CLB Oct 2012

Jud i c i a l

R e f o r m

i n

Ch i n a

中 国 的 司 法 改 革

october2012 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM

亚洲法律杂志 - 中国版 CHINA

ALB China

Top 20

Largest Law Firms

A L B 中 国 律 师 事 务 所 二十 强

The future of VIEs

Managing partner Q&A

More rules to come?

VIE模式前途未卜：更多管制 将出台？

Freshfields’ Robert Ashworth 管理合伙人问答 富而德Robert Ashworth

PAGE 12

PAGE 22

Power up

INSIDE

Energy in-house voices 能源法务大家谈 n Deals SPOTLIGHT

PAGE 34

04

n THE BIG STORY

05

n LAW FIRM LEAGUE TABLES

08

n SUNDRIES

64

FORUM 2012

日 期：2 0 1 2 年 1 1 月 2 7 日 ( 星 期 二 ) 时 间：上 午 8 : 4 5 至 中 午 1 2 : 4 5 地 点：金 茂 北 京 威 斯 汀 大 饭 店 中国北 京 东三环北 路 7 号 朝阳区

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION MANAGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NEW CIVIL PROCEDURE LAW

ALB 天同 中国新民事诉讼论坛

中国 新民 事诉 讼 法背景下的 商 事诉 讼 管 理 2 012年 8月31日，中国新民事诉 讼法 颁布实 施，涉及诸多法律 程 序与制度的变革。在全球 经 济 处于衰 退 和中国经 济增速 放缓的大背景 下，公司商 事争 议将呈上升 态势。本论 坛 拟 邀请中国最高法院著名法官、大 型 央 企总法律顾问、民诉 法专家、商 事诉 讼律师，搭建一个 权 威性、前瞻性和持久性商 事诉 讼业务交 流 和分享经验的平台，该论 坛将成为中国主 流商 事诉 讼律师对话的纽带。 本论 坛将围绕中国新民诉 法实 务展 开互动交 流 。新民诉 法实 务重 点在哪里？公司法 务在新形势和新 法 规下，如何 进行 诉 讼管理，化解 法律风险，提 升 企业 竞争力？执 业商 事诉 讼律师与 客户、法官的双向沟通有哪些专业实 务秘籍？商 事诉 讼律师如何以积极 的力量，以专 业的态度和丰富的实践，引领中国商 事诉 讼律师与 客户、法官沟通 方式 和工作方式的转变？以商 事诉 讼律师群体的成长与崛 起，推 进 中国法律 秩 序与 商业文明的建设 进程。 演 讲 嘉 宾： 蒋勇律师， 北 京市天同律师事务 所的首席合伙 人，清 华 大学法学院硕士生导 师，中国人 民大学 律师 学院客座教 授

倪伟律师， 上海 虹桥正 瀚 律师事 务所主任、管 理合伙 人，上海 市仲裁 委员会 仲裁员，中国人 民大学 律师学院 兼职教 授

陈耀权律师， 北 京市天同律师事务 所业务主管合伙 人

彭 卿 律师， 北 京天同律师事务所 合伙 人

张 卫平， 中国民诉 法专家、清 华大学法学院教 授

更 多 演 讲 嘉 宾 包 括︰ 中 国 最 高 法 院 法 官 、中 央 企 业 总 法 律 顾 问 、民 诉 法 专 家 、中 国 商 事 诉 讼律师。

会 议 流 程 - 2 0 1 2 年 11 月 2 7 日，金 茂 北 京 威 斯 汀 大 饭 店 8:45

嘉宾签到

10: 40

中国商事诉讼律师俱乐部倡议发起仪式

9:00

新民诉法重点和实务探讨 主讲人： 最高人民法院法官 张卫平 民诉法专家、清华大学法学院教授 蒋勇 中国商事诉讼大律师、北京天同律师 事务所首席合伙人

10: 55

商事诉讼律师与客户、法官沟通艺术与实务技巧 主讲人： 陈耀权 北京天同律师事务所合伙人

11:20

经济下行时期企业的投融资风险防范案例解读 主讲人： 倪伟 上海虹桥正瀚律师 事务所首席合伙人

公司法务如何选择最佳商事诉讼律师 主讲人： 於乐民 中国中化集团法律部总经理 彭卿 北京天同律师事务所合伙人

11:45

交流午宴

茶歇

12:45

论坛结束

9:55

10:25

欢 迎下列行业精英 参 会：银行与金融、能 源、科 技，媒体 和电讯 项目、房地 产与 建 筑工程、医 药等重 点行业企业总法律顾问、法 务管理 者，国内一流商 事诉 讼律师及 政 府 法律政 策 研 究机 构管理者。免费参 会证 数 量有限，敬请于2 012年11月2 0日或之前以电邮登记。如欲 出席本论 坛 及登记免费席位，请与 Tr a c y联络，電話+ 8 5 2 376 2 3 2 6 2 或 发 送电邮至t r a c y. l i @ t h o m s o n r e u t e r s .c o m Proudly presented by

ASIA.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM

CONTENTS

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

1

“People need to be treated like people. You can’t deal with everybody by e-mail or even through telephone calls; you need to spend time face to face encouraging, guiding, and listening.”

Robert Ashworth, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

45

27

COVER STORY ALB China Top 20 largest firms A LB 中 国律师事务所 20强

46

ALB China shines the spotlight on China’s 20 largest firms. Cathy Chen talks to the top 10 for insights into market trajectories, their growth objectives, and why expansion must always be thoughtful and balanced.

ALB 中国版本期聚焦中国的20家最大的律所。Cathy Chen用第一手访谈为您呈现前十名的市场 轨迹，成长目标，并解析为何律所扩张规模必须深思熟虑寻求平衡。

FEATURES Fading glory: VIEs in China 逝去的辉煌：VIE在中国

12

《亚洲法律杂志》（ALB）今年“香港律师最佳项目 促成奖”，去年“香港最佳管理合伙人大奖”，英国富 而德律师事务所的Robert Ashworth收获了无数来

As the lifespan of the variable interest entity structure faces uncertainty in China, Zheng Yu reaches out to top capital markets practitioners to find out their perspectives.

自业内同行和客户的赞美，确认了他香港顶尖律师 的地位。现在他与Candice Mak座谈分享他对管 理这家“神奇魔法圈”律所所经历的挑战和喜悦的真 知灼见。富而德被广泛公认为拥有大中华地区最好 的公司业务。

没人知道协议控制结构（VIE）在中国还能存活多

Power up: Energy in-house roundtable 34 一起加油：能源法务大家谈

久。Zheng Yu联系了几位最优秀的资本市场律师， 让我们听取他们的意见。

View from the top: Robert Ashworth 欲穷千里目：Robert Ashworth ALB ’s Hong Kong Dealmaker of the Year, and last year’s Hong Kong Managing Partner of the Year, Robert Ashworth of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer sits down with Candice Mak to share his insights on the challenges and joys of managing the Magic Circle firm widely recognised as having the best corporate practice in Greater China.

22

ALB has invited six in-house counsels from major domestic and multinational energy companies to share their experiences, offer their insights on industry trends, discuss their risks and challenges, and speak of their requirements when hiring external lawyers. Liu Zhen reports 六位来自主要国内和国际能源企业的法务顾问， 应 ALB之邀在此分享他们的多年经验，以业内眼光 观察行业趋势，探讨面临的风险与挑战，并公布他 们在聘用外部合作律师时的选择标准。Liu Zhen 报道。

NEWS Deals

04

Briefs

05

League Tables

08

Appointments

10

Index

63

Sponsored Updates —

—

—

International Tax Azure Tax Shanghai Victory Legal Group Singapore Loo & Partners

60 61 61

Sponsored Profiles — Tahota Law Firm

07

— Zhonglun W&D Law Firm

07

— Shanghai Young-Ben Law Firm

11

— Joinway Law Firm

19

— Loo & Partners

20

— V&T Law Firm

42

SUNDRIES

64

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

2 ON THE COVER

MANAGING DIRECTOR Andrew Smart andrew.smart@thomsonreuters.com NORTH ASIA REGIONAL EDITOR Candice Mak candice.mak@thomsonreuters.com SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONAL EDITOR Ranajit Dam ranajit.dam@thomsonreuters.com MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL EDITOR Shaheen Pasha shaheen.pasha@thomsonreuters.com JOURNALISTS Seher Hussain seher.hussain@thomsonreuters.com Zhen Liu zhen.liu@thomsonreuters.com Kathryn Crossley kathryn.crossley@thomsonreuters.com Kanishk Verghese kanishk.verghese@thomsonreuters.com copy editor Vasundhara Chatterjee REUTERS/David Gray

associate copy editor Sanchita Ghosh HEAD OF SALES May Wong may.wong@thomsonreuters.com

THOMSON REUTERS TRUST PRINCIPLES 01

That Thomson Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group or faction;

DIRECTOR, EVENTS Lucinda Maguire lucinda.maguire@thomsonreuters.com ACCOUNT MANAGERS Jessie Cheung (Senior Sales Director, North Asia) jessie.cheung@thomsonreuters.com Yvonne Cheung (Senior Account Manager, China) yvonne.cheung@thomsonreuters.com Rebecca Ng (Account Manager, North Asia) rebecca.ng@thomsonreuters.com

02 That the integrity, independence and freedom from bias of Thomson Reuters shall at all times be fully preserved;

DESIGNERS John Agra Yvette Chiu

03

TRAFFIC MANAGERs Rozidah Jambari (Singapore) Ivy Tsang (Hong Kong)

That Thomson Reuters shall supply unbiased and reliable news services to newspapers, news agencies, broadcasters and other media subscribers and to businesses governments, institutions, individuals and others with whom Thomson Reuters has or may have contracts;

04 That Thomson Reuters shall pay due regard to the many interests which it serves in addition to those of the media; and 05 That no effort shall be spared to expand, develop and adapt the news and other services and products so as to maintain its leading position in the international news and information business.

Please contact Andrew Smart with any questions. andrew.smart@thomsonreuters.com

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS is available by subscription. Please call +852 3762 3269 (Hong Kong), +65 6775 5088 (Singapore) for details or visit www.legalbusinessonline.com Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor.

Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as ALB can accept no responsibility for loss.

THOMSON REUTERS 10/F, Cityplaza 3, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong T (852) 3762 3269 | F (852) 2154 6425 www.thomsonreuters.com

EDITORIAL

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

Growth of giants Our annual “Top 20 largest firms in China” feature once again hits the shelves, a showcase of the country’s most sizable operations.

Dacheng, Yingke and King & Wood Mallesons stay steady in the top three positions, with over 6000 fee-earners employed by these firms alone. Though a turbulent global economy has stagnated law firm growth across Asia, Chinese firms have weathered the storm and many have achieved stable expansion. All the managing partners of China’s biggest legal operations told ALB that they understood size is not an indicator of quality or strength. Though growth is an objective, their key foci are enhancing service quality, developing its lawyers and brand building. Much of the numbers increase is attributed to following clients offshore, into international markets. Please turn to page 46 to read more about the firms’ strategies and visions.

On a personal note, this ALB China issue will be my final for a few months as I head off to start my journey as a new mother. Next month, we will highlight China’s Top 15 women lawyers and each one featured is not only a star practitioner in her field, but also a wife or mother. Learning about their career paths upwards in a male-dominated industry is inspiring, and I know it will provide an insightful read for you. As always, if you have any comments or feedback, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the editorial team. I will be back in the new year – have a wonderful winter!

ALB_186x119.5mm_bleed5mm.pdf 1 2011-8-13 17:12:41

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巨人的成长 我们的年度中国律师事务所二十强本期再度登场，为大家展示全国最大的 机构们怎样运作。大成、盈科和金杜仍然稳居前三，各自都有超过6000人 的收费专业人员。虽然全球经济的动荡拖累了整个亚洲地区律所的增长， 中国律所仍然经受了风暴并保持了稳定的扩张。这一批中国最大型律所的 管理合伙人都告诉ALB，他们深知规模并不意味着质量或者实力。虽然增 长是一个目标，但是他们的核心焦点落在强化服务质量，培养律师人才和 打造律所品牌。他们的数量的增长很多是源于跟进海外客户，进入国际市 场。更多关于这些律所的策略和规划，请翻到第46页。 在此也透露一点个人动向，本期的ALB中国版将是我暂时休假离开之前的 最后一期，今后的几个月我将开始一段人生的新历程，成为一个母亲。正 好下个月我们将为您介绍中国的十五位顶尖女性律师，她们中的每一位都 不光是职场和专业领域的明星，更是贤妻或良母。她们在这个男性占据统 治地位的行业中一路打拼的职业经历是励志的榜样，我相信也会给给各位 读者带来思考和启发。 一如既往，如果您有任何评论或反馈，请即时与我们采编团队联络。我会 在新年之后回归。预祝冬安！

CANDICE MAK North Asia Regional Editor, Asian Legal Business Thomson Reuters

DEALS

4

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012 n your month at a glance Firm

Jurisdiction

Deal name

U.S./China

3 Sbio Inc’s privatisation

U.S./China/ Hong Kong

Allen & Overy

Deacons

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Value ($ mln)

Deal type

330

M&A

Alibaba’s stake repurchase from Yahoo!

7,600

M&A

Hong Kong/ U.S.

Alibaba’s financing by China Development Bank

1,000

Banking and Finance

Hong Kong/ China

Gemdale’s acquisition of Frasers Property from Fraser and Neave Ltd

213

M&A

Hong Kong/ China

KFM Kingdom Holdings’ Hong Kong listing

13

Equity

Hong Kong

John Swire & Sons’ share sale in Swire Properties

629 (HK$4.88 billion)

Equity

China

Nexans’ acquisition of Shandong Yanggu Cable Group

China

U.S./China

Walkers Conyers Dill & Pearman Fangda Partners Fenwick & West Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

$7.6 billion

King & Wood Mallesons Maples and Calder

M&A

Morrison & Foerster

Alibaba buys back half of Yahoo!’s stake • Alibaba paid Yahoo about $6.3 billion in cash and $800 million in preferred shares in Alibaba Group, plus $550 million cash for IPRrelated agreement in return for a half of Yahoo!’s 40 percent shares in Alibaba.

• The deal, which began in May, was completed on Sept.18.

• A total of 15 firms acted in this massive multijurisdictional deal.

Munger, Tolles & Olson Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Sullivan & Cromwell Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Walkers Weil, Gotshal & Manges White & Case

Chiu & Partners GFE Law Office Conyers Dill & Pearman Deacons Jun He Law Offices

$295 million

Slaughter and May

Joint venture

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Launch of Hisun-Pfizer Pharmaceuticals • Creation of joint venture enables both companies to reach more patients in branded generics arena.

• New Zhejiang-based company has an aggregate investment of $295 million and a registered capital of $250 million.

• Hisun holds 51 percent of the share; Pfizer holds 49 percent.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Clifford Chance

202 (euro 156 million)

M&A

Pfizer-Hisun joint venture

295

M&A

Yongye International’s privatisation

N/A

M&A

King & Wood Mallesons Jun He Law Offices Clifford Chance Weil, Gotshal & Manges Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

BRIEFS

10.2012

05

the big story

Fundamental, yet gradual: China’s judicial reform

By Liu Zhen

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hina has pleaded to make more changes to its judicial system in accordance to new situations and problems. In its latest white paper, “Judicial Reform in China”, issued on Oct. 9, maintaining social fairness and justice, and protecting human rights were listed among the ultimate objectives.

The paper says the defects and rigidity in China's current judicial system, and its work mechanisms are becoming increasingly prominent, and they need to be improved gradually through reform.

As the judicial environment changes profoundly, in this new round of judicial reform, China is trying to pursue a “just, effective and authoritative socialist judicial system with Chinese characteristics”.

For instance, in jury system trials with Chinese characteristics, last year “people’s assessors” participated in 1.1 million cases’ hearing, 46.5 percent of the ordinary procedure cases in 2011.

REUTERS/Jason Lee

According to the white paper, by the end of 2011, China had more than 18,200 law firms with 215,000 lawyers who together handled 2.3 million litigations and 625,000 non-litigation cases. There are also 3,600 legal assistance agencies and 73,000 community-level legal service personnel.

Strengthening its judicial organs’ capability, optimising the structure of the judicial organs and allocation of their functions and power, standardising judicial acts, improving judicial proceedings, and enhancing judicial democracy and legal supervision were among the goals of the paper.

Officials confirmed that a key amendment to the controversial system of laojiao – or “re-education through labour” is “necessary”. The current correctional laojiao system allows authorities to lock a person up for as long as three years without a trial.

As of 2005, such punishment was enforced upon offenders in a number of cases; 580,000, or over half of all were related to

drug abuse, the Legal Daily quoted the Ministry of Justice as saying.

Review and research on the reform of laojiao have been conducted; although, a timetable is not yet unavailable, according to Jiang Wei, a senior official in charge of the Central Leading Group for judicial reform.

Other measures of human rights protection are being taken to deter and prohibit extorting confessions by torture, to better protect the rights of criminal suspects and defendants, and to protect attorneys' rights to exercise their duties. Measures are also being taken to strictly control and prudently apply the death penalty, says the paper.

The paper says judicial reform is an important part of China's political system reform, and it remains a long and arduous task.

“Reforms will be a gradual process, not realised overnight. They will not be achieved by a simple case of reconstruction after destruction, but by steady progress and improvement,” said Jiang.

本月要闻

深刻但渐进：中国的司法改革 刘蓁

中

国宣布 将 进一步改 革司法 体 系，以 适 应 当 今 遇 到 的 新 情 况、新问题。在10月9日最新发 表的《中国的司法改革》白皮 书中，维护社会公平正义以及保障人权被列入终 极目标当中。 白皮书称，现行司法体制和工作机制中的不完 善和不适应的问题日益凸显，需要在改革中逐步 完善和发展。 随着司法环境的深刻变化，在本次新一轮司 法改革中，中国正尝试寻求一个“公正高效权威的 有中国特色的社会主义司法制度”。 例如，作为完善中国特色的人民陪审员制度的 尝试，过去一年里“人民陪审员”总共参与了110多 万件案件的审理，占一审普通程序案件的46.5%

据白皮书的统计，截至2011年年底，中国共 有1.8万家律师事务所，21.5万律师，总共办理了 231.5万多件诉讼案件和62.5万多件非诉讼案 件。另外还有法律援助机构3600多家和约7.3万 人的社区基层法律服务人员。 强化司法机关的的司法能力，优化司法职权结 构和功能权力配置，标准化司法行为，改善司法 程序，以及践行司法为民和增进法律监督也在白 皮书的目标之列。 与此同时，官方确认，对长期饱受争议的劳教 制度的修改是“必要”的。目前的劳教改造制度允 许未经法庭审判的人被关押高达三年。 《法制日报》曾引用过一份司法部发布的数 据，其中提到2005年，在以劳教处理的全部案件 中，有58万件，超过半数是与滥用毒品有关。

中央司法体制改革领导小组办公室负责人姜 伟说，关于对劳教制度进行改革的方案，相关部 门已经开始调查研究，但是目前还没有一个时间 表。 白皮书里还提到其他一些保障人权的措施， 包括：防范和遏制刑讯逼供，更好的保护犯罪嫌 疑人和被告人的权利，以及保护律师行使职责的 权利等等。另外还正在采取措施以严格控制和慎 重适用死刑。 白皮书说，司法改革是中国政治体制改革的 重要组成部分，并且还将是一项长期而艰巨的任 务。 “改革是一个渐进的过程，无法一夕之间完 成。改革不是简单的推倒重来，而是要稳步的前 进和改善。”姜伟说。

BRIEFS

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

‘Think, then think again before you act.’

GC INTERVIEW

LEK YI SIANG Position: Regional General Counsel Company: Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte Ltd

ALB: How is your role different from lawyers in other industries?

