Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm where he mostly represents companies doing business in emerging market countries. Most of his time is spent helping American and European companies navigate foreign countries by working with the international lawyers at his firm in setting up companies overseas (WFOEs, Subsidiaries, Rep Offices and Joint Ventures), drafting international contracts, protecting IP, and overseeing M&A transactions.
In addition, Dan writes and speaks extensively on international law, with a focus on protecting foreign businesses in their overseas operations. He is also a prolific and widely-followed blogger, writing as the co-author of the award-winning China Law Blog.
No More DIY Law, Please Have you ever made a major business or life decision based on advice from a friend, a blog, or a DIY guide, only to find out later that it was flawed? Last week provided me with three compelling examples of why lawyers are indispensable in making any legal decisions. In this
China Licensing Negotiations Our China lawyers have been increasingly drafting contracts for foreign companies licensing their brand names, concepts, or technologies for use in China. Historically, this type of licensing was primarily confined to the industrial sector. Nowadays, a significant portion of our work involves crafting licensing agreements for companies eager to tap into the
I recently discussed with a client what steps it should take to protect its trade secrets across the various countries where it manufactures products and conducts business. Although this client has been operating internationally for nearly a decade, it now faces the challenge of bringing its most valuable intellectual property into competitive, and sometimes risky,
Navigating the Nuances When Working with Foreign Companies and Legal Professionals Way back in 2009, I wrote a blog post on the challenges and cultural differences I encountered while working with lawyers in Asia. At that time, my observations were primarily based on representing American companies entering Asian markets. Since then, this one post has
The Importance of Contracts in International Manufacturing Ten years ago, our international manufacturing lawyers often spent 10-20 minutes explaining the importance of having NNN Agreements and Manufacturing Agreements with Chinese manufacturers. And then another 10-20 minutes were spent explaining the need for a China trademark — even when NOT selling at all to China. We rarely
International Litigation As the number of global transactions continues to grow, the international litigators at my law firm have seen a rise in inquiries relating to litigation between domestic and international parties, from both companies and from domestic litigators When a dispute involves a foreign party, a host of special considerations come into play –
Small Debts Owed by China Manufacturers For over a decade, our China dispute lawyers have consistently received inquiries from companies that have paid between $3000 and $100,000 for product from a Chinese manufacturer and received either nothing in return or product that clearly is not up to snuff. These days, we are getting one or
I just learned that Alvin Y.H. Cheung has died, at the far too young age of 38. Who was Alvin Cheung, and why, after nearly 20 years of this blog, is he the first person to receive a memorial here? Alvin Cheung was a true scholar. By this, I mean he was the sort of
Last week I had a Zoom call with a long-time, no nonsense, client regarding an ongoing matter. As we were wrapping up the meeting, he mentioned his company was looking to start moving the manufacturing of some of its products from China to Vietnam or Thailand, and he wanted me to tell him what his
IP Strategies for the China Plus One Era I recently had a discussion with several of my law firm’s international lawyers about how so many of our clients are expanding their manufacturing operations or product sourcing beyond China. These clients now have an “international” strategy in which China is just one component, or in some
