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.
AI can produce a polished China contract while leaving its most important and complicated terms blank. Governing law, forum, language, service, and enforcement decide whether a company can stop a Chinese factory, recover its tooling, or reach assets after the deal goes bad.
A China trademark registration and an NNN Agreement protect different assets against different parties. Most branded manufacturing projects need both, but each has its own deadline.
AI Didn't Replace Lawyers. It Gave Us the 48-Page Contract. In 1972, two lawyers a few years out of school opened a storefront office in Van Nuys and called it the Legal Clinic of Jacoby and Meyers. Leonard Jacoby and Stephen Meyers were going after the large group of people who earned too much to
An NNN Agreement protects sensitive information while you evaluate Chinese factories. After you select the manufacturer, a Manufacturing Agreement governs quality, delivery, tooling, IP, and remedies. Here is how the two contracts work together and when one agreement can do both jobs.
A signed investment agreement with a Chinese investor does not guarantee the money will arrive. China’s new outbound investment rules make ODI approvals, foreign-exchange compliance, banking procedures, and funding risk central to the deal.
International deals become far more dangerous when the contracts, ownership records, customs filings, or tax documents say something different from what actually happened. These real-world cases show why the paperwork matters.
A buyer paid a Yiwu intermediary $147,000. Most of the goods never shipped. Here is why we told the buyer to skip the lawsuit and go to the police instead.
Why it makes sense to use an American lawyer who is fluent in Chinese to handle your China trademark filings.
Buying expensive equipment directly from China can save a business substantial money, but the risks rise quickly when the product is customized and the seller already has most of the purchase price. These seven questions help buyers protect themselves before they pay.
The Boise Cascade guilty plea shows why opaque DDP shipping can expose U.S. buyers to customs investigations, unpaid duties, penalties, and criminal risk.