LYS: I think my industry moves a little faster than many industries because many snap decisions have to be made on pressing or risky issues and legal advice has to be given to management quickly. This is because many engineering, procurement and construction contractors of mega projects like gas and oil plants have to coordinate with the plant enduser/owner and a large number of other subcontractors, including my company, and they operate on short notices most of the time.

ALB: What are some of the major trends in your industry? And how have these affected your role?

LYS: Energy has become the lifeblood of modern economic development, but the traditional sources of energy like oil and gas have become expensive and more scarce; and amid concerns of carbon emissions, we have now gone on to alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, thermal and hydro power. With this growing trend, there is a need to keep up to date with any new local and international rules and regulations, and how they affect the company and its businesses.

ALB: Can you describe the structure of your legal team?

LYS: My team is spread across

the ASEAN and Australia/New Zealand regional offices, with three other legal counsel supported by three contract managers and legal executives. As the group’s business is mainly international projects in these regions, a lot of cooperation is required within the team to coordinate the legal work, with me supervising and advising the respective heads of departments.

ALB: What are the most important qualities someone in your role must possess?

LYS: An in-house lawyer needs to be able to oversee and manage the handling of many matters on various topics from different arms of the business. He or she must have the ability to shift gears between matters with minimum lag. When there is a conflict between achieving profits and legal obstacles in the conclusion of a contract, he or she needs to think firstly from the perspective of a business person and then as a lawyer to get around these obstacles with the minimum of risks.

ALB: How would you describe the strategy for the legal team?

LYS: I strive to get the team to engage in collaborative problem solving, rather than to just provide legal advice or provide contract reviews in a vacuum. It is all too easy to tell the business what are the

REUTERS/Handout .

6

legal risks or what are the do’s and don’ts. But it is not easy to cultivate soft skills to stand in the position of the business person, and then work with him on the best way forward.

ALB: What can in-house counsel do to make themselves an indispensable part of the organisation?

LYS: An in-house counsel provides legal advice on a business context, and not from a practitioner’s context.

As such, the in-house counsel needs to learn to cultivate strong interpersonal skills and the ability to be comfortable in a variety of situations, from presenting tough issues at the negotiating table of the customer to the sudden late night call or e-mail from a colleague in another time zone seeking advice.

ALB: What is the best advice you have ever received?

LYS: The best advice I have received so far was “think, then think again before you act,” from my former supervisor when I was still in legal practice. When faced with pressing deadlines and mountains of work, a lawyer can easily make mistakes which will affect the overall matter he or she is handling. Thus, before one decides on a course of action, he or she needs to think again whether that course of action is the one to take, for better or worse.

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泰和泰律师事务所

泰和泰人力资源法律服务拓展与创新

泰 杨静律师, 泰和泰律师事 务所合伙人

和泰律师事务所深刻意识到人力资源法律事务对客户的 重要性，因此高度重视该领域各项服务的拓展及服务模 式的创新。作为中国优秀的律师事务所，泰和泰处理了成千上万 件劳动人事争议纠纷及案件，为近千家不同性质和类型的企事业 单位提供了专业的、有针对性的人力资源管理法律服务，并参与 了大量劳动和社会保障立法听证、政策论证等法律事务。在处 理当前劳动法制环境下的各种人力资源争议纠纷、协助客户建 立完善的人力资源管理制度、协助客户处理日常劳动关系等事 务方面，拥有丰富的经验。 泰和泰在拓展与创新人力资源法律服务中，具有了以下独特性：

一、信息资源的整合优势 泰和泰人力资源法律服务团队主要由劳动人事争议仲裁委员会 专家委员、仲裁员、人力资源专家顾问、高等院校教授、高级人 力资源管理师及企业高级法务律师组成，与地方性劳动人事争 议仲裁机构、高等院校、各类性质的企、事业单位，均具有良好 的信息沟通平台。泰和泰与各地劳动人事仲裁委员会仲裁实务、 人力资源管理实践秉承“传承一致、与时俱进”的理念，为客户建 立具有时代特色的人力资源管理法律体制，提供“理论前瞻、执行 务实”的专业法律服务。 泰和泰律师事务所 地址: 成都市鼓楼南街117号世贸中心

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二、独立整合的地域优势 泰和泰拥有六家品牌机构（北京、成都、重庆、深圳、大连、香 港），是中西部唯一一家非地域化的律师事务所，系中国中部、 西部最大的律师事务所。在此基础上，泰和泰人力资源法律服 务拥有了跨区域的业务平台，为客户的跨区域业务拓展提供了“ 独立管理+整合制度”的跨区域法律服务方式。泰和泰与十几个

国家和地区以人力资源为主的国际大型律师事务所建立了战略 协作联盟，形成了跨国企业人力资源在中国的制度建设、调解、 仲裁、诉讼等一站式服务体系。目前，仅在成都一地就搭建了近 20余人的人力资源专业律师团队，该服务模式正在向品牌机构 及国外联盟所延伸。 三、周密独特的服务模式 泰和泰以“方案量身化”为法律服务方案指定目标、以“服务贴身 化”为法律服务方式提供目标，在为客户处置法律纠纷、制定法律 风险控制体系的同时，从客户的单位性质、业务结构和历史文化 出发，为客户量身打造适合客户要求的法律服务人员构成及法律 服务方案。泰和泰的法律服务方式为项目管理制度，即主协调人 +主办律师+协办律师+项目秘书的办案制度，专业化分工和团队 协作，最大程度保障服务质量。 四、经典广泛的服务对象 泰和泰成功服务了包括世界五百强企业在内的近千家企事业单 位，类型涵盖外国企业、外资企业、国有企业、私营企业、集体 企业、机关事业单位等，且成功处理了上万件人力资源纠纷及案 例，优质的法律服务获得了广大客户一致好评。在航空业、传媒 业、酒业、房地产建筑业、电子电器制造等各行各业，泰和泰拥 有前瞻性的理论研究成果和丰富的精品业绩。 泰和泰凭借与政府机构、法学研究机构和人力资源研究机构良 好的交流与沟通，并与其建立了稳定的沟通或合作关系 ，这使 泰和泰能够准确把握中国的最新立法、司法、执法动态，并能够 深入理解客户在中国这一独特的市场环境中的不同需求，从而 提供更为及时有效且前瞻性的法律服务，泰和泰在人力资源法 律服务领域将再创辉煌。

北京市中伦文德律师事务所

中国修法加强劳务派遣的管理 姚正旺律师, 合伙人 姚正旺律师，西南政法大学研 究生毕业。中伦文德劳动人事 专业委员会主任。主要业务领 域涉及建设工程房地产、公司 证券、金融能源、劳动人事、 外商投 资、诉 讼 仲裁 及高等 学 校 法 律 事 务。工作 语言为 中文和英文。

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十

一届全国人大常委会第二十七次会议初次审议了《< 劳动合同法修正案（草案）》（下称“《草案》”）并于 2012年7月6日向社会公开征集意见。 《草案》共计四条，就 有关劳务派遣的规定进行了修改，其主要内容如下:

享有的“同工同酬”的权利。

一、 《草案》第一条对《劳动合同法》第57条规定进行了修 订，规定设立劳务派遣单位的注册资本不得少于人民币100 万元，并且应向劳动行政部门办理行政许可。该规定在注册 资本及管理制度方面进一步提高了行业准入门槛，但要求 设立劳务派遣单位应当经过行政许可，从市场经济角度而 言，该行政许可的设立不具备行政许可法关于行政许可设 立的条件。

三、 《草案》第三条对《劳动合同法》第66条规定进行了修 改，明确了“劳务派遣只能在临时性、辅助性或者替代性的 工作岗位上实施”，并对“三性”岗位的具体含义作了进一步界 定：临时性是指工作岗位存续时间不超过六个月；辅助性是 指工作岗位为主营业务岗位提供服务；替代性是指职工因脱 产学习、休假等原因在该工作岗位上无法工作的期间内，可以 由被派遣劳动者替代工作。该规定在一定程度上可以杜绝某 些企业在主营业务岗位和一般性岗位长期大量使用被派遣劳 动者的现象，但《草案》关于“三性”的细化规定可操作性不 强，在实践中可能严重走样，并对司法工作形成较大压力。

二、 《草案》第二条在《劳动合同法》第63条的基础上增加了 一款，《劳动合同法》第63条只是对“被派遣劳动者与用工单 位劳动者同工同酬”做出了原则性的规定，《草案》第二条则 进一步明确了被派遣劳动者与派遣单位签署的劳动合同以及 派遣单位与用工单位签署的派遣协议有关向被派遣劳动者支 付的劳动报酬应当符合前款规定，切实维护了被派遣劳动者

四、 《草案》第四条对《劳动合同法》第92条规定进行了修 改，增加了对未经许可擅自经营劳务派遣业务的单位的处罚 力度；并进一步明确了对违反规定的劳务派遣单位、用工单 位处罚措施，但《草案》规定修正案施行前经营劳务派遣业 务的单位必须在依法办理行政许可和公司变更登记后方可继 续经营劳务派遣业务，则违背了“法律不溯及既往”的原则。

LEAGUE TABLES

8

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

CHINA Announced M&A Legal Rankings

CHINA Announced M&A financial rankings

Goldman Sachs & Co

Paul, Weiss

26,738.3 DEALS: 6

RANK

32,115.1

VALUE ($mln)

MARKET SHARE: 16.2

LEGAL ADVISeR

DEALS: 14

VALUE ($ MLN)

DEALS

MARKET SHARE

RANK

VALUE ($mln)

MARKET SHARE: 19.5

financial ADVISeR

VALUE ($ MLN)

DEALS

MARKET SHARE

2

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

26,606.0

14

16.2

2

UBS

29,493.9

13

17.9

3

Sullivan & Cromwell

24,363.4

5

14.8

3

Citi

27,578.8

19

16.7

4

Davis Polk & Wardwell

20,625.6

5

12.5

4

China International Capital Co

22,186.3

17

13.5

5

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

18,724.6

7

11.4

5

Credit Suisse

20,475.7

10

12.4

6

Stikeman Elliott

17,911.8

2

10.9

6

RBC Capital Markets

17,853.1

2

10.8

7*

Burnet Duckworth & Palmer

17,665.6

1

10.7

7

BMO Capital Markets

17,665.6

1

10.7

7*

Richard A Shaw Professional Corp

17,665.6

1

10.7

8

HSBC Holdings

11,845.9

10

7.2

7*

Blake Cassels & Graydon

17,665.6

1

10.7

9

JP Morgan

11,631.9

9

7.1

7*

Osler Hoskin & Harcourt

17,665.6

1

10.7

10

Deutsche Bank

11,055.6

9

6.7

(*tie) Based on Rank Value including Net Debt of announced M&A deals (excluding withdrawn M&A)

(*tie) Based on Rank Value including Net Debt of announced M&A deals (excluding withdrawn M&A)

CHINA Announced M&A Legal Rankings

HONG KONG Announced M&A Legal Rankings

Linklaters

Davis Polk & Wardwell

760.1 DEALS: 9

RANK

5,911.2

VALUE ($mln)

MARKET SHARE: 1.6

LEGAL ADVISeR

VALUE ($ MLN)

DEALS: 10

DEALS

MARKET SHARE

RANK

VALUE ($mln)

MARKET SHARE: 11.5

financial ADVISeR

VALUE ($ MLN)

DEALS

MARKET SHARE

2

Mayer Brown JSM

522.5

4

1.1

2

Clifford Chance

4,998.8

17

9.7

3

King and Wood

494.8

10

1.0

3

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

4,849.8

7

9.4

4

Mallesons Stephen Jaques

453.2

6

1.0

4

Allen & Overy

3,928.4

9

7.6

5

Fangda Partners

426.3

11

0.9

5

Sullivan & Cromwell

3,854.7

3

7.5

6

Shearman & Sterling

388.2

8

0.8

6

Baker & McKenzie

2,932.4

8

5.7

7

Allen & Overy

387.6

8

0.8

7

Jones Day

2,400.7

4

4.7

8

Paul, Weiss

368.6

4

0.8

8

Skadden

1,791.7

4

3.5

9

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

345.1

5

0.7

9

Debevoise & Plimpton

1,718.8

1

3.3

10

Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Melveny & Myers

341.9

4

0.7

10

Zhong Lun Law Firm

1,481.4

3

2.9

(*tie) Based on Rank Value including Net Debt of announced M&A deals (excluding withdrawn M&A)

(*tie) Based on Rank Value including Net Debt of announced M&A deals (excluding withdrawn M&A)

ANY CHINESE INVOLVEMENT ANNOUNCED M&A ACTIVITY - QUARTERLY TREND 80

Rank Value US$ billion

70

No. of Deals

60

83.6

46.4

50 40 30 20 10

8.3 9.4

16.6

10.6

15.7

12.4

17.0

1,200 72.1

39.9 27.5

23.4 21.5 22.6 22.4

42.5

36.5

47.7

47.1 42.5 42.6 45.7

1,000 54.9 45.1 41.9

800 600 400

16.7

200

No. of Transactions

Rank Value US$ Billion

90

0

0 1Q 05

3Q 05

1Q 06

3Q 06

1Q 07

3Q 07

1Q 08

3Q 08

1Q 09

3Q 09

1Q 10

3Q 10

1Q 11

3Q 11

NOTES: League tables, quarterly trend, and deal list are based on the nation of either the target, acquiror, target ultimate parent, or acquiror ultimate parent at the time of the transaction. Announced M&A transactions excludes withdrawn deals. Deals with undisclosed dollar values are rank eligible but with no corresponding Rank Value. Non-US dollar denominated transactions are converted to the US dollar equivalent at the time of announcement of terms. Data accurate as of October 16, 2012

BRIEFS

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9

中国·上海

CHINA · SHANGHAI 2012.11.24—11.25

Uphill battle for Malaysia masterplan Malaysia’s sweeping Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), which includes a badly needed mass transit system for Kuala Lumpur, is facing increasing scepticism that it cannot attract the level of private investment needed to meet its goals.

A key target is to have private investors fund 60 percent of the ETP. Two years after its creation, the programme is leaning heavily on state spending through 2011, fully private companies accounted for less than 35 percent - even as the Southeast Asian nation posts impressive growth rates the government credits partly to its masterplan.

Critics contend that the ETP is a snazzy throwback to Malaysian megaprojects that failed to deliver, from a multimedia "super corridor", derailed by the 1997 and 1998 Asian financial crisis and dotcom bust, to "BioValley", a planned biotech hub that sank after its 2003 launch.

MALAYSIA’S ECONOMIC PROGRAMME AND INCOME Select governmentbacked ETP projects - bln ringgit

35000

Refinery & Petrochem Integrated Dev

Klang Valley mass rapid transit Karambunai Integrated Resort City*

Gross National Income per capita - 000 ringgit

Current account 50000 balance - bln ringgit

28000

40000

21000

30000

14000

20000

7000

10000

Electricity infrastructure Developing marginal oil/gas fields Balai cluster oil fields Regasification plant 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

* Private sector project Sources: Malaysia Central Bank, Malaysia Statistics, Pemandu Reuters graphic/Catherine Trevethan

15/08/12

0

00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11

0

10

APPOINTMENTS

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS October 2012

Lateral hires NAME

Leaving

GOING TO

PRACTICE

LOCATION

Pui Hong Chik

Baker & McKenzie

Linklaters

Corporate, equity and compliance

Beijing

Lewis Ho

Simmons & Simmons

Dechert

Corporate

Hong Kong

Jeremy Hunt

Allen & Overy

Morrison & Foerster

Corporate

Hong Kong

Thomas Yunlong Man

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Morrison & Foerster

Corporate

Beijing

Benny Pang

Pang & Co

Loeb & Loeb

Finance and securities

Hong Kong

William L. Rosoff

Cozen O’Connor

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

Corporate

Beijing

Angus Ross

Allen & Overy

Ashurst

Dispute resolution

Hong Kong

Germain Sinpraseuth

Salans

Adamas

M&A and Investment

Shanghai

NAME

FIRM

practice

from

to

Nick Beckett

CMS Cameron McKenna

Life sciences and Pharmaceutical

London

Beijing

Gautam Bhattacharyya

Reed Smith

International commercial litigation; Arbitration

London

Singapore

Mark Hyde

Clifford Chance

Finance

London

Hong Kong

Nick Seddon

Eversheds

Aerospace defence and Corporate

Hong Kong

Beijing

Lawrence Venick

Loeb & Loeb

Corporate

Beijing

Hong Kong

relocations

Asia Asia ex-Japan ex-Japan Legal Legal & & Compliance Compliance Best Best Headhunti Headhunting ng Executi Executive: ve: Rank Rank 1 1 Asia Asia ex-Japan ex-Japan Legal Legal & & Compliance Compliance Best Best Conti Contingency ngency Firm: Firm: Rank Rank 2 2 Asia Asia ex-Japan ex-Japan Legal Legal & & Compliance Compliance Best Best Retained Retained Firm: Firm: Rank Rank 3 3

Discreet.

Discreet. Professional.

Professional. Eff Effecti ective. ve.

CmlAsia CmlAsia

CareerAsia CareerAsia

The Recruiters Partners speak to in Asia.

