In-depth, practitioner-focused coverage of Chinese law

Our team of experts create and maintain a bank of dual language, international-standard precedents and know-how for lawyers all around the world who are advising their colleagues or clients on commercial transactions in China.

At the core of our service are the 70 standard documents that are most frequently used in cross-border and domestic transactions, accompanied by integrated China-related drafting notes with guidance on legal and practical issues arising under Chinese law and practice. The documents will be available to download in Microsoft Word in English and written Chinese, to assist with obtaining regulatory approvals.

We are publishing documents in a series of toolkits grouped around common commercial transactions. The first toolkit is for private inbound M&A transactions involving foreign and Chinese parties.

We are publishing further toolkits covering other transactions and practical issues, including:

• Joint ventures.
• Commercial agreements.
• Intellectual property.
• Employment.
• Real estate.

Practical Law China toolkits are integrated with other relevant resources from Practical Law, including Q&A guides covering the essentials of Chinese law and practice across a wide range of topics, our suite of jurisdiction-neutral documents for use in international transactions and International Arbitration resources.

Our China team work in partnership with Panel Firms to produce our resources. The first module has been produced in collaboration with top-tier Chinese firm Zhong Lun Law Firm and the documents have been translated into Chinese by experienced legal translators and lawyers at Zhong Lun Law Firm.

Sign up to be notified about Practical Law China related developments by emailing china@practicallaw.com

Interested in contributing to Practical Law China?

Understand Chinese law, fast

Covering a wide range of topics, our high-level overviews of Chinese law can get you up to speed on the essentials of Chinese law, fast. The overviews follow a straightforward Q&A format and are written in clear, plain English by leading lawyers from international law firms. You can also compare the law in China with that in other jurisdictions by searching for answers using the Q&A tool.

Bring the international standard to Chinese acquisitions

The Chinese acquisitions toolkit comprises a set of localised international standard documents for use in private M&A transactions between foreign (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese) parties and Chinese parties. The documents are available in both English and Chinese, to ease local filings, and are accompanied by drafting notes, practical commentary and supporting resources.

Standard documents with Chinese translations

Practice notes

• Practice note, Governing law clauses in China-related commercial contracts (Jessica Fei, Damien McDonald and Chris Chung, Herbert Smith Freehills, Beijing)
• Practice note, What are the legal challenges in China deals? (Practical Law China)
• Practice note, Instructing a lawyer in China (Practical Law China)

China Q&A overviews

• China Q&A, Acquisition structures for international acquisitions: Yuan Cheng and John Xu, Linklaters LLP
• China Q&A, Preliminary agreements in international acquisitions: Yuan Cheng and John Xu, Linklaters LLP
• China Q&A, Share acquisition documents in international acquisitions: Lucas Xu, Junwei Lu and Joe Zhou, Berwin Leighton Paisner
• China Q&A, Competition in international acquisitions: Ninette Dodoo and Yong Bai, Clifford Chance LLP
• China Q&A, Consideration and acquisition finance in international acquisitions: Mayer Brown JSM
• China Q&A, Employees in international acquisitions: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• China Q&A, Tax in international acquisitions: Robbie Chen, Pinsent Masons LLP
• China Q&A, Signing, closing and opinions in international acquisitions: Jamie Barr, Jun Wei and Michael Zou, Hogan Lovells International LLP

Conduct international transactions to an international standard

The international transaction toolkits give you the tools you need to carry out international transactions to a truly international standard. The toolkits comprise plain English jurisdiction-neutral standard documents and drafting notes covering common cross-border transactions with detailed commentary on international market practice and country-specific guidance.

Panel firms

Zhong Lun Law Firm: Beijing

Practical Law and Zhong Lun Law Firm formed a strategic partnership to create Chinese legal know-how resources in 2011. Zhong Lun Law Firm was the first top-tier Chinese law firm to set up a London office in May 2012.

Our professional support team has worked closely with Zhong Lun lawyers to produce China standard documents on cross-border China M&A transactions. The documents have been translated into Chinese by experienced senior legal translators and lawyers at Zhong Lun Law Firm.

Robert Lewis is the International Managing Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm. He was previously Managing Partner of Lovells’ Beijing office and Asia General Counsel of Nortel. He was licensed to practice in California in 1985 and worked in Los Angeles with Sidley Austin before joining Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong in 1993. Robert has been consistently rated as one of the leading M&A and TMT lawyers in China for the last decade. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

John Jiang is a Partner working on antitrust, M&A and FDI matters. John counsels clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to private equity funds. His expertise is particularly sought by clients for PRC merger control issues in connection with structuring and executing cross-border and global M&A transactions. His practice covers M&A, antitrust, market entry strategy, alliance/outsourcing, and technology licensing. John has a Master of Law degree from Peking University, Beijing and a joint BA/BS (summa cum laude) in English Literature & Economics from Wabash College, Indiana. He speaks Chinese and English.

Yanni Kang is a corporate/M&A/FDI associate in the Beijing office of Zhong Lun Law Firm. Before joining he served as an APAC legal co-ordinator for two years at a SAS70 qualified accounting firm and worked in Sidley Austin’s Beijing office for a year. His experience spans the Asia Pacific region including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Zhong Lun Law Firm: London

Haibin Xue is the Managing Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm's London office. He studied law at Renmin University in Beijing, the University of London and the College of Law, before qualifying as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2006. He is also a qualified engineer. His core practice areas include cross-border M&A and corporate finance as well as international dispute resolution. He has acted for Chinese companies in connection with listings on AIM and NASDAQ and assisted Chinese companies on acquiring target companies and assets in Australia and Africa. Haibin is fluent in English and is a native Chinese speaker.

