attorneys, law students, and non-legal professionals. The speakers’ presentations were informative and engaging, and very well received by the audience, many of whom stayed around after the formal conclusion of the semi-nar to raise additional questions.
Seminar on Intellectual Property in United States:
What a Chinese Company Should Know
(From left to right: Dale Cendali, Paul Bondor, Claudia Ray, Edward Sadtler, and Michelle Francis)
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On July 27, 2010, CBLA, in conjunction with Shearman & Sterling, hosted an event at Shear-man’s New York headquarters. Guests included attorneys from various firms, law students in the city for the summer, and non-lawyers from various companies and financial institutions. Several Shearman partners spoke to the atten-dees and overviewed the diverse practices and international opportunities at a major firm like Shearman. Capital markets partner and former hiring partner Antonia Stolper spoke about how she, as a Spanish- and French-speaking American lawyer, ended up as a young partner based in Hong Kong and responsible for struc-turing deals throughout Asia. Project finance partner Greg Tan spoke about the nature of international law practice, and how a lawyer who speaks Chinese and started his career in Hong Kong ended up with a New York-based practice in project finance that is generally focused on the Americas. Finally, M&A partner Stephen Besen spoke about his experience working on deals throughout Asia, particularly about his experience working for Indian clients.
(Greg Tan, Shearman & Sterling) After these remarks, the rest of the evening was devoted to networking. These partners, and other lawyers from Shearman, mingled with guests, and shared experiences and ideas. CBLA officer Alex Heckscher led the organization of this networking event.
CBLA’s Fireside Chat Program is a series of
small group discussion forums that bring expert speakers to our members and friends in a casual, zero-distance setting.
Asia Summer Networking Event
The Fireside Chat on July 8, 2010 featured Mi-chael McKay, a partner at Vinson & Elkins, on international project finance. Michael shared his nearly 30 years of experience in international project finance, touching upon a wide variety of issues including financing source, risk manage-ment techniques such as interest rate or FX swaps, PPA, EPC, political risk insurance, battles of consultants, to name just a few. Par-ticipants included lawyers, bankers, senior credit officers and scholars interested or experi-enced in international project finance transac-tions. The Chat, which was hosted by CBLA at a South African restaurant in Manhattan, received great feedback from participants who relished the level of interaction among the group and the depth of the discussion led by Michael.
(Michael McKay, Vinson & Elkins, second from right)
Mentorship Program
On August 8, 2010, CBLA held the “Summer Cha Xu,” an inaugural Mentorship Program event held at the home of Xiaowen Qiu, a Sidley Austin partner. The topic of the afternoon was “How to Succeed as a Minority Professional.” Over Long Jing tea and afternoon tea treats, Xiaowen led discussions on some of the biggest challenges facing minority professionals in the workplace, including in promotion and devel-opment. Over a dozen attendees from law firms, banks and other financial institutions shared
Fireside Chat Program
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their personal experiences and discussed ways to succeed in today’s competitive environment.
(Xiaowen Qiu, Sidley Austin, fourth from left) As part of the Mentorship Program, CBLA director Alex Yong Hao invited the Chinese J.D. students at Northwestern University School of Law to a dinner on August 13, 2010 in Chicago. The attendees discussed a wide range of issues of common interest to Chinese J.D. students. The event was organized by Jason Xianglin Wu, who recently obtained his J.D. from Northwest-ern.
CBLA congratulates Weiheng Chen on his election to the partnership of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He will co-head the firm's China practice with Carmen Chang. Mr. Chen’s practice is focused on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity and capital markets transactions. He has represented clients in some of the largest and most significant M&A deals involving Chinese companies in a wide variety of industries. He has also worked on a large number of private equity investment, joint venture, and restructuring transactions in China involving private equity firms and multinational corporations. In addition, Mr. Chen has advised on many high-profile securities offerings with extensive experience representing both issuers and underwriters. Mr. Chen joins the firm from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He started his legal career at Sullivan & Cromwell. CBLA congratulates Wen Huang on his election
to the partnership of King & Wood. Mr. Huang’s practice focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions, including strategic corporate investments, takeovers, auctions, “going-private” transactions and joint ventures. He has extensive experience representing PRC and foreign strategic and financial investors in a number of onshore and offshore acquisitions and investments. His industry experience includes financial institu-tions, telecommunication, manufacturing, natural resources, real estate and technology. His practice also includes corporate finance transactions covering SEC-registered securities offerings, Rule 144A and Regulation S securities offerings and tender offers. He also regularly provides general corporate advice, including regular advice on corporate governance, internal restructuring and other regulatory matters.