Partners Partners •• Team Team Moves Moves •• Associates Associates •• In In House House +852 +852 2836 2836 6382 6382

www.cmlrecruitment.com.hk www.cmlrecruitment.com.hk

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进场交易—国有物权交易的规范化平台 徐宇舟, 合伙人 Denning Xu, Partner

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1405-1407室 A: Room 1405-1407, Fortune Times Plaza, No. 1438, North Shanxi Road, Shanghai, 200060, PRC. 邮编：200060 直线：+86-21-61484900 电邮：info@young-ben.com

自

2003年《企业国有产权转让管理暂行办法》 首次对国有产权转让做出“应当在依法设立 的产权交易机构中公开进行”的规定以来，我国已经陆 续颁布了多个政策法规用于规范国有企业通过产权交 易平台的公开转让。2009年《中华人民共和国企业国 有资产法》的颁布，更是再一次以国家法律的形式明确 规定了“国有资产转让应当在依法设立的产权交易场所 公开进行。”同时，各地政府以及产权交易机构也纷纷出 台交易规则，细化国有产权进场交易的要求和流程。国 有企业股权进场交易已属于法律强制性规定，并且已经 形成了比较成熟的交易流程以及交易规范。 相比国有股权转让的规范化以及成熟度，国有物权 的转让交易则存在不少问题。首先，国家的法律对于国 有物权是否必须进场交易规定不明。 《中华人民共和国 企业国有资产法》第51条规定，“本法所称国有资产转 让，是指依法将国家对企业的出资所形成的权益转移 给其他单位或者个人的行为；按照国家规定无偿划转国 有资产的除外”。可见，法律对于国有资产转让的界定还 仅仅停留在股权层面，并不包括物权。因此，国有资产 法对于国有资产转让必须进场交易的规定因此也仅仅 限定于国有股权，而无法直接约束国有物权的交易。 由于国家法律的规定不明，导致了国企管理者对于 国有物权进场交易始终有点暧昧。对于国企管理层来 讲，选择不进场交易，似乎有违国有资产转让公开公平 公正的原则；选择进场交易，则尚无强制性的规定，而 且需要承担额外的交易费用和时间成本。所以，在国有 物权的转让和交易中，私下转让、低估价值、规避税收、 中饱私囊的现象依然存在，国有物权转让乱象从生。 作为全国性的产权交易平台，上海联合产权交易所于 2012年4月5日首次颁布了《上海联合产权交易所物权交 易办法（试行）》（以下简称“《交易办法》”）。 《交易办 法》第一次对于物权进场交易做出了明确的规定。原本 律师事务所作为上海联合产权交易所的律师会员单位 和法律专家组成员，参与了该《交易办法》的制定。通 过《交易办法》的实施，依托上海联交所的专业优势和 市场优势，上海联交所拟在上海建立起一个专业且规 范的物权交易平台。 《交易办法》共58条，分别从受理申请、信息发布、 资金结算、标的物交付、法律责任等方面对物权进场 交易做出明确规定。以下几点是需要值得注意的地方： 1、 《交易办法》采用了《中华人民共和国物权法》对 于物权的定义和范畴，第一次明确将所有权、用益物权

和担保物权都列入可供交易的物权。因此，包括土地承 包经营权、采矿权、建设用地使用权等原本存在争议的 物权内容都可以进入物权交易平台进行市场化的交易。 2、进场交易的形式多样化。 《交易办法》规定了包 括拍卖、网络竞价和协议等多种交易方式。委托人可以 根据实际情况选择适用不同的交易类型，最大程度保 证交易的成功率。 3、进场交易代理制度。 《交易办法》明确规定物权 交易应通过经纪会员或拍卖会员进行，保证了物权交易 的规范性和便捷性。 4、交易资金的统一结算。 《交易办法》规定交易价款 和交易服务费都应当进入联交所统一实行资金结算。受 让方一旦发现标的物存在异议，可以要求联交所止付。 这个规定更大程度保护了受让方的利益，也更好的发挥 了联交所交易平台的监管作用。 笔者认为，依法建立和推进国有物权交易新平台， 鼓励和支持国有企业物权进场交易公开转让，对保障 国有资产保值增值，减少国资流失风险具有重大作用： 产权交易平台是一个公开的市场交易平台，通过合理 的竞价规则，最大程度的体现拟转让国有物权的实际市 场价值，有利于国有物权的价值衡量和市场化运作。 进入产权交易需要提供各类申请文件和批准程序， 通过规范的交易流程，确保对于国有物权转让的监督 管理，保证公开、公平、公正的市场原则。 进入产权交易平台，需要有包括律师事务所、审计评 估事务所、产权经纪公司等专业的第三方机构的介入， 对于国有物权在产权界定、资产评估、交易手续、合同签 署、款项支付等各方面提供专业支持，避免法律风险。 当然，由于上位法未对国有物权进场交易做出强制 性规定，因此《交易规则》对于国有物权进场交易也是 遵循自愿的原则。笔者建议，从保护国有资产以及国企 管理者的角度来讲，国有物权进场交易势在必行，且有 利无弊。同时，笔者也呼吁立法机关能够从法律法规的 层面出台更高级别的规定，对国有物权进场交易做出 更加明确的规定，以在全国范围内建立和推进国有物 权交易的广阔平台。

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Variable interest entity

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

Fading VIEs in

As the lifespan of the variable interest entity structure faces uncertainty in China, Zheng Yu reaches out to top capital markets practitioners to find out their perspectives.

T

he betrayal of your local management team, the transfer of core assets, the disappearance of your company chop, and the robbery of company hard disks – nothing can be worse for a foreign businessman than getting trapped with all of these. Earlier this year, the drama of ChinaCast Education shocked investors with the most extreme variable interest entity (VIE) rupture, and brought back all the worries accumulated over the years.

The VIE structure is by nature a business model that has been embedded and is thriving in China’s regulatory grey area. However, since 2010, from GigaMedia and Buddha Steel to the most famous Alibaba case, scandals exposed the VIE, and has shown that after a decade of glorious development, the innate defects of this workaround solution had begun to loom large.

Now all eyes are on the government’s attitude toward this issue - with investor concerns flaring up, and a round of fierce attack from short sellers is raging against the existing VIEs. Once much loved, now shunned, the structure has been caught in an awkward and subtle situation A have-to choice According to the Provisions on Guiding Direction of Foreign Investment and Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue, several politically-sensitive industries, such as the Internet, education, and telecommunications are banned from foreign investment in China to protect related companies’ full domestic ownerships. However, these industries are actually in dire need of foreign capital to support their rapid growth.

As an answer to the conundrum, the VIE structure - composed of a

**The Chinese translation of this this story story was wasprepared preparedby byCLS Synmax Communication** Translation**

没人知道协议控制结构在中国 还能存活多久。Zheng Yu联系 了几位最优秀的资本市场律师， 来听一下他们的意见。

当

地管理团队背叛了你，核心资 产被转移，公司印章消失，公 司 硬 盘被 抢 走，对一 个 外 商 来说，没有比遭 遇 这些更糟糕的了。今年年 初，发 生在 双 威 教 育的 戏 剧 性 事 件震 惊了 投 资者。这是协议 控制（V I E）破 裂的一 个 极端例子，积聚了数年的担忧又再度袭来。 V I E 结 构 从本 质上讲，是 兴 起 和 兴 旺于 中国 监 管灰 色 地带 的一种业 务 模 式 。但 从 2 0 10 年起，从和 信 超 媒 体 和宝生钢 铁，到 最著名的阿里巴巴事件，一件 件丑闻将V I E 曝 光在 公 众 面 前，显示在十 年繁 荣 发 展 之 后，这一变通办法的先天性缺陷开始耸现。 现在，所有 的眼 睛 都 盯 在了政 府 对这件 事情的态度上。投资者的担忧日益升温，卖 空者正在对现有 VIE发起一轮猛攻。从当初 的备受 追捧，到如今的人人 避讳，V I E结构 陷入了一个尴 尬而微 妙的境 地。 不得已的选择 根据《指导外商投资方向规定》和《外商投 资产业指导目录》，中国禁止外资进入一些政 治敏感行业（如，互联网、教育和电信），以确 保相关公司全部由内资所有。但其实这些行业 迫切需要外资来支持其快速发展。

** 此文中文翻译由CLS 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 Communication提供 ** **

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Variable interest entity

glory China

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逝去的辉煌： VIE在中国

Chinese-owned company in China, a foreign-owned company in China and an offshore parent, bound through a series of contractual agreements - was first creatively introduced in 2000 for Sina’s Nasdaq IPO, the first overseas listing for Chinese Internet companies. The adoption of this structure was full of sinuation, yet the purpose was simple and direct - to hide the fact of foreign investment in those restricted areas from Chinese regulators.

So fundamentally, the VIE is a business structure that goes against Chinese laws. However, the Chinese government’s silence, which the market widely interpreted as a tacit approval, led to the structure’s decade of prosperity. This ended in 2011 when the Alibaba scandal broke out.

For now, the lawyers interviewed by ALB agree that the capital markets have become more cautious, but the VIE remains a have-to choice for foreign investment in restricted areas. “In China, the market usually gets slow for the first three months after any big changes, but several tentative deals would soon help it to recover. For the VIE, the market has already fully recovered at the end of last year,” says Hang Cai, partner at Grandall’s Shanghai office, who previously was an official at the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Information. “If an Internet company wants to get the dollar investment, currently there’s nothing

为解决这个难题，2000年新浪在其纳斯达克 IPO（中国互联网公司首次在海外上市）中，首次 创造性地采用了VIE结构。该结构由一个在中国 的中资公司、一个在中国的外资公司和一个在境 外的母公司组成，并通过一系列契约协议绑定在 一起。采用这一结构的过程充满曲折，但目标是 简单而直接的，那就是对中国的监管部门隐瞒外 资进入限制行业的事实。 所以从根本上说，VIE是一个违反中国法律 的业务结构。但中国政府的沉默被市场广泛解 读为默许，并进而导致了该结构十年的兴盛，直 至2011年阿里巴巴丑闻爆发。 受访的律师们一致认为，目前资本市场已变 得更加谨慎，但VIE仍是外资进入限制行业的 不得已的选择。“在中国，在发生任何巨大变动 之后，市场通常会在头三个月里陷入低迷，但 几个试探性的交易就能让它迅速复苏。对VIE

REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

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Variable interest entity

better than VIE,” he adds.

Judging from years of government experience, Hang does not expect China to open up the IT industry in the foreseeable future, and believes it will remain restricted to overseas ownership as the guiding investment catalogue and related telecommunication regulations are still in effect. So, as long as those major listing destinations in the U.S. and Hong Kong do not reject this structure, and the general background of the government’s strong support for those highly-valued domestic ownerships does not change, the VIE will continue to be the mainstream investment vehicle.

“Order No.75 (Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration of Financing and Inbound Investment undertaken by domestic residents through Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles) does pose some registration challenges, but it does not affect the basic trend as companies would move to cities more tolerant with this approval, like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou,” says Hang. “In fact, we are seeing more projects moving to Beijing for registration.”

Besides, Jeff Yao, a Shanghai-based partner at Jade & Fountain, notes that “everyone is now familiar with this structure, so it has grown into a mature plan with all the documents easy to prepare”. China now has many experienced intermediary agencies assisting companies to make the VIE preparations, including the whole process of establishing the offshore companies. The high market recognition and acceptability has already become a major boost to streamline the general operation.

According to Selena She, partner at Jade & Fountain, for private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) still seeking investment opportunities in the restricted industries, the structure itself is simply not an issue. “It is a question of to be or not to be,” she says. “In China, many legal problems don’t have a black-and-white answer. PE or VC that have zero tolerance [over the risks coming with the VIE] can’t survive.” She suggests that compared with the to be or not to be question, institutional investors now have more concerns over their exit strategy. “It makes more sense to discuss the choice between a joint venture and an offshore company, as apart from the traditional overseas exit, domestic listings have also emerged as a viable exit option.”

VIE regulations tightening up?

In September 2011, Reuters exclusively reported that lawyers at four different firms in China and Hong Kong said they had seen an internal report, dated Aug. 17, said to come from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which asked China’s State Council to take action against VIEs. According to the report, specific measures included providing more encouragement for Internet company’s domestic listing, and a requirement of obtaining dual approvals from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the CSRC for the Chinese-owned company before its offshore parent’s overseas listing.

Later, during MOFCOM’s routine press conference, the spokesperson stated that he had not heard of this report, but at the same time, he revealed that MOFCOM and related government bodies were studying how to regulate this investment activity. So far, one year has passed while no systematic VIE regulation has come out. “I don’t think the government would have any clear cut policy for the VIE. The existing VIEs’ economic impact is not small. Under the current economic situation, China won’t take that action [to ban VIEs],” says She of Jade & Fountain.

Hang at Grandall shares this view as he explains that the VIE has made a great contribution to China’s IT industry: “There are two large groups of VIE beneficiaries. First is the Chinese government. The VIEsupported IT industry has created a large amount of job opportunities, and has brought in lots of tax revenues. Second are those dollar-based funds. Though the rate of return has greatly dropped recently, during **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

来说，市场已经在去年年底就完全恢复了，”国浩上海代表处的合伙人蔡 航说。蔡曾是上海市信息化委员会的官员。“如果一家互联网公司想得到 美元投资，目前还没有比VIE更好的办法。” 他补充说。 根据多年的政府工作经验，蔡认为在可预见的未来中国不会开放其 IT行业，并且鉴于投资指导目录和相关电信法规仍然有效，蔡认为IT业 会继续限制外商投资。所以，只要美国和香港的主要上市地不拒绝这一 结构，并且政府坚持高值内资化的大背景不变， VIE就将继续是一种主 要的投资工具。 “国家外汇管理局75号文《关于境内居民通过境外特殊目的公司融资 及返程投资外汇管理有关问题的通知》的确在登记方面设置了一些难 题，但这不会影响到基本趋势，因为这些公司会转移到更易获得批准的 城市去，比如北京、上海和广州，”蔡说。“实际上，我们看到很多项目都 转去北京登记。” 此外九州丰泽常驻上海的合伙人姚晓洪也谈到：“现在所有人都很熟 悉这个结构，它已经成为一个成熟的方案，所有的文件都很容易准备。” 中国现在有许多有经验的中介代理人都可以协助公司筹备VIE，包括设 立境外公司的整个过程。来自市场的高度认可和接纳已成为操作流程高 效精简的主要动力。 据九州丰泽的合伙人佘铭讲，对仍在限制行业寻找投资机会的私募股 权（PE）和风险投资（VC）来说，结构本身根本不是问题。“问题是做还 是不做，”她说。“在中国，很多法律问题并没有非黑即白的答案。［对VIE 附带的风险］零容忍度的PE或VC无法生存。” 她认为与做还是不做的问题相比，如今机构投资者更关心他们的退出 策略。“还不如讨论如何在合资企业和离岸公司中二选一更有意义，因为现 在除了传统的境外退出，国内上市也成为一种可行的退出方案。” 对VIE的监管收紧？ 根据2011年9月路透社的独家报告，来自大陆和香港四家不同律所的 律师都称，他们曾见过一份由中国证券监督管理委员会（“证监会”）于8月 17日发出的内部报告，报告中要求国务院对VIE采取措施。报告中提到的 具体措施包括，对互联网公司在国内上市给予更多鼓励，并要求中资公司 在其境外母公司海外上市之前必须取得商务部和证监会的双重批准。 之后，在商务部的例行新闻发布会上，发言人说他没听说过这份报告， 但同时又透露商务部和相关政府部门正在研究如何规范这类投资行为。 但至今已经过去一年，仍未有任何系统的VIE规范出台。“我不认为政府会 针对VIE有何明确的政策。现有VIE的经济影响力不小。在目前的经济形 势下，中国不会采取行动［禁止VIE］，” 九州丰泽的佘铭说。 国浩的蔡航认为，VIE对中国的IT业做出了巨大贡献。他说：“VIE的受 益者有两大类。第一类是中国政府，由VIE支持的IT业创造了大量就业机 会，并带来了大量税收收入。第二类是美元基金，尽管最近收益率已经大 跌，但在最初的几年里，VIE的投资收益率最高可达50倍以上。通常这些 基金的所有者与政界关系密切，他们不会允许VIE死去。所以总的说来，政 府没有动力来大规模打击VIE。” 但是，深度的利益关系也并不意味着政府会完全放开。很多人预计马 上会出台更多针对具体行业的规范，而非普遍限制。 “中国不会在近期禁止VIE，但我觉得会加强对VIE的监管。VIE的问题 是，一旦实际控制人违约，在中国的法律框架下将很难合法地强制执行，” 九州丰泽北京代表处的合伙人舒林飞说。“所以一方面，上市的VIE应受到 保护，另一方面，将有更多的限制出台［来规范市场］。” 舒建议不同行业可以有自己不同的VIE监管规范，如新闻出版署和国 家版权局于2009年签发的第13号通知禁止外资直接或间接参与网络游 戏运营业务。 并表要求难以实现 VIE结构所依托的概念，是通过法律协议而非股权占有来实现控制。 典型的协议包括贷款协议、股权质押协议、买入期权协议、技术支持协 议和授权委托书。 但VIE的根基是不稳的，因为这些协议事实上违反了中国法律。理论

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Variable interest entity

the first several years, the return on VIE investment could hit as high as above 50 times. The owner of these funds, usually with strong political connections, won’t allow VIEs to die. So generally, the government doesn’t have the incentive to massively crack down on VIEs.” Meanwhile, the deep interest relationship does not simply translate into a complete openness on the government side. Instead of general controls, many expect more industry-focused regulations in the pipeline.

“China won’t ban VIEs in the near future, but I feel the VIE will receive more regulations. The problem for VIEs is that once the actual controller breaks the contract, legitimate enforcement would be difficult to conduct under the Chinese legal framework,” says Brad Shu, partner at Jade & Fountain’s Beijing office. “So, on one hand, the listed VIEs should be protected; on the other hand, there will be more restrictions coming out [to regulate the market].”

Shu suggests that different industries may have different VIE regulations. For example, Notice No.13 issued in 2009 from the General Administration for Press and Publication (GAPP) and the State Copyright Administration prohibits any direct and indirect foreign capital participation in the online game business.

Consolidation required, but difficult to achieve The concept that underpins a VIE structure is that the control is obtained through legal agreements rather than through share ownerships. Typical agreements include loan agreements, equity pledge agreements, call option agreements, technical support agreements, and the power of attorney.

However, the VIE foundation is shaky as these agreements are, as a **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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上，现有的VIE都是没有意义的，因为这些协 议都无法强制执行，所以外国投资者实际上在 押宝这些违法之处会被忽略。最近发生的所有 VIE丑闻，要么是由中方的违约行为造成的（如 双威教育），要么是由外方对可能出现违约行 为的担忧而造成的（如新东方教育）。 这些违约行为显然给海外资本市场的证交 所拉响了警报。香港联合交易所（“港交所”）已 两次发布特别针对VIE的上市决策。“这些上市 决策都是清晰而合理的。它告诉投资者VIE不 是港交所拒绝任何上市申请的原因，但在审核 过程中有几个要件需要特别注意，”金杜的合 伙人赵晓红说。“很明显，列出这些要件就是为 了收紧对整个结构的控制。” 国浩的蔡航注意到目前国外的证券交易所通 常会要求中国VIE结构合并报表，其目的是为了 消除当前结构中的一些主要风险。“一般说来， 第一大风险是，中资公司和外资公司的法定代表 人都是同一个人，”蔡说。“另一个风险是，在VIE 结构下，一家互联网公司的无形资产不在投资者 手里，而全部由中资公司所掌握。” 他继续解释道，对于第一个风险，法定代表 人能轻易解除两家实体签订的协议，所以现在 很多VIE结构都有两个独立的法定代表人。这 样一来，当创始人和投资者发生争议时，该结 构不会被轻易换掉。对于第二个风险，一个互

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matter of fact, in violation of Chinese law. Theoretically, existing VIEs are meaningless with all those unenforceable contracts, so foreign investors are actually making a bet that these violations will be ignored. Recent VIE scandals all took place either as a result of the default on the Chinese side, as the case with ChinaCast Education, or due to the overseas concerns over possible defaults as with the case of New Oriental Education.

Such defaults obviously alerted capital markets bourses overseas. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) has already filed two listing decisions specifically for VIEs. “The listing decisions are clear and reasonable. It tells investors that VIEs won’t be the reason for the HKEx to reject any listing, but during the review process, there are several factors in need of special attention,” says Zhao Xiaohong, a partner of King & Wood Mallesons. “Apparently, these factors are purposefully listed to tighten up control over the whole structure.”

Coming back to A-shares?

回归A 股？ U

nder the Chinese legal context, the VIE structure will continue to live in the shadows with policy risks hanging around.

The lawyers interviewed all agree that getting back to the domestic A-share market would be the cleanest solution to kill all the doubts and attacks against VIEs, but the second listing is by no means easy. ALB asks three experienced professionals for their opinions over the challenges for the VIE’s prospects in the domestic stock market. 在中国的法律背景下，VIE结构将继 续生存在阴影里，四周飘荡着政策风 险。受访的律师们都同意，也许回归国 内A股市场是消灭所有针对VIE的疑虑和 攻击的最干净的解决办法，但二次上市 也绝不是件容易的事。以下针对VIE在 国内上市可能面临的挑战，ALB请了三 位有经验的专家来发表他们的意见。

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

联网项目的价值在于它的域名、商标和其他相关版权。但根据中国的法 规，取得互联网内容提供商（ICP）牌照的前提是域名和商标必须由中 资公司所有。投资者会有不安全感，因为这些资产被禁止转移到中国境 外。所以现在，律师会将域名和商标当作质押品，并由境外母公司作为 质权人。一旦VIE破产，这种安排可有助于确保境外公司对这些主要知 识产权的所有权。 不管怎样，很多人认为合并报表手段不现实也过于严苛，在现实中很 难实施。 “在实务中，要使主要股东、投资人和证券交易所的意见完全一致很 难。尤其对公司创始人来说，他们会觉得难以接受这样严格的控制。他 们提出一个终极问题，那就是公司到底是他们的，还是投资者的。要改变 他们的思维很难，”赵说。“就市场发展而言，VIE曾盛极一时，之后也将演 变为新的形式。至于VIE的未来，我觉得合并报表很难起到真正的作用。”

Hang Cai, Grandall Law Firm The first issue is that the Chinese-owned company generates little revenue as most of its profits are booked on the offshore company. The listing entity must be the domestic company which owns the licence while it would take this company some time to accumulate the required amount of revenue for the listing.