Linna Li acts for institutional investors, investment funds and property investment and development partnerships both in the UK and abroad. Her principal areas of expertise include real estate, cross-border M&A, foreign direct investment and capital markets. Projects include residential and commercial property portfolio acquisitions and disposals, including acquisitions and disposals of London city centre office blocks and hotels. Her corporate experience includes JVs and M&A projects as well as AIM listings.

Linna studied law at China University of Politics and Law in Beijing and the College of Law in London. She qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1999. She is fluent in English and is a native Chinese speaker.

Contributors

Herbert Smith, Beijing

Contributor of arbitration and dispute resolution resources for China

Herbert Smith's dispute resolution practice gives clients access to international disputes capability in China. The China arbitration team advises and represents clients under different arbitration systems and national laws, and in jurisdictions in and beyond Asia. The team has acknowledged expertise in energy, construction, finance, trade and investment disputes.

Jessica Fei is a Partner and an international arbitration and dispute resolution specialist. Jessica covers disputes work concerning energy, construction, trade and international investment. She has experience in representing Chinese and international clients in arbitrations under the CIETAC, ICC, SCC, ICDR, HKIAC, SIAC, and UNCITRAL arbitration rules. She advises clients on commercial contracts, intellectual property rights and foreign direct investment, and deals with various Chinese government authorities on investigations and regulatory issues.

Jessica is qualified in the PRC and New York. She has worked at the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) in Beijing and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) of AAA in New York as a research fellow and case administrator. She is also listed on the international panel of arbitrators for ICDR, CIETAC, HKIAC, KLRCA and CEAC and several Chinese local arbitration institutions. Jessica has contributed a number of articles on arbitration and is frequent speaker on topics related to international arbitration. Jessica is a native Mandarin speaker. She is fluent in English and proficient in French.

Damien McDonald is a Senior Associate in the dispute resolution team in Beijing and specialises in international arbitration, commercial litigation and corruption and information risk related work in China. He has had extensive experience in many different types of contractual disputes in mainland China, Hong Kong, the UK and Australia. Damien previously practised with Herbert Smith in Shanghai and London.

Chris Chung is an Associate in the dispute resolution team in Beijing.

Rouse & Co International, Beijing

Contributor of contentious IP content for China

Tim Smith is Deputy Head of Rouse's dispute resolution team in China and is based in Beijing. Tim advises international companies on IP protection and enforcement in China, and has particular experience in copyright and IP litigation in China. Before joining Rouse in 2008, Tim was Senior Legal Adviser at IFPI, the international trade body for the recording industry. At IFPI he was responsible for a number of high-profile international litigation cases, including the groundbreaking action for the industry against Yahoo! China. Tim trained at Ashurst in London. He qualified into the IP litigation team where he handled trade mark, design, copyright and patent work, including copyright enforcement programmes for retail and media-owning clients.

Aggie Liu is an Associate in the dispute resolution team in Beijing.

King & Wood Mallesons, Beijing

Contributor of labour law content China

King & Wood was one of the first partnership law firms in China. The firm was established in 1993 by a group of lawyers committed to creating a superlative legal practice and developing modern legal principles in China. King & Wood is one of the largest law firms in China. It is is headquartered in Beijing with offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Suzhou, Qingdao, Ji'nan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Silicon Valley and New York. In March 2012 King & Wood joined forces with Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques to become King & Wood Mallesons.

Junlu Jiang is a Partner specialising in labour issues, social security, and real estate. He was one of the earliest lawyers to practice antitrust, competition and environmental law in China. Junlu was among the first lawyers to be awarded with a doctoral degree in labour law in China. He has a thorough understanding of labour laws in China and other countries, and is experienced in reviewing and drafting labour contracts and internal labour policies for Chinese large enterprises and multinationals, as well as representing employers in labour dispute settlements. He is recognised for his commitment to the legislation, implementation and judicial practice of China's Labor Law.

Junlu previously worked as an editor and journalist at China Labor and Social Security, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. He was also a founding partner of Beijing Qiankun law firm. He received his LLB and LLM from the Law School of Renmin University of China and his PhD from the Law School of Peking University. He was admitted as Chinese lawyer in 1994 and is proficient in English and Chinese.

Xu Xiaodan is a Partner specialising in labour law, employment litigation and cross-border dispute resolution. She counsels corporate clients on individual and collective employment contracts, establishing employment guidelines, restructuring human resources management, designing merger and winding-up strategies, contracts for outsourcing services, reviewing individual and group redundancy schemes and conducting US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act internal investigations.

She frequently represents state-owned banks, publicly-traded companies and foreign companies in labour arbitrations, employment litigations and judicial appeals. Xu also specialises in resolving international commercial disputes related to cross-border trade, FDI, equity disputes, banking, financial services and securities, and product liability claims. In particular, she has completed a number of complex domestic and international litigation and arbitration cases over million dollar liabilities or claims exposures. She also provides advice on pre-trial matters and risk management.

Xu obtained her LLB from Peking University in 2000 and her LLM from King's College London in 2005. She qualified as a PRC lawyer in 2002 and is proficient in both English and Chinese.