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.
Why International Arbitration Is the Cornerstone of Modern Global Risk Management The Global Business Reality: Cross-Border Disputes Destroy Deals Imagine a multinational manufacturer that spends almost five years caught in a foreign court system trying to recover a 2.5 million-dollar debt. By the time the case has crawled through local procedure and appeals, the company
High End Manufacturing Integrators: The Pros and Cons for Companies That Cannot Afford Mistakes Why Companies Are Turning to Manufacturing Integrators Companies that build sophisticated products tend to face the same pattern of problems. Overseas factories offer attractive pricing, but their incentives rarely match yours. Their priority is volume and machine utilization. Your priorities are
There are three keys to buying a Chinese brand: CNIPA-recorded IP, a China-enforceable supply contract, and distribution channel control.
Trump’s Asia Trip: What Changed in Law, What Didn’t, and How to Plan Your Supply Chain The short version President Trump’s trip produced three practical outcomes for companies that buy or sell internationally. First, the United States and Vietnam, and the United States and Thailand, announced trade deal frameworks that set baseline tariff rates and
Why It’s Usually Better to Sign a New Contract in China Than to Add an Amendment When working with Chinese manufacturers or other counterparties, foreign companies often ask our China business lawyers whether they can amend an existing contract instead of signing a new one. On paper, an amendment sounds efficient. In practice, it usually
Technology licensing lets you sell into China without a physical presence. Here is a 2025 playbook for diligence, export controls, IP protection, payment verification, and negotiating tactics that actually work.
FAQ: What Foreign Companies Need to Know About China’s 2025 Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) This post follows our comprehensive analysis of the 2025 AUCL reforms in “China’s 2025 AUCL: Executive Liability and Global Reach.” If you haven’t read it yet, start there. It explains the law’s long-arm reach, new personal liability for executives, and why
China’s 2025 Competition Law Creates Executive Liability and Extraterritorial Reach On October 15, 2025, China’s revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) will take effect, ushering in the most significant overhaul of China’s market regulation in nearly a decade. I began my legal career doing antitrust work at Kirkland & Ellis, so when China first rolled out
Serving Process on Chinese Defendants: Hague Service in China and the New Rules on Judgment Enforcement An American company spent years litigating a breach of contract case against a Shenzhen supplier. They won. Then a Chinese court refused to recognize and enforce the judgment because service of process was invalid under the Hague Service Convention.
China Manufacturing Risks in 2025: Why They’re Worse Than Ever The New Reality of Manufacturing in China Twelve months ago, a U.S. company wired $800,000 to a trusted Chinese supplier it had worked with for years. The factory never shipped a single product. Instead, it shut its doors, the owner disappeared, leaving the American company