Second, the ownership structure must be reverted to the original, actual structure.

Previously, for the convenience of obtaining the ICP licence, the Chinese-owned company’s ownership structure was made relatively easy, composed of a natural person or sometimes with a few more legal representatives or PE shareholders. The structure does not necessarily reflect the listing entity’s real ownership situation.

Under such circumstances, the structure must be adjusted to include the offshore dollar investors’ interests. This usually involves an exit of the dollar fund, and the entry of a RMB fund. In this process, the shareholders will change, followed by the change of board members and senior executives. While listing on the ChiNext board requires no change of the actual controller, senior executives, and board members in two years, and for SMEs, that’s three years.

So the fundamental challenge is that the company has to patiently wait for several years (to qualify itself for an A-share listing).

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

蔡 航，国 浩 律 师 事 务所 首先，中资 公司 产出的收 益极 少，因为 大 多 数利 润 都记在了离岸公司 账 上 。 而上市 实 体 必 须 是 持 有牌照 的国内公 司，所以 这 家公司会 需要一些时间来 积 累 上市 要求的收 益 额 。 第二，所有 权 结 构 必 须改回原 来 实 际 的结 构。之前为了便于取得 I C P牌照， 中资 公司的所有 权 结 构 被 设 计 得比 较 简单，有时由一 个自然 人 组 成，有时再 多加 几个法 定代 表 人或 P E 股 东。此 结 构反映 的不一定 是 上市 实 体 真 实的 所有 权情 况 。这种 情 况下，必 须 对其 进行 调 整，以包 含 进境 外美 元投 资者 的权 益 。这 通常会涉及 美 元 基金 的退 出和人 民币基金 的加入 。在 此 期间， 股 东会 变 更，之 后 董 事会成员和高级 管 理 人 员也会跟 着变 更 。而在高 科 技 创业板 上市，会要求在 最 近两年（中 小企业为三年）内实 际控 制 人、高级 管 理 人 员和董 事会成员未 发生 变 更 。 所以 最根本 的挑 战 是，公司不 得 不 耐心 等上 几年 [ 才 能 满足 A 股 上市条 件]。

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Hang at Grandall observes that foreign stock exchanges now usually require Chinese VIE structures to be consolidated, with an aim to get rid of the major risks in the current structure. “Generally speaking, the first major risk lies with the fact that the legal representative for both the Chinese-owned company and the foreign-owned company is the same person,” says Hang. “Another risk is that, under the VIE structure, an Internet company’s intangible assets are not at the hand of the investors, but solely owned by the Chinese-owned company.”

He continues to explain that for the first risk, the legal representative could easily dismiss the agreement signed between the two entities, so now, many VIE structures would have two independent legal representatives. Thus, when disputes occur between the founder and the investors, the structure would not be easily replaced. As for the second risk, an Internet project’s value lies with its domain names, trademarks, and any

Zhao Xiaohong, King & Wood Mallesons First of all, I don’t think the CSRC holds any bias toward the Red chips’ second listing. Everyone wants to get the A-share listing, and the CSRC is not holding anyone back. But the CSRC is now controlling the pace of the IPO. The regulatory body has just resumed the IPO review after a two-month suspension.

There are altogether over 700 companies lining up for review. Normally, over 100 companies could pass the review annually; massive listing approvals would seriously hurt this fragile market. So from this perspective, the CSRC is fair to every applicant.

But in fact, not every VIE is suitable for this switch to A-shares. If it is a capital-intensive company with no clear profit model, will it survive during the waiting period?

Plus, putting the issue of business model aside, revising the accounting and legal documents poses another big challenge.

All the initial documents need to be examined. Has the company passed the national security review? How can these major conflicts with the security review requirements be solved? The company also has to ask for MOFCOM for its opinion over their previous VIE operations. The opinions would be critical for the CSRC’s decision.

Inevitably, VIEs would have more problems than companies with normal structures.

寻找替代方案 很多人认为目前VIE在资本市场上已处于淡 出阶段。“VIE还能存在五到十年，这期间会出 现更多的违约，”赵说。“机构投资者对VIE的热 情正在冷却，而现有的VIE会朝不同的方向演 化。我认为IPO会越来越少，而上市公司收购 VIE将成为另一个可行方案。市场普遍对VIE风 险变得更为警觉。” 随着越来越多VIE丑闻的爆发，企业家、投 资者和相关业内人士正在迫切寻找一个可替代 方案。“我们至今还没能找到一个能替代VIE的 更佳模式，” 国浩的蔡航说。“有客户向我们问起 一个由一家美国律所提出的新模式，但很少有人

赵晓红，金杜律师事务所 首先，我不认为证 监会对红 筹股的二 次上市有任 何偏 见。大家都想在 A 股 市场上市，证 监会没有阻止任 何人。证 监会在做的只是控制 I P O 的步伐。监 管机 构在暂停两个月之 后，刚刚恢 复 对I P O 的审核。目前共有超 过70 0 家公 司在排队等 待审核。正常情况下，每年 会有10 0 家公司通 过审核。大批 量批 准上市会严重损害这个脆 弱的市场。 所以 从 这一角度，证 监会对每 个申请 者都是公平的。 但实际上并非每 个V I E都适合转成 A 股。对于一个没有清晰利润 模式的资 金密集 型公司，它能平稳度 过等 待期 么？

和法律文件也将是一大挑战。所有的 初始文件 都需要 检查。公司是否已通 过国家安全审查？如何解决 那些 严重 不符 合安全审查 要求的问题？公司还 需 征求商务 部对其 过往 V I E 经营活 动 的意 见。这一意 见对证 监会的决 定至 关重 要。V I E不可避 免 地会比普通结 构的公司有更多问题。

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

Jeff Yao, Jade & Fountain Companies with VIE structures must have overseas investors.

Once they move to the domestic capital markets, how can overseas interests be properly protected?

This is also a problem.

I believe the government will release more policies to provide convenience, and minimise the listing complexities for VIEs to come back. But many of the problems facing VIEs are not something that can be immediately fixed. 姚晓洪，九州丰泽律师事务所 V I E结构的公司必定有境 外投资者。 一旦它们转入国内资本市场，该 如何

此外，先不谈业务模式问题，修改会计

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

17

适当保护境 外投资者的权 益？这也是 个问题。 我 相信政 府将颁布更多方便 V I E回 国上市和简化其上市手续的政 策。但 V I E面临的许多问题不是马上就能解 决的。

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other related copyrights. However, according to Chinese regulations, the Internet content provider (ICP) licence must be obtained with the prerequisite that the domain names and trademarks are owned by the Chinese company itself. Investors feel insecure while these assets are forbidden to move beyond the Chinese border. So now, lawyers would make the domain names and trademarks as pledges, and appoint the offshore parent as the pledge. Such arrangements could help to ensure the offshore company’s ownership of these key intellectual property rights if the VIE goes bankrupt.

Nevertheless, many consider the consolidation steps to be unrealistic and too tight to enforce in real cases.

“In reality, it’s hard to fully align the opinions from the major shareholders, investors, and the stock exchanges. Especially for company founders, they find it hard to accept such strict controls. They come with the ultimate question of whether the company is owned by them or by the investors. It’s hard to change their thinking,” Zhao says. “In terms of market development, the VIE has had its day, and it will evolve into something new. Speaking of the future of VIEs, I feel consolidation is indeed difficult to take real effect.”

Seeking the alternative Many believe that the VIE is now undergoing the phasing-out stage in the capital markets. “VIEs will exist for the following five to 10 years with more defaults coming along,” says Zhao. “Institutional investors’ enthusiasm for the VIE is cooling off while existing VIEs would experience different evolutions. I think the IPO cases would become less and less while listed company’s acquisition of the VIEs would emerge as another viable option. Generally, the market is becoming more alert to VIE risks.”

With the increasing outbreak of VIE scandals, entrepreneurs, investors and anyone in the related industries are earnestly seeking an alternative.

“So far, we haven’t found a better model to replace the VIE,” Says Hang at Grandall. “We have customers asking about a new model proposed by a U.S. law firm, but few people are familiar with this as it has no case records yet.”

The model Hang mentions is the multijurisdictional captive company (MJCC) structure created by Rocky Lee, the Asia managing partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. “We think the market has already more or less killed VIEs. No one wants to touch it. The big four don’t want to consolidate it. Hedge funds and investors generally don’t want to invest in the VIE business,” says Lee. “I think the MJCC would be the only way to replace VIE.” According to Lee, the MJCC structure would mitigate risks inherent in the VIE Structure by: (i) Offering greater legal protection to foreign investors; (ii) Aligning the interests of foreign investors and their local PRC business partners; (iii) Improving intra-company liquidity and; (iv) Affording a sophisticated method of calculating damages and enforcing judgments when MJCC contracts are breached.

Lee says the firm has started constructing MJCC structures for select clients, and he expects it will be three to four years before the first MJCC case can come out.

Currently in the market, anticipation and doubts are mixed for this alternative. “The capital market welcomes such innovations. The nature of the issue is that these companies are entering the restricted industries in China, and it’s not possible to turn something prohibited into not prohibited simply through some legal procedures. Currently, I still think the VIE problems need to be taken case by case,” says She of Jade & Fountain. “I think what lawyers can do now is to understand China, accept China, and continue to lobby. Problems behind the VIE structure might actually take another generation to solve. After all, China has not fully prepared for a market without foreign capital controls.” **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

“China won’t ban VIEs in the near future, but I feel the VIE will receive more regulations. The problem for VIEs is that once the actual controller breaks the contract, legitimate enforcement would be difficult to conduct under the Chinese legal framework.”

Brad Shu, Jade & Fountain

“中国不会在近期禁止VIE，但我觉得会加 强对VIE的监管。VIE的问题是，一旦实际 控制人违约，在中国的法律框架下将很难 合法地强制执行。” — 舒林飞，九州丰泽律师事务所

了解这个新模式，因为之前没有先例。” 蔡提到的模式，就是凯威莱德亚洲区管理合 伙人李大诚提出的“跨法域控制公司”（MJCC） 模式。“我们觉得市场已多多少少将VIE扼杀了。 没人愿意碰它。四大不愿帮它合并报表。对冲基 金和投资者一般也不愿投资VIE企业，”李说。“ 我认为MJCC也许是唯一能替代VIE的模式。” 按李的说法，MJCC结构可通过以下方式降 低VIE结构所固有的风险：(i) 给国外投资者提供 更多的法律保护；(ii) 使国外投资者与其中国本 地业务伙伴的利益趋于一致；(iii) 提高公司内 部的流动性；以及 (iv) 在出现MJCC合同违约 时，能提供一种精密的方法来计算损失赔偿和 强制执行判决。 李说其律所已开始为某些客户搭建MJCC 结构，他预计大约三到四年后首个MJCC结构 就可面世。 目前市场上对这种替代方案的反应是期待 与疑虑并存。“资本市场欢迎这种创新。但这个 事情的本质是，这些公司在进入中国的限制行 业。想通过一些法律程序来将违禁的事情变得 不违禁是不可能的。目前我仍然认为VIE问题应 按个案处理，”九州丰泽的佘铭说。“我认为律师 们现在能做的，就是理解中国、接受中国并继续 游说。VIE结构背后的问题实际上也许要下一代 人才能解决。毕竟中国还没完全准备好接受一 个对外资放开的市场。”

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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19

joinway law firm 中建中汇律师事务所

投资者应时刻关注酒店业投资风险 Andy Sun, Partner 孙潇喆, 合伙人

Investors Should Pay Closer Attention to Investment Risks in the Hospitality Industry 近年来，伴随着奥运会、世博会等世界级盛会的召开，几乎所有 的世界顶尖酒店管理集团都加入了瓜分中国酒店业市场大蛋糕 的行列。然而，进入中国市场真的是一笔稳赚不赔的生意吗？

Rex Tang, Senior Associate 唐翼飞, 律师

In recent years, with the Olympics and World Expo being held, almost all top-tier hotel management groups have joined in the banquet to share the Chinese hospitality industry. Nevertheless, can they ensure to profit gains in the Chinese market? 最近的一则消息值得我们关注。世界某知名酒店管理集团对外 公告称，即日起停止对上海某顶级酒店的管理。撤牌风波的背 后是业主方与管理方长期的宿怨：业绩未达业主方预期、采购 方面存在问题、人员出现大量流失等多重矛盾最终导致双方 不欢而散。无独有偶，也是在今年，该酒店管理集团亦撤出了 其在东莞管理的酒店。

A piece of recent news could draw our attention. A world-famous hotel management group announced to the public that from the date therefrom, it will no longer manage one top-level hotel in Shanghai, the reason resulting from the long-term conflicts between the owner and the operator: failure to pass the owner’s performance test, defects in procurement, a large number of staff turnover, etc. It happens that there is a similar case in Dongguan, where this group has withdrawn its team from another hotel this year. 事实上，正如中国地产业大热之后的洗牌一样，中国酒店业也 面临着同样的状况。作为中国法律顾问，无论是代表业主方 还是酒店管理集团，我们在谈判的过程中均时刻提醒各方关 注交易的风险，尤其是在总收入、营运成本及营业毛利的范 围、管理费的计算基础、业绩考核、人事任免、知识产权等重 要条款上为客户制定可操作的解决方案，而非为了达成交易 人为地忽略或轻视风险。

地址：中国上海市静安区康定 路977号 邮编：200042 总机：+86-21-2211-6000 传真：+86-21-2211-6111 邮件：shanghai@

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A: No. 977 Kangding Road,

Jing’an District, Shanghai, China

P.C.: 200042 T: +86-21-2211-6000 F: +86-21-2211-6111 E: shanghai@joinwaylawfirm. com

As a matter of fact, just like what the Chinese real estate industry has done before, the Chinese hospitality industry is under reshuffling after the big boom. As PRC legal counsel, whether acting for the owner or the operator, we have been reminding all relevant parties involved of the transaction risks, especially in the terms regarding definition of Gross Revenue, Gross Operating Expenses and Gross Operating Profit, the basis of calculation of management fee, performance test, appointment of personnel, and intellectual property. We have committed ourselves to formulating practicable solutions, other than implementing the transaction without noticing the risks.

以账户管理条款为例，管理方往往要求具有独立自主的支取权 以方便管理。从业主方的角度考虑，充分授权带来至少两处隐 患：一是管理方的道德风险滥支款项；二是业主方无法限制管 理方的行为却须对所有管理行为的后果承担责任。因此，从限 制管理方支取到约定越权管理的后果分配两方面对管理方进 行限制可有效缓解这种矛盾。

To take the account management clause as an example: the operator always seeks full authorisation to the drawdown right of the account. From the owner’s perspective, full authorisation may result in at least two secret worries: (i) the operator may drawdown the fund without moral control; (ii) the owner shall be fully responsible for the entire operator’s behavior of management without restriction to operator. Therefore, this conflict could be effectively relieved by restricting the operator’s right of drawdown and redistributing the responsibilities if the operator exceeds its right over the account. 除此之外，可能产生投资风险的原因有很多。对管理方来说， 除在选址上须多加调研外，选择适当的管理模式也很重要， 是选择自有物业、受托管理还是特许经营？不同的模式有其 不同的适用范围；对于业主方来说，选择何种酒店管理集团 以及酒店品牌则需要量力而行，否则，门不当户不对的“婚姻” 注定是不幸的。

Beyond the aforesaid clause, investment risks may be caused by various reasons. To the operator, in addition to a more serious focus on the study of location, it is also important to choose a management model: self-owned, entrusted management or franchising? Each model suits a different situation. To the owner, it shall measure itself on type of the hotel management group and hotel brand, and mismatches are destined to be unfortunate. 我们认为，投资中国酒店业仍然有利可图，但市场的整体风险 相较过去已经明显提高，获取高额利润已经不如探囊取物一 般容易。在当前的投资环境下，投资者在关注市场利润点的同 时，应加大对市场风险以及法律风险的关注。

We believe that the Chinese hospitality industry will stay profitable, but the overall risks have been dramatically increasing compared to the past, and procuring extra profits is not as easy as winking.

Under current investment circumstances, the investors shall pay closer attention to the market risks and legal risks along with the profits.

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VICTORY LEGAL GROUP

境内外投资热点之法律视角 Tao Li, Partner E: li.tao@victorylegal group.com

（1） Q:近期陆续出现外商投资企业关闭在中 国的工厂或者搬离前往其他地区的案例，这是 否意味着中国的制造业已告别“黄金期”？请谈 谈目前国内的外商投资环境，及外商在中国开 展业务的主要途径及主要面临的法律问题？ A: 由于受全球经济大环境的影响，欧美主要国 家的消费能力锐减，中国人工成本上升等多重原 因，引发部分外国投资者，特别是制造业，关闭或 者撤离在中国的投资。表面看来，中国制造业正 面临改革开放以来高奏凯歌的情形面临严峻挑 战，但其实这也正是经济改革，生产结构调整和 优化升级所必经的“锤炼”。 我们注意到现在涉外投资的结构和之前截然不 同，如今倡导清新、环保和节能的新型高科技行 业、融入国际新理念的创新行业备受关注，虽然 有大牌的体育品牌撤离中国市场，但也有不少国 际大牌强势进军中国。这必然导致律师的执业领 域和客户层的变化。我们事务所帮助欧洲投资人 在中国境内设立外商独资企业时，对投资人的股 权架构，品牌规划等提出意见与建议，特别是那 些正在满怀壮志进入中国市场的国际大牌们，如 何认识和了解中国的文化、社会以及基本法律框 架是其必修课。例如，如何审慎调查市场，合理可 行布局；如何在层层交错的法律制度体系下应对 自如；如何在“世界工厂”里维护自身的知识产权， 无数问题值得大家仔细揣摩。本事务所曾代理某 意大利知名品牌鞋就其在中国市场的经营、销售 提供长期法律服务，特别就其应对国内市场的知 识产权案出谋划策。

VICTORY LEGAL GROUP 双胜律师事务所

A: Unit J, 14 Floor, Huamin Empire Plaza, No. 726, Yan An West Road, Shanghai, 200050 PRC T: +86 21 6211 2390,

+86 21 6211 2357 F: +86 21 6211 2387

（2） Q：中国目前劳动力市场中国劳动力成本 增加，随处可见招工难的现象，制造业开始往 东南亚迁移。同时也有一些大型劳动密集型的 企业甚至出现员工骚乱现象，对这一现象，有什 么看法？ A： “招工难”主要是指招技工难，劳动者的素质

