I was interviewed last year by as part of an ongoing interview series on strategy and innovation. The below is that interview [it is no longer online anywhere else]. Dan Harris is the founder of Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm with offices in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Phoenix New York, Barcelona, Madrid and Beijing.
My law firm’s basic mantra about getting money out of China is that if you consistently follow China’s laws, it ought to be no problem. This though has not been true lately. In the last week or so, our China lawyers have probably received more “money problem” calls than in the entire year before that.
Many years ago, Dan Harris of my law firm wrote a Forbes Magazine article (China’s Hourly Work Week: Think Locally) on how China’s employment laws had become so localized. Dan started that article with the following explanation: I have avoided writing on China employment law because it is so complicated and so localized. My fear
The title of this post comes from a terrific NPR Marketplace article of the same name. If you are doing anything related to manufacturing in China, this is the one article you should read this year. The article is based on a question Chinese Premier Li Keqiang asked in Beijing earlier this month. Li went
Hiring interns in China (like pretty much everything involving China employment laws) is complicated and local. And when I am tasked with figuring out how one of our clients may legally do that, I almost always have to review applicable national, provincial and local laws and regulations and engage in followup conversations with the relevant
When making a WFOE (Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise) or JV (Joint Venture) investment in China, an investor must consider who or what will be the shareholder(s) in the PRC entity. Will the investor invest directly, or will they create a special purpose subsidiary company (an SPV or Special Purpose Vehicle/a/k/a SPE or Special Purpose Entity)
A China-centric written contract is an effective tool for doing business in or with China. A first step in creating this effective tool is to carefully follow the rules for execution. Chinese courts are bureaucratic and formalistic. Make use of that tendency so you can prevail. Don’t blunt the edge of your instrument with sloppy
Copyright takedowns in China and copyright notices. What you can and should do now to be able to use a copyright takedown to protect your copyrights in China.
I love to talk about what I call our “accidental exporter” clients. These are companies (mostly in the United States, but Europe too) who literally lucked out into becoming Asia exporters. And by “lucked out,” I mean they were quietly going about their business when contacted out of the blue by someone in Asia (usually
Our China employment lawyers constantly hear misinformation about China employment contracts and double wage claims. In this post, I will try to set the record straight. China’s employment laws require full-time employees be employed pursuant to a written employment contract. But what happens with employees without a written employment contract? As with pretty much everything
