A gravestone with "Hong Kong" and Chinese text, set in a foggy cemetery at sunrise.

In Memory of Hong Kong

Is Hong Kong Irrelevant? I recently had a nearly two-hour conversation with a Beijing lawyer friend of mine. He’s with a Chinese law firm, and our talks often involve exchanging insights about our respective countries—both of us aiming to better understand emerging trends for our law firms’ future focus. I value these discussions highly as

A balanced scale stands in front of overlapping U.S. and China flags, symbolizing trade or political relations between the two countries, symbolizing United States new regulation of trade with China

U.S. Department of Treasury Implements Final Rule on Investment in Sensitive Technologies in China

The U.S. Outbound Investment Final Rule: What It Means for American Business  Executive Summary Effective Date: January 2, 2025 Key Impact: Restricts U.S. investments in Chinese tech sectors Affected Industries: Semiconductors, quantum computing, AI Penalties: Up to $368,136 or 2x transaction value Required Action: New compliance programs by January 2025 On October 28, 2024, the

China future business

China Best Practices and Strategy Tips for SMEs

China for SMEs Even amid riasing political and economic tensions, the China market remains attractive to certain businesses, especially SMEs, because of its massive middle class (about 400 million) and its robust, relatively accessible manufacturing ecosystem. However, the complexities of doing business in China can present significant challenges, and for companies lacking the resources of

Working for a Chinese cmopany Pros and cons

Quick Question Tuesday, Part 8: Should You Work for a Chinese Company?

Should You Work for a Chinese Company? As lawyers, we spend a lot of time fielding good, bad, weird, interesting, deep, superficial, and all types of other questions from people. We’re generally expected to be oracle-level wizards, a lot like people are treating AI now. In this series, we’ll share some of these questions that

A gavel in front of U.S. and China flags with the TikTok logo, implying legal proceedings involving TikTok.

A TikTok Ban Update

The Update on the TikTok Ban In The Ticking Clock to a TikTok Stop, I discussed the TikTok ban bill then under consideration in the United States Congress. The bill aimed to address concerns over national security and data privacy, stemming from TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese company. Fast forward to today, and the bill

Internatoinal lawyers

Representing Foreign Companies: Culture Matters

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

China due diligence lawyers

China Transactions When Your Due Diligence Says Don’t Do It

China Transaction Due Diligence My law firm’s international lawyers do a significant amount of transactional work, which we call “happy law.” It’s generally happy because the buyer and seller largely know what they want from the other side, and they have already agreed in principle on what the deal will look like. Both sides bring