和技能难以达到要求。主要原因是“新生代农民 工的择业期望提高”和“物价上升过快，导致求职 者生活成本增加，预期收益下降。针对这一现象 企业可从以下几方面考量：、1.提供新福利。比 如通过在企业内部配备图书阅览室、文娱设施 以及提供专项技能培训等方式吸引劳动力；2. 生产互补性的企业可采用“用工联盟”的方式； 用工联盟方式是指根据淡季和旺季互相派遣闲 置工人，盘活劳动力资源；3.企业可以加大与政 府、劳动部门和大学、技术学校对接，拓宽劳动 力来源渠道。依据以往经验，我们也建议投资 人更多的了解中国相关法律如劳动合同法，个人 所得税法等与劳动者相关的法律，法规。例如， 我们在为海外客户提供合规法律服务时，特别 将劳动法的合规作为重点课题。 （3） Q:目前中国政府在引进外资的同时，不 断鼓励中国的企业走出去，您认为在目前经济 仍处低迷时期，是否为中国企业走出去的好机 会？ A：目前，各国经济低迷，企业活动减少，资源价 格低廉。对中国企业而言，可谓“危中有机”。一方 面可以大大降低中国企业在海外建厂、并购等成 本；另一方面，对政府而言，中国企业“走出去”也 是应对外需萎缩、出口疲软的途径之一。将企业 活动转移到国外，直接面对国外市场，既可以避 开贸易保护主义的壁垒，同时可以缓解国内产能 过剩的问题。因此，政府方面也是非常鼓励中国 企业“走出去”的。比如，今年《征求意见稿》（预 计近期有望正式颁布实施）已明确下放境外投资 审批限额的权限。但是对于重点敏感领域，政府 依然持谨慎态度，例如新设定的国家核准限额为 资源开发类为3亿美元以上、非资源开发类为1亿 美元以上，提高了10倍。针对境外投资项目，本事 务所通常是与境外律师一起合作，帮助中国境内 投资人了解并当地法律。例如我们与奥地利律师 事务所合作，就能源、科技等领域，向两国的投 资者介绍相互合作投资的法律框架，且为中国资

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本走出去提供必要的法律咨询和服务。 （4） Q：对中国企业走出去，中方投资者需要 注意哪些方面，中国律师可以提供哪些法律服 务？ A：中国企业“走出去”在总体上还是处于初级阶 段，在很多方面还不成熟。中方投资人应特别注 重对投资市场及法律环境的了解与分析。例如， 中国与投资是否有双边互免重复征税或双边保 护政策、投资项目的优惠政策、知识产权相关问 题等等。尤其还要注意当地法律、政府和社会对 于外国人的态度。律师，特别是具备多国执业资 格或经验的律师，在中国企业境外投资方面开始 发挥越来越重要的作用。凭借法律的嗅觉和思 维，律师可在跨国投资中准确分析问题、统筹项 目进展我们已经参与了多起在印尼、蒙古、俄罗 斯等地的能源投资项目。本所在境外投资方面可 提供诸如：项目前期咨询与策划、可行性分析；境 内审批分析及办理；项目融资、贷款；项目交易结 构的设计、谈判；企业投资内部风险防控等等；同 时我们也积极的与境外的合作律师（如意大利、 奥地利、新加坡、马来西亚、美国、香港等，我们 均有长期合作的律师事务所）相互配合，帮助中 国投资人更好的了解境外法律，法规，协助投资 人在知己知彼的情况下，作出理性的境外投资 。 （5） Q: 中国投资者进行境外投资需要哪些部 门核准？不同部门在实际审批过程中有哪些侧 重点？ A: 中国投资者境外投资首先应通过国家发展与 改革委员会或者省级发展与改革部门（以下称发 改部门）核准，在取得核准文件后，再报商务部 或省级商务部门批准。以上核准与批准的具体 部门根据中方投资额度及投资项目确定。 从实际审批程序来看，发改部门是对境外投资项 目的核准，而商务部门则是针对对外投资开办企

业的批准。境外投资项目核准是发改部门对境外 投资行为从维护国家经济安全、符合产业政策、 保障公共利益、资本项目管理等公共管理方面进 行核准。而对外投资开办企业的核准是商务部门 对境外企业合同、章程等进行核准。因此，两部门 核准和批准的方向略有差异，这是我们在起草相 关合同、协议的过程中需特别注意的。

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Managing partner Q&A

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

View from the top:

Freshfields Asia Managing Partner Robert Ashworth 富而德： 欲穷千里目

ALB ’s Hong Kong Dealmaker of the Year, and last year’s Hong Kong Managing Partner of the Year, Robert Ashworth of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has received numerous plaudits from peers and clients in the marketplace, validating his status as one of the top lawyers in Hong Kong. He sits down with Candice Mak to share his insights on the challenges and joys of managing the Magic Circle firm widely recognised as having the best corporate practice in Greater China. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

《亚洲法律杂志》（ALB）今年“香港律 师最佳项目促成奖”，去年“香港最佳管理 合伙人大奖”，英国富而德律师事务所的 Robert Ashworth收获了无数来自业内同 行和客户的赞美，确认了他香港顶尖律师 的地位。现在他与Candice Mak坐下来， 分享他对管理这家“魔法圈”律所所经历的 挑战和喜悦的真知灼见。富而德被广泛认 为拥有大中华地区最好的公司业务。

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

Managing partner Q&A

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ALB: What sets Freshfields apart from its peers across the region?

RA: There are a number of things I could mention. For example, our stellar track record and continued success in the capital markets, our leading position in the M&A league tables, and our high-quality antitrust, finance, dispute resolution, and IP and IT teams. But what I think is more important than the trappings of success, and what to my mind really sets us apart, is our ability to constantly innovate and go about solving things in new and more effective ways. So, for example, we are regularly talking to clients about doing transactions in high-growth markets, but doing them in a way that minimises risk; we are engaging with them in relation to crisis management, that is how to plan for and handle possible crisis situations, whether financial, operational or regulatory. And we are very focused on global investigations, which is clearly a critical consideration for general counsels around the world, in particular when doing deals in Asia. We are the first firm to offer an online database of international bribery laws that clients can subscribe to and follow developments – we’ve christened this “bribery watch”. It’s this ability to innovate and continually show thought leadership, plus the collective drive of our lawyers to be at the front of the pack rather than following, that I think is a key differentiator for us across the region.

ALB: Can you describe your firm’s culture?

RA: For us, culture is really important. It’s what holds the firm together across our international offices, and from one generation to the next. We see a direct correlation between the amount of time we spend developing people and the enduring strength of our culture.

And that means ensuring people get really terrific training and work opportunities. We are an international firm, so we want to give people the chance to work internationally, wherever they are based. It’s something we actively encourage. Being international and thinking across boundaries is part of our DNA. In addition to the international dimension, we consider ourselves to be a thoroughly cooperative and collaborative organisation. One in which individuals focus on the contribution they can make rather than what they are entitled to.

ALB: How long have you been Asia managing partner?

RA: Let’s see, since the time I started turning grey - February 2011.

ALB: How would you define the firm’s short-term and long-term strategies that you’ve set during your tenure?

RA: The first thing I tried to do when taking on the role was to make sure that we offered exactly the right services to our clients across the region. This involved identifying practice areas we needed to invest in, and testing the existing areas we had to make sure they were suitable. So, for example, one of the things we’ve done in the past 18 months or so has been to increase our Asian ENI capability, and we’ve made some significant hires in Tokyo, Singapore, and most recently in China. Having a first rate energy, natural resources and infrastructure capability in Asia was an immediate short-term goal, and is one that we are now delivering on.

I also looked at our regional footprint to determine whether we were in the right geographic locations, and concluded that we needed more visibility in Southeast Asia. We had operated a Southeast Asia practice from Hong Kong since closing in Singapore in 2007, but we found that **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

A L B : 是 什 么让富 而 德 区 别 于本 地 区 的 其他同行？ R A : 很多方面都值得一提。比如，我 们在资本市场方面的出色业绩和持续 成功，在并购排行榜上的领先地位， 以及我们高质量的反垄断、金融、争 议解决和知识产权/IT团队。但我认 为，比沉迷于成功更重要的，也是我 认为真正使我们区别于他人的，是我 们不断创新及用更有效的新方法解决 问题的能力。比如，我们经常和客户 谈到，生意要在在高增长市场做，但 一定要尽力降低风险。他们会聘请我 们提供有关风险管理方面的意见，即 如何规划和处理可能出现的危机，无 论是财务、经营或监管方面的。同时 我们非常重视全球调查，这显然是全 球的企业法律顾问都非常关注的一个 问题，尤其是在亚洲做生意时。我们 是首个提供全球反贿赂法律网上资料 库的律所，客户可以订阅并跟进相关 动态，我们把这个资料库命名为“反贿 观察”。我认为，这种创新和在思想上 持续领先的能力，以及我们的律师不 甘人后的集体进取精神，才是我们在 本地区能独树一帜的关键 A L B : 您 能 介 绍一下 富 而 德 的 企 业 文化 么？ R A : 对我们来说，文化真的很重要。 是文化将我们全球各个代表处凝聚在 了一起，并一代代传承。我们发现， 我们在培养人方面花费的时间和我们 文化的持久影响力是直接相关的。这 指的是确保人们得到真正优质的培训 和工作机会。我们是一家国际律所， 所以我们希望能给人们全球工作的机 会，无论其常驻何处。这是我们所积 极倡导的。国际化和打破常规的思维 是我们DNA的一部分。除了全球化这 一方面，我们自认是一家充分合作互 助的机构。在这里，大家都关心自己 能奉献什么，而不是有权得到什么。 ALB : 您 任亚洲管理合伙 人有多久了？ RA:让我想想，从我开始有白头发的时 候——2011年2月。 A LB : 可否介绍一下您在任期内为贵所 制

定的短 期和长期策略？ R A : 我上任后做的第一件事，就是确 认我们在为本地区客户提供其真正需 要的服务。这包括发现我们需要投入 的业务领域，并审视现有的领域，以 确保其符合客户需求。比如，在过去 的大约18个月里，我们做的其中一件 事，就是壮大我们在亚洲的能源、自 然资源和基础设施建设（ENI）业务能

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Managing partner Q&A

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

the growth of the ASEAN region made that approach increasingly challenging. We talked to clients, and they said “we prefer you to be on the ground in Singapore with an office. Most of your peer firms are there”, so we felt that was the appropriate thing to do. We reopened in Singapore in September, and we look forward to a long-term tenure in the Southeast Asia region. Those are some of the short-term priorities I’ve had.

Over the longer term, I’d like to make sure we are delivering on our firm-wide vision of being the leading international firm. The way we look at international needs a bit of explanation – for us, it doesn’t mean we want offices in 50 countries. It’s not geographic coverage that’s important to us. We want to be in those locations, principally major financial centres, where our key clients are located, and which are relevant to them. And being in those locations we expect to have a very strong domestic capability, but more importantly what we really want is to project internationally from those locations. So from Singapore we would cover South and Southeast Asia, but also we would expect our lawyers in Singapore to be familiar with developments in the UK, U.S. or China, that is to have an international awareness and an international perspective. Not to say every time: “That’s outside our comfort zone, and we’ll send it off to another office.” We want to be able to provide that level of international expertise that comes from having a very international perspective. That’s what we look for in individuals, and how we train our younger lawyers to think. That’s what ‘international’means for a firm like ours.

力，并且我们已经在东京和新加坡， 以及最近在中国，招募了几个重量级 人物。我们的近期目标，就是在亚洲 拥有一流的ENI业务能力，我们正在实 现这一目标。 我还研究了我们在本地区的覆盖情 况，想确定我们是否都在适当的位置 设了点，结论是我们需要加强我们在 东南亚的存在。自从2007年关闭了新 加坡代表处，我们的东南亚业务都是 通过香港代表处办理的，但我们发现 随着东盟地区的发展，这一办法变得 越来越困难。我们和客户谈过，他们 说“我们还是希望你们在新加坡本土有 一个代表处。你们大多数的同行都在 那里有代表处”，所有我们认为确实应 该这么做。我们在九月份重开了新加 坡代表处，希望能在东南亚地区有长 足的发展。这是我短期内要做的一些 事情。 就长期而言，我希望能确保实现我们 成为一家最领先的国际律所的愿景。 这里有必要稍微解释一下我们是如何 看待“国际”一词的。对我们来说，这

“The first thing I tried to do when taking on the role was to make sure we offered exactly the right services to our clients across the region. This involved identifying practice areas we needed to invest in, and testing the existing areas we had to make sure they were suitable.” “我上任后做的第一件事，就是确认我们在为本 地区客户提供其真正需要的服务。这包括发现 我们需要投入的业务领域，并审视现有的领域， 以确保其符合客户需求。”

ALB: Your Vietnam presence has always been consistently strong.

RA: Yes, Vietnam has been a strong offering for us for close to 20 years. We think it will benefit further from our opening in Singapore, which is an important gateway to much of Southeast Asia. Many of the clients we service in Vietnam are actually headquartered in Singapore, so there’s a very close connection between the two.

ALB: How do you cultivate that rounded domestic-international perspective among your lawyers?

RA: In part, it’s through weaving softer skills and awareness training **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

并不意味着我们要在全球50个国家设 立代表处。对我们来说，重要的不是 地理上的覆盖。我们希望到我们的主 要客户所在的地方，或与他们有重要 关联的地方去，主要是一些大的金融 中心。在这些地方设点，我们当然希 望能有极强的当地业务能力，但更重 要的，也是我们真正想要的，是从这 些地方辐射全球。所以从新加坡，我 们可以覆盖南亚和东南亚，但同时我

Managing partner Q&A

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

alongside legal techniques. We run three sets of training programmes for associates at different stages of their careers, and all of those are done with an international dimension. Teaching in-depth cross border M&A or global investigations techniques are examples. But we also focus a lot on softer skills, where associates are taught how to interact on an international transaction, to manage projects across various time zones, and clients that are centred in multiple jurisdictions, as well as to deal with potential crises simultaneously across jurisdictions.

Those are the types of softer skills we focus on, which ultimately do give people more of an international perspective.

ALB: Will you be investing more into your banking and finance practice?

RA: Yes, banking is a hugely important area for us, and we will continue to support the development of this practice in every way we can.

In addition, debt capital markets, project finance, restructuring, and securitisation are important areas within our finance practice. We certainly don’t wish to grow a volume banking business, but we do want to make sure we’re focusing on the right things, and have the right people doing them. Dispute resolution is another area we are growing rapidly. We’ve had two leading partners relocate to Asia in the last few months, Lucy Reed who co-heads arbitration and Geoff Nicholas, who is co-head of our international investigations practice.

With their arrival we expect to capitalise on our leading international dispute resolution and investigations reputations. All of that is a prior-

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们也希望我们在新加坡的律师能了解 英国、美国或中国的动态，也就是拥 有全球性意识和全球性视角。不要每 次都说：“这个我们不熟悉，我们会把 它转给其他代表处”。国际化的专业意 见来自于非常国际化的视角，我们希 望能提供这种水平的服务。这才是我 们在人们身上寻找的，也是我们培养 年轻律师去思考的方式。这才是“国际 化”一词对于像我们这样的所而言的含 义。 ALB : 你们在越南的业务一直都 很 好。 R A : 是的，近20年来我们在越南的业 务量一直都很大。我们认为，我们新 加坡代表处的重开，将使越南进一步 受益，因为新加坡是通往东南亚大部 分国家或地区的重要门户。我们服务 的很多越南客户，其总部实际上都在 新加坡，所以这两个国家之间的联系 非常紧密。 ALB: 您是如何在您的律师中培养那种全 面的本地国际视角的？ R A : 部分是通过在培训法律技能的同 时，穿插一些软技巧和意识的培训。

REUTERS/Bobby Yip

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Managing partner Q&A

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

我们为处于职业生涯不同阶段的律师 提供了三套培训项目，所有这些培训 项目都有关于国际化业务的内容。深 度的全球跨境并购和全球调查技巧的 课程就是这方面的例子。我们也会很 注意软技巧。我们会教律师如何在国 际交易中与人打交道，如何管理跨多 个时区的项目和处在不同法律辖区的 客户，以及如何处理多个辖区的同时 存在的多个潜在危机。这就是我们所 关注的那种软技巧，它的确能给人更 多的国际性视角。

ity, and is happening quickly. In addition to the areas just mentioned, IP and IT, regulatory and antitrust are extremely important underpinnings to our Asia platform, and we will continue to invest in those too.

ALB: A number of U.S. firms have launched Hong Kong practices in the past 18 months. How is Freshfields managing its perch at the top in light of increased competition?

RA: Competition is something we welcome. It may wobble the perch a bit, but it encourages us to find new and better ways of strengthening our grip. Of course we did have some departures last year, as did many other firms around Hong Kong. We have the top capital markets practice, so in some ways it wasn’t surprising that people targeted us to help them get launched. Looking back, it seems we have seeded quite a few of the HK practices of the U.S. firms. Having taken steps to strengthen the platform we’ve had very little turnover of staff in the last year, and more to the point, given the depth of our partner bench we didn’t lose any clients throughout that period. To cap it all, we had our best year in ECM in 2011, where we did eight of 10 deals that raised more than a billion dollars. No other firm acted on more than two. So 2011 was a very strong year for us, despite a bit of local turbulence.

ALB: It was a tough time for rival firms to launch a Hong Kong practice last year, wasn’t it?

RA: Yes, I agree. It was certainly a very challenging time to set up a Hong Kong IPO practice last year, and 2012 has been a tough year for everybody. That said, we’ve been in the market longer, we’ve got great bench strength, and a strong pipeline of deals, so unlike some firms we were able to continue with quite a lot of work, rather than look for fresh business. We are also well hedged, with a broad spread of practices that have helped us weather the downturn more effectively.

In difficult markets our high quality IP and IT, antitrust and regulatory practices make us really compelling with clients, and position us to **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

A L B : 您 是 否 会增 加 对银 行 和 金 融 业 务 的投入？ R A : 是的，银行业是我们 极其重要的 一个业务领域，我们将尽一切办法继 续支持这一业务的发展。此外，债权 资本市场、项目融资、重组和证券化 都是我们金融业务的重要部分。当然 我们并不是指望发展出一个庞大的银 行业务，我们真正想要的是确保我们 集中精力在了正确的事情上，并且交 给了正确的人来做。。争议解决是我 们另一个增长迅速的领域。在过去的 几个月里，我们有两位优秀的合伙人 调到了亚洲——仲裁业务联合负责人 Lucy R eed和全球调查业 务联合负责 人Geoff N i chol as。有了他们的加 入，我们希望能充分利用我们在全球 争议解决和调查方面的卓著声誉。这 些工作都很重要，并都进展得很快。 除上面已经提到的领域外，知识产权/ IT、监管和反垄断都是我们亚洲平台 极其重要的支柱，我们也会继续对这 些业务进行投入。 A L B : 在 过去 的1 8 个月里 有 多 家 美 国 律 所在香港开业。在日益 激 烈的竞争中，富 而德将如何守 住 其领先地位？ RA: 我们欢迎竞争。它 也许会稍许 撼动我们的地位，但也激励了我们 去寻找新的更好的办法来加固我们的 优势。当然，与香港许多其他的律所 一样，我们去年也有些人离开。我们 有一流的资本市场业务，所以从某些 方面来说，别人从我们这里挖人去 帮他们启动业务也不奇怪。回顾一 下，好像从我们这里出去的人催生了 好几家美国所的香港业务。我们已采 取措施加固我们的平台，所以去年我 们员工的离职率很低。更关键的是， 由于我们合伙人队伍的深厚实力，那 段时间我们并未失去任何客户。总的 说来，2011年是我们股权资本市场 （ECM）最好的一年。这一年共有 10件融资额超过10亿美元的交易， 我们经办了其中八件。其它所没有超

Managing partner Q&A

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“People need to be treated like people. You can’t deal with everybody by e-mail or even through telephone calls; you need to spend time face to face encouraging, guiding, and listening.”

“人就需要被当作人来对待。你不能只用电子邮件甚 或是电话来和每个人沟通，你需要花时间面对面地 鼓励、引导和倾听对方。”

win the best work that’s available.

ALB: What are the key challenges of managing the firm Asia-wide, especially since you are still a full-time practitioner?

RA: Ask any Asian managing partner who has a role like mine, and the key challenges are likely to be geography, people, and time. Asia is a large and immensely diverse place. Making sure that you understand the nuances and the differences between how people think and work in China, Japan, or Singapore, is extremely important. People need to be treated like people. You can’t deal with everybody by e-mail or even through telephone calls, you need to spend time face to face encouraging, guiding, and listening. The challenge is about getting the balance right, you could quite easily be on an airplane 300 days a year, but that’s not going to benefit anyone apart from the airlines.