Community Bulletin Board
In June 2010, the Beijing-based Jun He Law Offices opened an office in Silicon Valley. Jun He hired two lawyers from U.S. firms for the new West Coast outpost: James Zhu, previously managing partner of Perkins Coie’s Beijing office, and Steven Cui, a former IP of counsel in Jones Day’s Beijing office. James Zhu joined Perkins Coie’s Los Angeles office in 2002, be-came a partner in 2007, and was named manag-ing partner of the firm’s Beijing operations in early 2008. He is a leading Chinese American lawyer in the life sciences and medical device industries. Steven Cui previously spent seven years in-house at San Francisco-based Genen-tech, where he became senior IP counsel at the biotech firm. Steven started his legal career as a patent attorney at Morrison & Foerster.
Movers and Shakers
CBLA member Helena Huang spoke at China’s Third Bankruptcy Forum on June 26, 2010 in Beijing, which was hosted by China’s Supreme People’s Court and attended by over 500 insol-vency judges, lawyers, accountants and liquida-tors in China. Helena Huang is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis’ Hong Kong office. She focuses on the expansion of Kirkland’s global private equity practice in Asia and the continued devel-opment of the Firm’s China-related restructur-ing practice. Helena has represented numerous
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private equity funds in their worldwide invest-ments, dispositions of distressed businesses and assets, and restructuring transactions of under-performing portfolio companies. She has repre-sented large corporations and financial institu-tions in connection with all aspects of complex Chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court work-outs, and cross-border insolvency proceedings. Helena obtained legal training in both the U.S. and China, and is one of few U.S. restructuring lawyers with a Chinese legal background. On July 28, 2010, CBLA member Leonard P. Goldberger, a shareholder at Stevens & Lee, was the featured speaker at a conference in Guangzhou, China, on Acquiring Financially-Distressed Companies and Assets in the U.S.A. The conference was sponsored by the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangdong Province, and organized by The Guangdong Enterprises Association for Foreign Economic Cooperation. The focus of the confer-ence was on how Chinese companies could implement the central government’s “going out” policy, which encourages Chinese companies to invest abroad, by strategic investments in a broad range of financially-distressed businesses and assets that are currently available in U.S bankruptcy cases. Also participating by video conference were William W. Uchimoto and Thomas Zhi Yang, also from Stevens & Lee, who discussed strategies for Chinese companies to raise capital in U.S. public securities markets.
(Leonard P. Goldberger, right) On August 12, about ten CBLA members spent a cool summer night at the Body Music Festival, one of this year’s Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors summer series. Using their bodies as instru-ments, the artists showcased their amazing techniques in producing music with orchestral
sophistication and depth. While not completely devoid of dull and awkward moments, the show provided some refreshingly unusual afterwork R&R for those of us who had worked through the day in our stuffy offices. On our way to this show, we also ran into the Lion Dance show taking place at Josie Robertson Plaza. The show’s artistic co-director, Rongrong Chen, a good friend of CBLA, led the performance. This mini-getaway was organized by CBLA officers Steve Xi Chen and Yong Chen. CBLA officer Lawrence Zhan Zhang received an interview from China Radio International (CRI) in mid-July in Beijing. Lawrence was featured in the article Overseas Chinese Lured Home by The Economic Boom and Cultural Ties, published online and broadcasted on the air. In the inter-view, Lawrence discussed aspects of practicing law in China that are uniquely appealing to U.S.-qualified lawyers with an interest in China. CRI is one of the “big three” broadcasting and TV stations in China, along with China National Radio and China Central Television.
宾汉麦卡勤律师事务所
Bingham McCutchen has over 100 years of history and 13 offices in the US, Asia and Europe with over 1,100 lawyers advising clients on transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including China, India, Indonesia, Aus-tralia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In Asia, our Hong Kong and Tokyo offices provide a full range of business law services including cross-border financial restructurings, corporate, M&A, investment funds, finance, financial regulatory, litigation, arbitration, intellectual property, antitrust, employment, real estate and international trade. Bingham has a long history of practice relating to China. Our lawyers include Hong Kong, English, U.S., Japanese, and Australian-qualified lawyers who are fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Our Institutional Members
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Morrison & Foerster is a leading international law firm with a diversified presence in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Having been han-dling major matters in greater China for more than 27 years, with nearly 80 multilingual US, PRC and HK qualified legal professionals, coupled with approximately 1,000 international lawyers in sixteen locations around the world, MoFo provides comprehensive coverage for investment, finance and regulatory matters to a wide spectrum of clients in China, including many of the world’s largest multinationals, the most substantial and active institutional PRC companies as well as promising startups in telecoms, cleantech and life sciences industries. Key areas of the firm’s practice in China are capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, real estate, foreign direct investment, technology and sourcing, and litigation.
O’Melveny & Myers was one of the first U.S. law firms to establish an office or become locally qualified to practice in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. The Firm’s China practice covers the full spectrum of business, commercial mat-ters, and adversarial proceedings, from provid-ing advice on complex acquisition, investment, commercial, financial, and capital markets transactions; to establishing joint ventures; to international trade matters and cross-border disputes. O’Melveny is an acknowledged mar-ket leader in China, with more than 100 profes-sionals on the ground representing clients on cross-border matters. The Firm also has strong China practice teams in the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom that work closely with the firm’s China offices. The Firm’s China prac-tice group is comprised of lawyers with U.S., PRC, Hong Kong, and U.K. legal training.