I’m passionate about my role as a practitioner, so I dedicate much of the working week to client work, and some of the travel obviously gets done in the evening. It’s a challenge, and it never feels completely in sync, but I think that continuous need to pull the two things together into a balance is quite healthy.

I’m very lucky, of course, to have the support of an incredibly talented team of younger partners, and I tend to work on the more complex transactions, where I can hopefully provide additional value through the benefit of my long experience in the market.

ALB: Do you ever feel pulled too much in one direction or the other?

RA: I try to avoid that if possible. It’s a question of anticipating the issues, and getting on top of the situation as quickly as possible.

There are often client issues or individual partner or office demands competing for your time and you have to be sensitive and work out where your priorities are. Yes, it’s challenging. Am I getting it right? I have no idea. I hope I am, but it’s a dynamic that changes every day.

ALB: How do you ensure you uphold best practices across offices?

RA: We try to instill best practices through good communication, and by endorsing good behaviour when you see it. At the same time, when you occasionally see behaviour that falls below best practice, you need to ensure that it is remedied very promptly. All of our partners are really good communicators and good role models for younger lawyers. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

过两件的。所以尽管有些本地的小震 荡，2011年仍是我们非常强劲的一 年。 ALB: 对于那些去年在香港开张的对手律 所来说，当时面临的形势很艰 难，对么？ R A : 是的，我同意。去年要在香港开 辟IPO业务的确非常困难，而2012 年对所有人都是艰难的一年。即使这 样，我们在市场上的时间更久，我们 有很强的专业团队，有很多的业务来 源，所以和有些律所不同，我们当时 仍有很多工作可做，而不需要到处寻 找新业务。我们不同的业务之间也能 很好地互补。我们的业务领域广泛， 这使我们能更好地承受市场的低迷。 在严峻的市场情况下，我们高质量的 知识产权/IT、反垄断和监管业务都对 客户极富吸引力，使我们总能赢得市 场上出现的最好的工作。 ALB: 管理整个亚洲区业务的主要挑战有 哪些，尤其是在您仍全职执业的情况下？ R A : 如果你问任何一个和我同样职位 的亚洲管理合伙人，回答大概都会是 地理、人员和时间。亚洲是一个幅员 辽阔，而不同地区之间差别又非常大 的地方。确保你理解中国人、日本人 或新加坡人在思维方式和工作方式上 的微妙或显著差异，这非常重要。人 就需要被当作人来对待。你不能用电 子邮件甚或是电话来和每个人沟通， 你需要花时间面对面地鼓励、引导和 倾听对方。难的是在这之间找到平 衡。你可以很容易地一年300天呆在飞 机上，但除了航空公司，这不会让任 何人得到益处。我对律师的身份充满 激情，所以我一周大部分工作时间都 在为客户工作，以至于有时要利用晚

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Managing partner Q&A ALB: How do international communications work among the Asian offices?

RA: We have many forms of communication. For example, each of our China offices has its own town hall meeting. These are done roughly at the same time to ensure that we’re communicating the same sort of information. They are open, informal opportunities for questions and issues to be dealt with.

We also convene regular meetings of practice and sector groups, to ensure we share knowhow and work effectively in our teams. And there are numerous subgroups focusing on different areas of the business, whether it’s risk, our community and pro bono programmes, or training.

I certainly don’t chair all the Asia meetings. We have local practice group leaders that run their practice groups, and at the office level we have an office managing partner who runs meetings with partners of that office, and then communicates back to me. But the overall arc of how the firm is operating in Asia is something that partners expect me to be focusing on and communicating to them.

“Nothing is more satisfying than seeing young men and women you’ve supported and guided, develop into outstanding individuals and lawyers.

And to see them embraced by the firm, and made partner is a very emotional and inspiring moment for everybody.”

“没有什么比看到你曾支持和引导过的年轻人成 长为出色的个体和律师更让人满足的了。看到他 们融入律所并晋升合伙人，对每个人来说，都是 一个非常令人激动和振奋的时刻。”

ALB: You have been with Freshfields for 27 years now. What makes you continue to believe in the firm?

RA: Is it really that long? I often say to our new recruits - and it’s true - that I’ve never had a dull or unexciting day at the firm. And I think that’s driven by the quality of the work and the team, and by the quality of interactions you have with lawyers and clients on a daily basis. I am always dealing with people that are intellectually first rate, constantly keeping you on your toes, and who are constantly thinking about how **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

上时间出差。这对我是个挑战，而且 从来也没完全找到一致的步调，不过 我觉得这种一直在不平衡中寻找平衡 的生活也挺健康的。 当然，我很幸运能有一群极具才干的 年轻合伙人协助我，而我一般只负责 那些比较复杂的交易，希望能利用自 己在业内的长期经验来提供附加价 值。 ALB : 您是否曾有过焦头烂额的感 觉？ R A : 我会尽可能避免出现 这种情况。 你需要预见可能出现的情况，并尽快 掌控局面。经常会出现客户问题或某 个合伙人或办公室事务争抢你时间 的情况，你必须敏锐地判断出事情的 轻重缓急。是的，这很有挑战性。我 处理得对么？我不知道， 希望是吧，但这个是动态 的，每天都在变。 A L B : 您 如 何 确 保 所有代 表 处均践行最高标准的业务 操作？ R A : 我们会努力通过良性 沟通和即时表彰良好行为 来灌输怎样达到最好的标 准。同时，当偶尔看到不 符合标准的行为时，要确 保尽快修正。我们所有的 合伙人都有很好的沟通能 力，都是年轻律师的好榜 样。 A L B : 各亚 洲 代 表 处 之 间如 何进行 全球性 沟通？ R A : 我们有很多形式的沟 通。比如，我们在中国的 每一个代表处都有他们自 己的员工会议。这些会议 基本都在同一时间召开， 以确保我们在交流同一类 信息。这都是处理事情和 解决问题的公开和非正式 机会。 我们的各个业务组和行业 组也会定期召开会议，以 确保我们在自己的团队里 有效分享知识和工作。还 有很多分支小组专门针对 业务中的不同领域进行讨 论，比如风险、社区事务 和公益项目，或培训。 当然我不会主持所有的亚 洲会议。我们有当地业务

Managing partner Q&A

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

we can improve. I find that intellectually very stimulating and fulfilling.

It’s the adrenaline rush which comes from innovation that’s quite hard to replicate in too many other professional services firms.

ALB: What was Freshfields like when you first arrived in Hong Kong?

RA: Our Hong Kong office opened in 1985. When I arrived in 1994, we had a broad finance practice with around 20 lawyers, and occupied one floor in the Exchange Square. It was around then that we really started to build out our capital markets and public and private M&A capabilities, which have been so successful for us. We are now over 100 lawyers, and have expanded to three and a half floors in the same building. Throughout, we have of course been very focused on China, and that is sure to continue going forward.

ALB: Has the small nature of the Hong Kong legal market contributed to your success and enjoyment of practising?

RA: Yes, it has certainly helped increase the enjoyment. The fact that you are more likely than not to make friends with clients and competitors from other firms on a regular basis outside of the work

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

组的负责人主持该业务组的会议。在 代表处一级，代表处的管理合伙人会 与该代表处的合伙人开会，然后向我 汇报。但有关本所在亚洲的整体运作 策略，这些合伙人会希望由我来考虑 并传达给他们。 A L B :您已 经 在富而德 工作 2 7年了，是 什 么让您一直信赖富而德？ R A : 真有那么久了么？我经常对新招 聘来的人说，我在所里从来没有度过 哪怕一个枯燥无趣的日子，真的。我 想这种充沛的干劲来自于高质量的工 作和团队，以及你每天与律师和客户 们的高质量交流。我总是与智商一流 的人打交道，他们能让你时刻保持敏 锐，总是在想我们如何才能提高。这 给我的头脑带来强烈的刺激感和满足

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Managing partner Q&A

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

environment makes you appreciate that you are living in a community.

We’ve all got day jobs, but there’s a life to lead and responsibilities to others outside of work as well. In other countries I’ve worked in, there’s much less overlap between one’s professional life and social life. That’s a unique part of Hong Kong, and one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed it so much.

ALB: What was your proudest moment as a lawyer over the span of your career?

RA: There are professional moments, and there are people-related moments. On the people side, nothing is more satisfying than seeing young men and women you’ve supported and guided, develop into outstanding individuals and lawyers. And to see them embraced by the firm and made partner is a very emotional and inspiring moment for everybody.

On the work front, I’ve been challenged over the years to devise new methods for doing M&A transactions on the public markets. Most recently, we used an alternative form of consideration, a loan note instrument, as part of the consideration package to try to close a valuation gap. Particular ideas may have a genesis in another market, but they need to be identified, adapted, tested, and shaped for the domestic market here in Hong Kong. This is something that I’ve tried

感。这是种由创新带来的肾上腺素激 增的感觉，这种感觉在很多其他的专 业服务机构里都很难找到。 ALB : 您刚来 香港时富而德是 怎样的？ RA: 我们的香港代表处设立于1985 年。在我1994年来到这里时，我们有 一个很大的金融业务组，有大约20个 律师，占了交易广场一整个楼层。大 约是从那个时候，我们才真正开始建 立起我们的资本市场以及上市企业和 私营企业的并购业务，这些业务至今 都非常成功。现在我们有超过100名律 师，在同一幢大楼里扩张到了三个半 楼面。当然，我们自始至终都非常关 注中国，并肯定会一直关注下去。 ALB : 香港的法律市场很小，这在一定程 度上造成了您的成功和对工作的享受么？ R A : 是的，这的确令我更享受工作的 乐趣。在工作之外，更有可能的是你 常常和客户及其他律所的竞争对手成 为朋友，这会让你庆幸你生活在这个 圈子里面。我们白天都要工作，但在

“Being a good managing partner is partly about showing leadership, but also partly about turning the mirror, listening to the feedback, and adjusting as you go forward.” “作为一个好的管理合伙人，一方面是起到 领导作用，另一方面是要将镜子反转过来， 倾听别人的反馈，并在行进中不断调整。”

to do over the years. It’s pleasing to see that some of those techniques have not only been successful, but have also been implemented and adopted by other people for their deals.

ALB: What ingredients are vital for Freshfields’ success in the coming years?

RA: As a firm, we need to anticipate changing market conditions and changing client demands. And that means lawyers need to have skills to flex from one practice area to another, so they can always find appropriate work to do. It’s about having a mindset that says: “I’m able to take on a broad range of things”, rather than saying “well I’m only comfortable in that one area”. Being international really helps with that. No one gets pigeonholed that way. Having a sharing culture also helps through the lean times. We are very much a supportive and **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

工作之外，我们还有自己的生活，还 要承担对他人的责任。在我工作过的 其他国家，一个人的职业生活和社交 生活重叠的机会要小得多。这是香港 的一个特色，也是我很享受这里的一 个原因。 ALB : 在您的职 业生涯中，您 作为一个律 师最自豪的时刻是什么？ RA: 这种时刻有工作上 的，也有和 人有关的。在人这一方面，没有什 么比看到你曾支持和引导过的年轻人 成长为出色的个体和律师更让人满足 的了。看到他们融入律所并晋升合伙

Managing partner Q&A

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

人，对每个人来说，都是一个非常令 人激动和振奋的时刻。 在工作方面，这些年我一直在努力构 思在公共市场进行并购交易的新方 法。最近，作为整个对价的一部分， 我们采用了贷款证工具这种新型的对 价，来补齐估值的缺口。有些主意可 能来源于另一个市场，你需要发现、 修改、测试和调整它们，使之适用于 香港本地的市场。这是我这些年来一 直努力在做的事情。很高兴看到一些 这样的技巧不但成功了，而且还被其 他人用在了他们的交易里。 A L B : 哪 些 因 素 对 富 而 德 未 来 的成 功至 关重 要？ RA: 作为一家律所，我们需要预见 到市场情况和客户需求都是不断变化 的。这意味着律师们需要具备从一个 业务领域转换到另一个业务领域的技 能，这样他们才会总能找到合适的工 作做。要有一种心态，那就是“我能做 很多种工作”，而不是“噢，我只熟悉 那一个领域的工作”。作为国际化律所 的确会对这种情况有所帮助。人不应 该被这样框定。拥有一个注重分享的 文化，也有助于我们度过业务淡季。 我们是一个非常互助协作的律所，这 会鼓励人们既锐意进取又灵活变通。 拥有适应能力，持续创新，富有创造 力，所有这些都有助于确保我们未来 的成功。

cooperative firm, and this encourages people to be entrepreneurial and flexible. Possessing the ability to adapt, continually innovating and being creative, all of those things will help ensure that we are successful in the years ahead.

ALB: In five years’ time, what do you predict the legal market landscape will look like in Asia?

RA: It’s a very dynamic market. I think we will see lots of change in the next five years. We are sure to see more PRC firms with offices in Hong Kong, and we’ll see some of the existing firms broadening out their practices to include other areas, particularly regulatory and investigations work.

In the longer term, we’re likely to see a bifurcation in the legal market between the global champions and the smaller, domestic-focused firms. It’s hard and expensive to run big international practices, and make them profitable. Some will succeed and some won’t, and they might shrink back and become more domestic. So over time, you might see the legal profession moving the way the consultancy world has gone. Perhaps not as few as four or five large firms, as there will likely be more than that, but I think there will be a very clear delineation **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

ALB: 您预见亚洲的法律市场在未来五年 里会呈现怎样的景象？ R A : 这是一个极具活力的市场。我想 今后五年里会发生很多变化。我们肯 定会看到更多的大陆律所在香港开办 代表处，而一些现有律所也会扩大其 业务范围，增加其他领域的工作，尤 其是监管和调查方面的工作。 长期而言，法律市场可能会分化为全 球性大型律所和专注于当地业务的较 小型律所。经营一家跨国大型律所并 使其盈利是极有难度而且开支巨大 的。有些能成功，有些则不能，这些 不能成功的律所会缩减规模，变成更 本地化的所。所以长此下去，法律业 可能会走咨询业曾走过的老路。当然 不至于只剩下四五家大型律所，也许 比这个多些，但我觉得在本地律所 和全球性律所之间会有非常清晰的分 界。 ALB: 您如何看待有些律所试图复制那种 中外律所 合作的模式？ R A : 我不确定以后会出现很多这种模

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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Managing partner Q&A

between a domestic practice and an international one.

ALB: What about players trying to replicate the PRC-international firm model?

RA: I’m not sure we’re going to see a lot more of that model unless the regulations restricting true partnerships with PRC firms are relaxed.

There is sure to be a strengthening of alliances and relationships with PRC firms. We have a set of relationship firms that we are particularly close to in countries where we don’t have offices or can’t practise local law, and we invest a lot of time in developing those relationships, and ensuring they benefit both parties. We are actively working with those firms to find a way of delivering a more efficient and seamless service to clients. The firm that gets that right will have gone quite a long way to achieving that international-domestic model without the same investment in offices or capital, and without a formal alliance or merger.

ALB: If you could offer some advice to other managing partners of growing firms (domestic or international) in Asia, what would that be?

RA: Don’t get too carried away by success, and don’t be too disappointed by failure. You will end up having both of them, probably in equal measure over the course of your tenure. Put people at the centre of everything you do, and find a way of maximising your relevance to them, whether in the way you solve problems or the way in which you’re available to assist in an hour of need. And be clear about the strategy.

Decide what it is you want to do, communicate it, gather feedback, adjust as necessary, and be intuitive. Being a good managing partner is partly about showing leadership, but also partly about turning the mirror, listening to the feedback, and adjusting as you go forward.

Most importantly of all, be human and enjoy what you do. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

式，除非政府放宽 那些限制与大陆律 所结成真正意义上 的合伙的法规。与 大陆律所的联合 和合作肯定会加 强。在我们未设代表处或无法从事当 地法律业务的那些国家，我们都有一 批关系密切的合作律所。我们会投入 很多时间来发展我们的合作关系，确 保双方都能从中获益。我们积极地与 这些律所一起寻找一种能为客户提供 更协调高效的服务的方法。但即使找 到这样的方法，也要走很长的路，才 能实现那种无需同样多办公室或资金 投入，也非真正意义上的联合或合并 的国际—本土律所联盟模式。 A L B : 如 果 请 您 给 其 他 成 长 中 律 所（本 土 或 国 际）的 管 理 合 伙 人 提 些 意 见，您 会说什么？ R A : 不要被成功所迷惑， 也不要为失 败而沮丧。这两者你最终都会拥有， 也许在你任职期间这两者你会收获同 样多。把人放在你做的每件事的中 心，想办法让自己对别人有用，或者 通过解决问题，或者通过在急需时帮 忙。对战略性的东西要很清楚。明白 你想做什么，传达这种意思，收集反 馈意见，做必要的调整，要相信自己 的直觉。作为一名好的管理合伙人， 一方面是起到领导作用，另一方面是 要将镜子反转过来，倾听别人的反 馈，并在行进中不断调整。 最重要的是，有人情味并享受自己所 做的事情。

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Basel | Beijing | Chiasso | Copenhagen | Frankfurt | Hong Kong | Lausanne | London | Madrid | Moncton | Beijing | Copenhagen | Frankfurt | Hong Kong | Lausanne | London | Madrid | Moncton | New| York | Ottawa | Paris | Quebec | Shanghai | Singapore | Toronto | Zurich Basel Chiasso Montreal Montreal | New York | Ottawa | Paris | Quebec | Shanghai | Singapore | Toronto | Zurich

34

Energy roundtable

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

Energy in-house roundtable 能 源 法 务大 家 谈

ALB has invited six in-house counsels from major domestic and multinational energy companies to share their experiences, offer their insights of industry trends, discuss their risks and challenges, and speak of their requirements when hiring external lawyers. Liu Zhen reports

R

egardless of the overall economic climate, the energy sector in China always plays a very fundamental role in the economy. Foreign corporations still see opportunities of growth in the China market for its consumption potential; and the state-owned Chinese companies are busy “going out”, sweeping up assets abroad. Clean energy is a common concern, and the general legal environment is also changing as laws are increasingly becoming completed. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

六位来自主要国内和国际能源 企业的法务顾问，应 ALB之邀 在此分享他们的多年经验，以 业内眼光观察行业趋势，探讨 面临的风险与挑战，并公布他 们在聘用外部合作律师时的选 择标准。Liu Zhen报道。

无

论 总体 经 济 形 势如 何，能 源 行业在中国 经 济 中始 终 扮 演 支 柱 地 位 。跨 国 公司 仍 然 从 中国有增无减的庞大能耗中看到宝贵商机， 而中国国企则忙于“走出去”，大举收 购海外 资产。清洁能源是眼下的一大课题；而随 着 中国法制的不断完善，法律工作的整体环境 也在悄然 变化。

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Energy roundtable

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

The voices 声音

zf:

Tina Chan, Chief Corporate Counsel, Greater China, Chevron Downstream Law Function (Chevron)

TC:

A Hong Kong-based veteran counsel in the energy sector, altogether she possesses more than two decades of in-house experience related to China.

Zhang Fei, Deputy General Counsel, China Resources Power Holdings Co. Ltd (CRP) Zhang’s legal department engages in the all the investment, development, operation and management of power plants of the Hong Kong-listed CRP, a flagship subsidiary of central-owned state-owned enterprise (SOE) China Resources (Holdings).

HY:

TL:

LL:

Tina C h an , 雪佛龙下游法律业务大中华 区总顾问。（以下简称 “ 雪佛龙 ”） T i n a C h a n是常驻香港的能 源行业资深 顾 问，她一共有2 0多年和中国事务相关的的 法 务经验。

张 斐，华 润 电 力副 总 法 律 顾 问 。( “ 华 润 电 力” ) 在香港上市的华润电力是中国央 企 华润集 团主营电 站业务的旗 舰级子公司，张 斐 所 在的法律部 参 与了华润电力的各项投资， 开发，经营和管理。

Hong Yuwen, Chief Legal Director of China National Aviation Fuel (CNAF)

洪育 文，中国 航 空 油 料 集 团 公司 总 法 律 顾 问（“中航油”）

CNAF is the largest state-owned aviation fuel supplier which integrates the purchase, transportation, storage, quality management, sales and into-plane service of aviation fuel in China.

中国航空油料集团公司是中国最大的航 空油料供 应国有企业，在中国从事航油的 采 购，运输，储存，质量管理，销售和加油 服 务。

Tong Liping, Chief Legal Officer of Shanghai Electric and director of the legal department of Shanghai Electric.

She has dedicated her 19-year-long career to the company, one of the largest diversified energy equipment manufacturing groups in China.

YL:

35

童丽萍，上海电气集团总法律顾问，法务部 部长。（“上海电气”） 她至今为止19年的整 个职 业生 涯，都服 务 于这 家中国最大的电 站设备制 造商之一。

Yu Lemin, General Manager of the Legal Department, Sinochem Group (Sinochem)

於 乐 民，中化 集 团公司法 律 部总 经 理（“ 中 化”）

Yu’s team of over 75 members are in charge of China’s no.5 “Top Transnational Enterprises” whose energy business includes exploration and production of oil and gas, oil trading, oil refining, storage and logistics, and distribution and retail.

於乐民 率领的团队担负着中国“ 第五大 跨 国企业”中化的法律服 务，其能 源相关业务 包括 油气 开采，石油交易，石油炼 化，储存 运输，分 销零售 等 整 个产业链。

Li Ling, Chief Legal Officer and a member of the Executive Committee of the State Grid International Development (SGID)

李 岭，国 家电 网 国 际 发 展 有 限 公司 总 法 律 顾问（“ S G I D ”）

SGID is an overseas investment focused subsidiary of State Grid Corporation of China, the largest utility in the world. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

国家电网国际发 展有限公司是国家电网的 下属子公司，承担 着这 家全球 最大的电网 企业的海 外投资和国际业务。

36

Energy roundtable

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

The team ZF: Currently we have recruited 12 in-house counsels all together in our legal department, and we also strategically positioned some counsels in our key subsidiaries around our major operation areas.

These lawyers are all competent, graduated from top-tier law schools and have at least more than five years PQE. HY: There used to be only seven workers including me last year in the whole legal department of CNAF. But the full-time headcount has now reached 38, plus some more contract dealers.

TL: At the moment, my team has over 80 full-time legal professionals, which is relatively quite a large team for a “non-central SOE”.

LL: We, the in-house legal team, have been an independent department since the establishment of SGID. We now have 10 employees.

TC: Chevron doesn’t have a large legal team in the region, only two lawyers in Hong Kong including myself. But we, at the same time, are in charge of the legal affairs in mainland China. Neither of us has a licence to practise in the PRC, thus we would commission local firms to handle the China-related affairs for us when necessary.

The role of in-house HY: Our job is no different from any other well-established in-house legal department, which includes various meetings, negotiations and talks, drafting documents, communications, and appearing before the court. The main affairs a legal department takes care of are: Major operational decision making; contract; internal regulations; and litigation. We fully participate in all these areas.

TL: The strategy of my team is to develop a functional line into an organic structure and mechanism, which is fully integrated into the overall operational and management system of the company as an indispensable part, a lookout for risks, and a gatekeeper of conduct.

LL: Apart from day-to-day legal affairs management, my team mainly works on supporting the business development of the company. We provide support to outbound investments and mergers and acquisitions, and we also advise on strategic decisions that are in the process of being made. In addition, we also collect and compile relevant knowledge and experiences concerning cross border business to educate our employees on the legal aspects.

TC: Our value-adding point is that we know the business of the company well; we know what we are doing in China, and what kind of legal services we want. Selecting proper law firms is only a small part of our job. We also connect with the lawyers, telling them how we want the deal to be done, how the team should be organised, and helping them decide how the deal should be structured. This is where we play a leading role.

The quality of in-house lawyers ZF: Personally, I believe four qualities are essential as far as a qualified in-house lawyer is concerned: Professional competence. In a specific practice area like M&A, and in our specific sector – energy, we all have to constantly keep an eye on **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

团队 ZF: 我们总部和下属企业共有数十名专业律 师，大多从国内外知名法学院校毕业，有在国 内外大企业和知名律所的工作履历，对能源 行业有较丰富的实践经验。

HY: 整个中航油的法律部门，去年我们只有 连同我在内只有7位法律工作者，现在已经增 长到了38位。如果算上兼职的合同管理员， 可能还会更多一些。 TL: 我们这条线现在有80多人，基本都是专职 专业人员。从国企来说，尤其是我们这样的“ 地方国企”，算是规模比较大的。 LL: 我们法律事务部从SGID成立时就是独立 的的部门，目前有10个成员。 TC: 我们这里的团队不是很大，只有两个律师

在香港，但是我们也同时负责处理中国大陆的 法律的事务。因为我们两个都没有中国的律师 执照，所以我们一般有中国事务需要的话，会 找中国当地的律师事务所替我们去处理。

法务的角色 HY: 我们的工作内容跟其他的成熟的法律部 门没有什么两样。主要是各种各样的会议， 谈判，协商，文件的起草，修改，各种沟通， 出庭等等。法律部门最主要的几个事务是这 样的：重 大 经营决 策；合同；公司的规 章制 度；诉讼。在这些工作领域中，法律部门都要 有一个全面的参与。

TL: 我对我们部门的思路，最重要的是要建

立一个总的法律体系和架构。这个架构要融 入公司的整体管控体系里面去，作为一个职 能的条线，发挥专业把关的作用，以及法律 风险防范和管控，成为整个集团的管理不可 缺少的一部分。

LL: 除了日常法律事务管理，我们的工作主 要 是 支 持 公司 的业 务发 展，对 海 外 绿 地投 资、兼并收购等业务的项目执行提供全过程 支持，并对公司的业务发展战略提供决策支 持。另外，对涉及到海外业务的知识和经验 加以整理和积累，在公司内部进行法律知识 的宣传和教育。 TC: 最体现我们价值的地方是什么呢？我们对

公司内部的生意有比较多认识，我们知道我们 到底在中国要做一些什么的生意，我们需要 一些什么的法律服务，所以挑选合适的中国 律师只是其中的一部分，在整个过程当中，我 们要跟他们联系，告诉他们我们想怎么做这 个交易，这个团队应该是怎么样的，而且我们 帮助他们决定应该怎么去设计一个交易的结

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

Energy roundtable

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the latest regulations and practices, and be fully aware that where we can retain the best lawyers and firms in the particular practice area once we need support from the outside counsels.

Business acumen and broad knowledge exposure. It is quite plain that without fundamental knowledge about your employer’s business strategy, business model and information on its rivals, or if you are unable to decipher a financial statement, it will be very difficult for you to provide practical legal advice to the executives and other associates.

Communication skills. The clients of an in-house counsel are narrowed down to the internal associates only, and it is a fine art to know how to brief the boss in an effective way. It requires time and practice to

37

构，这是我们发挥作用最大的地方。 法务的自我修养 ZF: 我觉得in - house c ounsel基 本的素质 有四: 一是专业能力，作为公司法务人员，在细分专 业领域如并购，和细分行业领域如能源行业， 一定要熟悉相关领域的法律法规和最新的行 业实践，同时也要了解该领域国内外最好的 律所和律师，这样有疑难问题出现时在自身 团队专业能力不足以解答时可以第一时间寻 求外部律师的支持；

A security guard stands in front of windmills used to generate energy in Shanghai. REUTERS/Aly Song

sharpen these skills.

Pursuit of excellence. Comparatively, in-house counsels are under less pressure than private practice lawyers, so we can easily lose the motivation to strive for excellence and enhancing our professional capabilities unless we keep pushing ourselves to stretch further, and have the audacity to walk out of the comfort zone sometimes.

二是熟悉财务和管理，作为公司法务人员，如 果对公司的战略、商业模式、主要竞争对手不 了解，读不懂公司最基本的财务报表，不是一 个合格的员工，更不是一个合格的公司法务人 员，更难以为管理层以及其他业务部门量身 定做切实可行的法律方案和提供法律咨询。

HY: An ideal counsel must possess four things: First, professional skills; second, integrity; third, worldly wisdom, or a businessman mindset besides a legal perspective; and four, the love for the law

三是沟通能力要强。公司法务人员主要的客 户实际是内部客户，包括公司管理层和其他业 务部门，如何能用简练的语言在有限的时间内

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

38

Energy roundtable

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

and loyalty to the company.

TC: I think first, an in-house lawyer has to have analytical, logical and strategic thinking, and clear ideas. Second, one should have a commercial acumen, not just as a lawyer, but to think from a commercial perspective. Then, an in-house has to know the business of the company well.

For instance, in the energy sector, we sell a number of products, like aviation fuel and lubricants, and we operate petrol stations, etc. And the business models vary from products to products. External lawyers know little of this, so we need to make it clear to them what they should be aware of, or how to draft the contract each time. We need also to review and revise their drafts. Since we cannot 100 percent rely on external lawyers accurately finishing work for us, we have to carefully supervise.

In addition, to our colleagues from the business units, who are on the frontline of making money, we are the backup from behind. So we need to have the emotional quotient and abilities that are strong enough to influence them. Sometimes, their assumedly feasible acts would violate some certain regulations like that of tax. We’d have to tell them they cannot do it, but in a better way like providing alternatives, which is really important.

Communication also matters and relates to the ability of influence. We have to effectively communicate with them to help them understand the nature of the problem. Teamwork is important for us to complete a task together. Last but not least, it is necessary to give the staff opportunities for self-development, and offer them coaching and the chance to diversify their skills.

LL: Looking at the overall functioning of in-house teams in Chinese companies, it is a good start that many have the attention of executives.

In fact, this attention is growing. But we in-house counsel must work on how to influence the decision making, how to present ourselves and add value to the company operations, and how to enhance the interaction between the legal team and other departments. More down-to-earth practices and a better founded culture of the “rule of law” are needed.

Job evolution in recent years YL: In the past 10 years, having learned a lesson the hard way, we have undergone a sharp learning curve as the conglomerate branched out into diverse business units and cross border transactions have become more commonplace. The 1990s were a difficult and chaotic period for Chinese SOEs. That was a time when China went through a transformation from a central-planning economy to a market economy. Many SOEs, Sinochem in particular, suffered heavy losses during that period due to mismanagement and lack of risk and credit control.

ZF: My observation is that SOEs, in particular those SOEs directly controlled by the central government, are gradually paying more and more attention to in-house jobs. Thus, the in-house lawyer’s functionality is strengthened in corporate China. Hopefully in the foreseeable future, the in-house lawyers can be more proactive, and their career development can be more diversified and promising. However, the gap between corporate China and the MNCs is still large enough that

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

向管理层解释清楚一个法律问题，如何能用 通俗易懂的语言向其他部门同事解答清楚一 个他们工作实践中遇到的或大或小的法律问 题，这种深入浅出、“极高明而道中庸”的能力 其实需要很强的综合能力和有意识的锻炼。 四是公司法务人员要有追求卓越的心态，相 对而言，公司法务人员不像外部律师那 样工 作压力和强度大，如不有意识的提高对自己 工作效率效果的要求，公司法务人员很容易 懈怠和专业能力退化。

HY: 一个理想的法务有四个方面，一个是专 业精通，第二个是品德 端正，第三个是世事 洞明，法律人员要有一个 生意人的思维，不 能光从法律上考虑，第四是对法律事业的热 爱和对公司的忠诚。 TC: 我觉得首先作为律师第一个最重要的是有 一个分析性，逻辑性，战略性的思考，思路要 很清楚。第二要有商业敏感性，不单单作为律 师，还要能够从一个商业的角度去看问题。然 后对自己的公司的生意要深入的理解。因为我

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

Energy roundtable

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39

们能源行业，卖的不是单种产品，譬如我们卖 航油，润滑油，又做加油站，由于产品的不同， 有可能十几二十种不同的生意方式。外部的 律师不了解我们的生意，所以我们每一次要 清楚的告诉他们，我这个合同要注意什么什 么，你给我起草的时候 要怎么怎么样，他们 起草完了我们自己也要修改，因为不能百分 之一百依靠外部的律师能够给我们做得很精 确，我们都需要小心监管。 还有对于我们自己公司的做生意赚钱的部门， 前线的同事们，我们是在后面给他们提供支 援，所以我们要有比较好的EQ，有能力去影 响他们。有时候他们觉得我这样做这样可以， 可是这样做从税务上，法律上是违反了规定， 他们可能不知道，那我们就要告诉他们，你不 应该这样做。可能比较好的方式是给他们其 他选择。还有沟通，也跟影响能力有关系。你 要跟他们沟通得比较好。让他们理解这个到 底是什么样的问题。然后团队合作也很重要， 大家要作为一个团队去处理这些事情。最后， 要给手下的同事们发展机会，给他们指导，还 有给他们机会去做不同的东西。

Workmen hang from the power lines for a new railway line under construction on the outskirts of Beijing. REUTERS/David Gray

it will take time and strenuous efforts to fix it.

TC: I have been working in the field of China-related legal affairs for more than 20 years. I joined Chevron 12 years ago after years of experience in other energy companies. Basically, I have been an inhouse counsel for the energy sector throughout my career, and it has been over two decades since my first involvement in Chinese laws and regulations.

Over the years, I think the major change is that the Chinese legal system has become more affluent and complete, in comparison to the old times when there weren’t many laws and regulations. What I’ve been witnessing is a great change, a progress of evolution. Another change is that the Chinese lawyers have become much more competent.

In the beginning there weren’t many lawyers at all, and great lawyers were rare - those who spoke fluent English and completed their work to perfection. I found that lawyers are getting better and better, as we’ve been using Chinese firms all the way. I also found during my in-house career, especially over the past five years, that the Chinese are getting more precise and sticking to the law. For example, the recently issued Anti-Monopoly Law is what was absent before. As a result, we are paying particular attention to those antitrust Chinarelated issues. We are extremely careful with whether there are any **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

LL: 总体看中国企业中法律队伍的作用，现在 许多企业都重视依法治企，增加法律专业人 员，这是个好的开头。但是 对与法律顾问在 行使职能的时候，怎样影响企业决策，怎样在 业务中体现出法律顾问的功能和价值，怎样 促进法律和业务团队的互动，还需要渗透到 实践中，需要进一步培育整体的法律文化。 工作的演变 YL: 过去的10年间，随着集团进入多样化经营 的发展，跨境交易也越来越普遍，我们也经历 了一个非常曲折的学习曲线，学到了艰难的一 课。中国国企的1990年代非常困难和混乱。 当时中国正经历从计划经济转型到设厂经济 的转型。许多国企，特别是中化，因为当时的 管理不善和缺乏风险和信用管控，而遭受到 了严重的损失。

ZF: 我个人观察到的公司法务最主要的变化

是国有企业尤其是中央企业越来越重视公司 法务工作，这可以从国务院国资委一系列的文 件中得到证实，这会提升公司法务在国有企 业中的地位和发言权，从而也会导致工作量 和工作形式的变化，公司法务会更加主动积 极，职 业生涯 发 展的通 道也会更 加宽广，但 和世界500强企业的差距我觉得仍然很大。

TC: 我参与中国相关的法律事务，已经二十

多年了。我正式加入雪佛龙有十二年，但此前 也在别的能源企业，所以一直是在本行业从 事法务。如果从我一开始接触中国的法规算 起，已经二十几年了。

40

Energy roundtable

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

An employee fills a vehicle at a gas station in Hefei. REUTERS/Jianan Yu

relevant provisions in a specific area. In general, the law is getting stricter, and we are getting more cautious.

The company plan TC: In the past, we didn’t have a really large-scale business in China.

But now, as far as I know, there is a full marketing plan to promote one of our various products in China. And there are also some solid plans for our upstream development in China – upstream in the petrol industry referring to exploration and exploiting, etc. Besides, some foreign-based branches of Chevron International, like our Australian company, have large procurements in China. Therefore, they are sending over inspectors to guarantee quality assurance. In a word, the China-related business, both the inbound investments and the procurements, would have plenty of opportunities to develop and expand.

TL: In the near future, I think Shanghai Electric will continue to focus on overseas expansion. Either we will purchase assets overseas or establish cross border partnerships with international corporations.

The methods vary, but the tendency is getting stronger and stronger.

This will occupy most of our attention.

Energy industry and risk control ZF: The central government has recently promulgated a series of laws and regulations on clean energy. We also observe that the change in the international carbon emissions market will surely have great impact on the industry and its business model. The change of policies and business models will have various impacts on our practice. I think the in-house legal team should not only manage the legal affairs on a daily basis, but it also needs to do research and keep track of the development of relevant state policies and legislations. Of course, the research is not purely for academic interest, but mainly for paving a **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

过去这些年间，我想最主要的变化是开始的 时候没有太多法规，而现在中国的法规变得 比较多而且比较完善。所以我是见证了中国 的法律的一个很大变化，一个进化的过程。 另外一个是中国的律师比以前也能干得多。 开始的时候中国都没有多少律师，但现在有很 多很好的律师。而且有一些英语的特别好，很 能干。因为我们需要用很多的中国律师事务 所为我们提供服务，这个过程中我发现他们 越来越能干。我觉得在过去5年当中，在我在 作为法务的过程当中发现现在在中国做这些 法律事务，也变得比较严谨，比较多规范了。 譬如以前在中国没有《反垄断法》，现在也有 了。总之中国的法律越来越严谨，我们也特别 要越来越小心处理。 公司计划 TC: 我们以前在中国没有发展得那么多，但现 在我知道我们有一个产品已经有一套完整的 计划，要在中国市场有推广的大动作。另外， 我们的上游，就是勘探开发的方面，在中国也 有也有很多计划。除此之外，我们雪佛龙系统 外国的公司，例如我们在澳大利亚的分公司， 他们在中国来进行大量的采购，所以他们也会 派一些人到中国，确保他们采购的东西质量 保证能够做得比较好。所以在中国的这一块， 无论在当地投资，或是从外面进来采购，应该 都有比较多的发展和拓展。

TL: 近两年我觉得我们公司还是合资并购，国

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

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clear road map to ongoing business operations.

TC: In terms of the present economic condition, what I can say is that it might have some impact on our business, but is not likely to affect our development plans. I think the two most influential laws to us are the Labour Law, a new law issued only a few years ago, but already deeply affecting us, and the Anti-Monopoly Law. As our company focuses highly on compliance, we are paying particular attention to these two laws. An instance of the obvious effect of the Labour Law is the occurrences of labour disputes we’ve encountered with employees.

There have been only a couple of them though, which deserve special high vigilance.

HY: Since the financial crisis, the economy has gone up and down. The trend has yet to be clear, and perhaps there will be some worse times to some extent. The indicators of Chinese companies dropped from same time last year. Inevitably we have been affected in the following ways: First, legal disputes increase in the unstable economy with problems once covered by growth emerging in the downturn. Second, companies and departments have become more aware of legal risks in such harsh time. Third, we hope we can come out as winners and survivors of a tough environment.

TL: Currently, the state policies of tightening investment have slowed down many projects. It has more or less some impact on us. But, as one of the fundamental industries, our energy equipment manufacturing would perform relatively better than many other industries since there isn’t as much of a bubble here as in some sectors. When the bubbles burst they are the ones that get hurt, not us. Furthermore, the energy industry will always be needed to a certain extent as it is a basic demand of all sectors. I think for a significant period of time, this would remain the case. Anyway, we will strategically seek new growth points, such as overseas investment and projects. But the traditional business will remain our advantage in the market and our core competitiveness.