Sidley Austin has an established presence in the Greater China region and with offices and professionals in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shang-hai, we are well placed to offer a full range of services to all those involved in doing business in China. Sidley’s professionals in China are capable of handling a broad range of corporate, finance, litigation, regulatory and industry-specific matters and are qualified to advise on U.S., Hong Kong and English law. The firm represents global, U.S. and European companies, financial institutions, funds, life science compa-nies and others establishing business operations in China, as well as many Chinese companies establishing operations and dealing with regula-tory schemes in the EU, the U.S. and elsewhere. The firm’s Asia-Pacific practice has received numerous honors, including “Most Innovative U.S. Law Firm” by IFLR earlier this year.
Vinson & Elkins’ offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong work cohesively as a single integrated Greater China practice group, offer-ing high-quality legal services with a significant presence on the ground in all three of China’s key financial and business centers. The lawyers in our Greater China offices represent clients doing business in China - particularly in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, finance, private equity and venture capital, and other complex foreign investment transactions - as well as Chinese multinational clients on their China-outbound investments. Our lawyers are qualified in the U.S., England & Wales, Singa-pore, Australia, and China and are fluent in English, Mandarin, and other Chinese dialects. Lawyers in our Greater China Practice are able to call upon lawyers from our global network creating a truly global practice.
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Cypress Recruiting Group was launched in 2001 by a Harvard Law School graduate to guide U.S. and China based attorneys on their lateral moves in China. Unlike other large U.S. based recruiting firms that assign just one re-cruiter to the Asian region, the entire Cypress team focuses exclusively on the Asian legal markets and consists of research associates, marketing and H.R. specialists and ex-practicing attorneys from top-tier law firms. Cypress has the staff and resources to accommodate associ-ates and partners looking for a wide variety of opportunities and firms. We currently have candidates interviewing with law firms such as Simpson Thacher, Davis Polk, White & Case, Debevoise, Shearman Sterling, Ropes & Gray, Weil Gotshal, Paul Weiss, Bryan Cave, and Squire Sanders as well as two US private equity funds, an RMB fund, an international hedge-fund, JP Morgan and several other top law and financial firms in China. Given our history and unparalleled relationships in China, we have placed more attorneys in China than any other Asia focused US recruiting firm. Cypress is known for the regional expertise, full staff and long lasting relationships that simply no other recruiting firm can offer. For information on job opportunities, visit www.cypressrecruiting.com or contact us at (212) 979-5900 or [email protected]. Cypress Recruiting is a superb recruiting team. Frankly, they are our #1 recruiter - and we will look at candidates Cypress sources more posi-tively than others because, frankly, they have some ability to get the good ones."
-Ken Siegel, Managing Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Our legal blog provides market information, hiring trends and substantive legal and financial updates-- http://www.asialegalblog.com.
Career Opportunities Lateral Link has successfully placed hundreds of attorneys at law firms and in-house positions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. We leverage our status as one of a very few true “go-to” recruiting firms for non-public positions with major U.S.–based and international firms with the localized on-the-ground connections necessary to get our candidate members expe-dited attention during their job search.
Our proprietary jobs database is updated daily and includes current, highly sought-after posi-tions at top-tier law firms, hedge funds, banks, publicly traded companies, tech companies, and sports and media companies. Our Members can see every opportunity for which they are quali-fied from New York to Beijing, updated in real time. Because Lateral Link operates more efficiently than traditional legal recruiting firms, we can pass the cost savings on to our Members. Attor-neys placed by Lateral Link at most law firms receive our standard Placement Bonus. In addi-tion, we offer an incremental Referral Bonus for each attorney referred to us who is not already part of the Lateral Link network and who sub-sequently obtains a position through Lateral Link. Justin Flowers, our Director of International Placements, has years of experience working with and placing associates as well as counsel and partner level candidates in the Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong markets. He has also successfully placed candidates with in-house clients and U.S.-based China practices in multi-ple domestic markets. He works with both established players and new entrants in each market. You can reach him at [email protected], or register with Lateral Link using the links above and select Justin as your preferred consultant.
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About CBLA
Chinese Business Lawyers Association, Inc. is a New York non-profit organization founded in early 2009. CBLA is a unique global forum of professional and social exchanges for legal, finance and other professionals with an interest in law and business in U.S. and China, without regard to location, ethnicity and language. CBLA now has about 800 members and friends. Photos from our past events can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/vivacbla. If you are interested in becoming an individual or institutional member of CBLA, please visit http://www.cblalaw.org/enrollment or email [email protected]. Please note that CBLA has not verified and cannot be responsi-ble for third-party statements contained in this newsletter.
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