LL: We are not going out for the sake of going out. We examine each M&A and investment opportunity calmly and cautiously. With open minds, we also do thorough research and investigation. To evaluate and make choices on opportunities and timings is so important that the professional advice of legal practitioners is indispensible. The first role we play here is carrying out the due diligence investigation. We also provide comprehensive information and analysis to the decision makers after thorough research on the investment environment, and the laws and policies of the target’s country. Secondly, in order to proactively promote the projects, we utilise our expertise and experiences in law to prepare the documents and organise the negotiations. With our increasing experiences in overseas M&As, we can improve the international reputation and image of Chinese companies by successfully supporting the operation and execution of our investment projects.

The challenges TC: As for our current challenges, the first one is the shortage of resources due to the accumulation of work and explosion in number of laws and regulations as a result of our growing business in China.

There are still only two of us, which means a heavier load and more hard work. The second challenge is the difficulty and time consumption in finding a law firm that meets our standards in the smaller cities, **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

41

际合作会比较重要。不管是我们去海外收购， 还是和国际公司建立跨国合作，方式多样，但 是国际化的趋势是越来越明显。这个工作会占 用我们相当的精力。 能源行业与风险管控 ZF: 国家关于清洁能源的一系列法律法规， 以及国际上碳减排市场发生的种种变化，必 然会对能源行业的生意模式产生重大影响， 要求企业要主动转型，以因应国际国内的政 策调整和行业变化。我觉得法务部门除了要 做好日常法律事务处理，还需要对国家的相 关政策法规做好前瞻性研究和跟踪工作。

TC: 关于当前的经济形势，只能说对我们的 生意影响可能会有，不过可能不会影响到我 们发展的计划。我觉得有两个法规特别对我 们有影响，第一就是《劳动法》。这个是一个 新的法律，出台只有几年，但是它影响很深。 还有另外一个就是《反垄断法》。因为我们 公司对合规特别注意，所以这些我们要特别 的留意。譬如在《劳动法》这方面就发现影 响比较明显，发生过一些跟员工有劳动争议 的事件。不过也不是很多，一两个而已，但是 我们需要特别注意。 HY: 金融危机以来，经济反反复复，到现在

为止 还 没 有 明 朗 化，甚 至 可 能 有一定 的 恶 化。我们无可避免会受到一些影响。对法律 工作来说，可能有三点。第一是在经 济的波 动时期，很容易带来法律纠纷的增加。在经 济上升时期很多问题被掩盖掉，但是在经济 大起大落时就会浮现。第二个是各个公司各 个部门的法律风险意识在提高。他们会意识 到这是非常时期，会意识到法律风险。第三 个是我们希望在恶劣环境中我们希望我们是 最终的胜出者。

TL: 目前投资的紧缩和整体大环境的增长放

缓，会对我们企业或多或少 会有影响的，但 是受大环 境 影响比 较大的是那 种泡沫 比 较 多的，我们这种装备制造也属于基础工业本 身没有太多泡沫，跟其他产业比起来应该还 会好一些。并且，能源工业始终是一个基 本 需求。我觉得在相当的一个时间里面还会保 持这样的需求。另外从战略上我们需要开发 新的业务增长点，例如海外投资和业务。但 是作为基础行业，我们的传统业务还是我们 的优势和核心竞争力。

LL: 我们不是仅仅为了国际化而国际化，我们

需要理性而审慎的看待各种并购和投资的机 遇。在有一个 开放的头脑的同时，充分进行 调查研究。对机会的判断和时机的选择是非 常重要的，而其中法律人员的专业判断不可或 缺。我们法律人员的作用，一方面是尽职调查

42

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V&T law firm

NEW CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD FOR ENERGY ENTERPRISES

Wang Jihong, Managing partner of V&T Law Firm Wang Jihong is in charge of the V&T Law Firm’s practice related to environment, resources, energy, urban infrastructure, real estate and engineering.

She is recognized as one of the National Excellent Lawyers in China and serves as the Vice Director of the Environment & Resource Law Committee. For years, Ms Wang has assisted domestic and foreign investors in a great many arbitrations and litigations related to bidding, M&A, investing and financing in resources, energy and environment areas. Due to her expertise in environmental and energy matters, Ms Wang is often invited to draft, revise or deliberate the relevant laws and regulations. Currently, she is an active member of the drafting committee for the Atomic Energy Law, and serves as its principal legal advisor. 王霁虹，全国优秀律师，负责 万商天勤事务所的环境、资 源、能源、城市基础设施、房 地产及工程业务，同时担任中 华全国律师协会环境与资源 法专业委员会副主任。多年来 协助境内外投资者设计、处理 了大量资源、能源、基础设施 等领域的招投标、并购、投融 资等诉讼、非诉讼法律事务。 作为业内法律专家，多次受邀 参与相关法律法规的起草、 修订和论证工作，目前作为起 草组成员，正在参与《原子能 法》的起草工作。

1. What’s your perspective on the trend of energy business?

Although the economic development is slowing down, energy shortage remains a problem difficult to solve for China – the second largest global economy. Due to technical and environmental restrictions, China needs to attract investment of international energy conglomerates such as Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Meanwhile, with the guidance of the government, Chinese enterprises have invested overseas in energy projects and more are expected to come in the future.

The active trans-border investment will result in the increase of legal needs. Therefore, I think that the energy practice will continue to be hot in the next few years.

2. What are the newly issued or revised laws and regulations related to environment, resources and energy?

The first significant revision is that of the Civil Procedural Law. The revised Law, effective as of Jan 1, 2013, incorporates articles on environmental public interest litigation. Under Article 55 of the revised Law, agencies and organizations stipulated by laws and regulations may file suits against acts that damage public interest such as environmental pollution.

The second is the revision of the Environmental Protection Law, which has been in force for 23 years. Currently, the revision draft of the law has come out, in which it includes a system to control the total volume of major pollutants, and further clarifies and improves the rules on enterprises’ responsibility to prevent pollution. In addition, many professionals and experts, including individuals from my firm, have called out for further improvement of the draft, such as clarifying the environmental public interest litigation system and the environmental tax rules, and improving the compensation system for environmental pollution, the approval system for environmental impact assessment and the system of simultaneous design, construction and use. These systems and rules can further strengthen the environmental responsibility of enterprises, and regulate their pollution discharge acts.

The third is the drafting of the Atomic Energy Law, which began 27 years ago. Currently, the first draft has been finished and submitted to the relevant government departments for comments. Our firm had the honor to be included among the drafting committee and participated actively. As a basic law in the nuclear energy area, this law will play a significant role in the regulation of nuclear-related legal relations and in the development of China’s nuclear energy business in the future.

Additionally, the Air Pollution Prevention Law and Beijing Municipal Rules on Air Pollution Prevention are also under revision, in which, as the legal advisor of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, my firm provided professional comments and suggestions from a practical perspective.

3. What impact will these revised laws and regulations have on your clients?

All of the above-mentioned laws and regulations directly affect the behavior of the enterprises in the resource and energy sector in their daily operation, M&A, financing and other activities, as follows:

V&T Law Firm A: F3, Tower A, HUAYE

International Center, No.

39, Dongsihuan Zhonglu,

Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100025 T: +86-10-82255610 F: +86-10-82255600 W: www.vtlaw.cn

1) The revised regulations will adopt stricter requirements to achieve the relevant administrative approvals before construction of a project begins, including stricter requirements for approval in relation to an enterprises’ total discharge of pollutants, and emphasis on the requirement that the environmental assessment must be complete before any constructing of the project.

2) The revised regulations also set higher restrictions in the course of operating the project, including the simultaneous design, construction and use of environmental facilities,

the suspending of approval, as well as the regulating of the pollution discharge and environmental monitoring.

3) Under the revised regulations, the enterprises will have to pay much higher price for noncompliance than before, especially after the establishment of environmental public litigation system, at which time the enterprises will have to pay much more for their part in causing pollution that affects the public welfare, which, previously, no one could claim.

Therefore, we may say that the revised regulations set a higher requirement on the compliance of enterprises. The enterprises must perform a systematic review and analysis of the relevant laws and regulations, and sufficiently understand and estimate the liabilities and risks under the new regulations, so as to avoid the heavy penalties that may be incurred for violating the relevant rules. It is even more so for the foreign enterprises investing in China. The legal system in China is comparatively complicated. In addition to laws, there are a great many administrative regulations and departmental regulations. It is therefore difficult for the foreign investor to assess the impact and interconnection among such a diverse set of regulations, not to mention keeping up with the numerous revisions and amendments to the regulations. So, it is essential to have experienced legal guidance and support.

4. For the next two years, what are the expectations and development plans for your law firm and your team as to energy practice?

Currently, our practice group for environment, resources and energy continues to expand and grow, forming an experienced, international team consisting of both Chinese and foreign attorneys to satisfy the needs of domestic and foreign clients in their resources and energy business within and across borders.

In the future, we will continue to focus our attention on and involve ourselves in cutting-edge practice in the energy area.

We will also actively participate in the legislative process, so as to maintain and expand our expertise in this area. We look forward to providing the highest quality professional service to energy clients at home and abroad.

5. What’s your suggestions to the outgoing Chinese energy clients?

With more and more energy and resources enterprises investing abroad, there have been many enterprises paying a price for not handling their investment optimally. With respect to Chinese enterprises, we suggest that two considerations be made before investing abroad. The first relates to their overseas China investment. Since a series of regulations and policies are issued by the Chinese national and local departments overseeing development, business, and foreign exchange, the investment money cannot successfully go abroad unless those rules are sufficiently figured out. Also, there are a great many policies relating to financing and providing guarantees that support the enterprises’ efforts to expand globally, therefore the enterprises had better do their homework to take advantage of such policies. Second, enterprises must also focus on how to ensure the monies invested successfully reach the destination.

The enterprises must first perform due diligence on the investment environment of the destination country, making sure to understand clearly the laws and policies related to energy and resources investment, investment entities, taxes, foreign exchange, environmental protection, employment, working hours, and corporate law matters; otherwise, they may suffer investment losses. Moreover, the reliance on the professional support provided by intermediaries such as law firms and accounting firms is also quite important. In conclusion, the initial steps a Chinese enterprise needs to take for their first attempt at outgoing investment is to standardize their operation and integrate with international practice for trans-border investment.

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万商天勤律师事务所

能源企业面临新挑战 1、您如何看能源业务的未来发展趋势？ 尽管经济发展速度放缓，但能源问题始终是中国这全球第 二大经济体尚待解决的难题，因此，我本人认为未来能源 业务还将持续成为律师的业务热点之一。由于技术、环保 等瓶颈的限制，中国需要吸引诸如雪佛龙、康菲等一流的 国际能源企业前来中国投资；与此同时，中国实力的强大 和政府的引导，已经和将继续有越来越多的中国企业到 境外投资。这种跨境投资的活跃，决定着相关法律服务 的市场需求。由此，我认为，在未来的几年，能源领域的 法律业务仍将是热点。 2、最近有哪些新颁布或新修定的与环境、资源、能源相 关的法律法规？ 首先是令人瞩目的《民事诉讼法》的修改。2013年1月1日 开始实施的修订后的《民事诉讼法》中增加了环境公益 诉讼制度的相关条款：“第五十五条对污染环境、侵害众 多消费者合法权益等损害社会公共利益的行为，法律规 定的机关和有关组织可以向人民法院提起诉讼。”在经过 业内人士多年的呼吁和努力后，终于增加到了新修订的《 民事诉讼法》中。 其次是已实施了23年、正在征求意见中的《环境保护法》 的修改。目前《环境保护法》征求意见稿已经发布，在该征 求意见稿中，已经将重点污染物总量控制制度正式写入， 并进一步明确和完善了企业污染防治责任制度。此外，本 所等众多业界人士都在呼吁对于征求意见稿进行进一步 完善，如明确环境公益诉讼制度、环境税制度，完善环境 污染损害赔偿制度、环境影响评价审批制度及三同时制 度等等。这些制度均会进一步加强企业环境责任，规范 企业的排污行为。 再次是历经27年，目前尚在起草中的《原子能法》。目前《 原子能法》的初稿已经完成并已征求各部委意见。本所有 幸作为起草组成员全程参与到该法的立法过程。该法作为 核能领域的基本法，将对中国未来核能领域法律关系的调 整和中国核能事业的发挥重大作用。 此外，《大气污染防治法》和《北京市大气污染防治条例》 也均在制定、修改的过程中，本所作为北京市环保局的法 律顾问也从实践的角度对该两部法律的制定和修改提供了 专业意见和建议。 3、这些新颁法律法规对您的客户会带来什么样的影 响？ 上述法律法规均对资源、能源类企业的日常经营、运行、以 及并购、融资等一系列行为产生直接影响，具体表现为： 1）新法规对于项目建设前的相关行政审批的要求将会更 加严格，包括重点污染物排污企业需先行取得排污总量审

批，强调建设项目的环评必须先行办理等等。 2）新法规对于企业在项目运作过程中的合规性也提出了 更高的要求，包括，企业环保设施的三同时及暂停审批的 落实、规范排污行为、规范环境监测等等。 3）在新法规下，企业违规/侵权的代价将大大增加，尤其 是环境公益诉讼制度开启之后，对于以往无人主张的环 境污染损害的公共利益部分，企业将付出极高的代价。 由此，新法规对于企业的合规性要求更高，企业需对相关 法律规定有一个系统的了解和评估，充分的消化吸收及评 估新法规项下的义务及风险，以避免因违反相关规定需承 担的巨大代价。而对于来中国投资的外国企业更是如此， 中国的法律体系较为复杂，同一领域不仅有法律、还会有 大量的行政法规、部门规章甚至是规范性文件，这些文件 之间的关系以及新法出台后相关文件规定的有效性判定 等，对于投资者而言理解起来有一定难度，相关的法律等 专业支持必不可少。 4、对接下来的两年，你的律所和团队对能源业务有什么 样的期许和发展计划？ 目前，本所的环境、资源、能源专业服务团队不断壮大，日 益成熟，已形成了由中外律师组成的经验丰富国际专业服 务团队，能够充分满足中外客户的国内及跨境资源、能源 业务的需求。未来我们将继续关注、提早涉足能源领域 的前卫业务，并积极参与相关立法，保持和不断扩大本所 在能源法领域的优势，更好的为国内外能源企业提供专 业、优质的法律服务。 5、对于那些对外投资的中国能源客户，您有什么建议？ 随着走出国门进行投资的资源、能源企业越来越多，诸多 企业也付出了不少代价，交了很多学费。对于这些走出国门 的企业，我们的建议就是在投资之前先搞清楚两件事：一 是投资款如何投出去的问题，对于企业对外投资，中国的 发展部门、商务部门、外汇部门等均有一系列法律规范和 政策规定，若不搞清楚，你的投资款是出不去的；同时，中 国也有诸多支持企业走出去的融资、担保等鼓励性政策， 想要走出去的企业应先做好这些功课，充分利用好这些有 利政策。二是如何把钱投到目标国。为此，要先行对拟投 资国家的投资环境做好尽职调查，先行了解清楚该国关于 外国人投资资源、能源类项目的法律、政策、投资主体、税 收、外汇、环保、雇佣、劳动时间、公司法等方面的规定， 否则，可能会投资失利，遭受巨额投资损失。还有一点非 常重要，就是要充分依靠律师、会计师事务所等咨询机构 的专业支持。有的企业因为不知道、不了解，有的企业为了 省钱，往往忽略或不愿在该方面花钱，而未能事前发现或 及时防控面临的风险而最终导致因小失大，损失惨重。因 此，尽快实现跨境投资中的规范化、国际化，是那些初次向 境外投资的中国企业需要学会的第一课。

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44

Energy roundtable

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

unlike those in first tier cities like Beijing or Shanghai.

TL: The biggest challenges were the ones we encountered while “going abroad”. As a large SOE, we have been increasingly targeting overseas development. Our in-house team has also advised on, and directly taken part in our overseas moves like cross border M&As, infrastructure projects, overseas asset management, and even the opening and running of branches in a foreign country.

LL: Nurturing talent and recruitment. Although we have a good start, there is still much to improve.

External counsel ZF: In picking domestic and international law firms, we consider mainly their professional expertises and reputation. We also try to strike a delicate balance between cost and the quality of service. In addition, we tend to retain the firms and lawyers who can fully understand our concerns and business.

TC: We have gone through a change in terms of cooperating with external lawyers. In the past, I mean some 20 years ago, we would only turn to international firms who might have proper knowledge on PRC law. Nowadays, we sometimes engage Chinese firms with direct communications and contacts.

Most importantly, the firm we pick is determined by the professional capability, which is the fundamental factor. Some firms have unique expertises in certain areas, like trademarks or branding. There are such boutique firms practising in these niche markets in China. Normally, the firms we choose are those who have their own specialties and distinctive strengths, the most professional ones.

We continue to work with international firms, too. And under most circumstances, it depends on the object at hand that needs to be dealt with. For instance, where there is a small litigation or dispute, a local firm is a probable advocate for us, as the object is not that large. However, in the cases of huge merger and acquisition, where some special regulations or multinational corporations are involved, we might consider an international firm that has a branch in China.

HY: We consider first, professional skills, second, the enthusiasm in service, and third, a long-term partnership that we could develop together. We don’t want a law firm to bring its service to an end at the closure of the case. We hope they look from the company’s point of view to pick a path for the company’s best and offer us the most additional value. It would be mutually beneficial if they help to correct our shortcomings and improve our abilities.

TL: When choosing external counsel, cooperativeness and adaptability are important. We consider how much we understand mutually and match culturally. Price is an issue, but I never take it as one of the key criteria. Actually, I do not agree that we should pick a cheap one. What I value are which person the firm sends to us, whether he or she fits our project, how good he or she is professionally, how dedicated he or she is, and whether he or she values our business. For the different sizes and difficulty of deals, we need different levels of lawyers. We should not waste a senior partner’s time on a minor case, nor risk our important business in the hand of a first-year associate. Therefore, we need our contacts to be clear enough about our business. Also, there **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

和研究，通过对当地投资环境，法律法规和政策 的研究，帮助决策部门提供全面的信息和分析， 以协助决策。另一方面，我们也利用我们的法律 知识和经验，组织法律文件的准备和相关谈判， 积极 主动的推动项目的完成。通 过不断 积累 起 来海外并购法律方面的经验，在国家鼓励走出去 的大背景下，通过提高投资和项目执行水平，进 一步提高中国企业在国际社会中的声誉和地位。 挑战 TC: 现在而言，我们面临的挑战，我觉得首先是 中国的业务越来越大，越来越多事务，法规也越 来越多。但是人手很紧张，我们还是只有两个律 师，所以工作比较辛苦，这是第一个挑战。第二 个挑战就是在中国一线的城市，大城市，比如来 讲北京、上海这些可以有很多律师事务所 让我 们去选择。但是如果在一些比较小的城市里面， 想找一家我们比较满意的律师事务所，有时候是 有一些困难，也花多一些时间。

TL: 最主要的是 “走出去”的过程中面临的挑战。 我们作为大型国企，海外发展力度越来越大。海 外并购，海外工程，海外资产的管理，包括海外 开设公司等，都是我们法律部门要关心的问题， 我们也直接参与。 LL: 第一挑战是人才的培养和引进。现在国企越 来越 重视法律队伍 建设，我们也从全国范围内 招聘人才。我们的起步很好，但是还有很大的努 力空间。

外聘律师 ZF: 国内外合作律所的选择主要是看在相关领 域 的专业能 力以 及一定的知 名度，其 次考虑成 本 。此 外，我们喜 欢聘用那 些 注 重长 期战略 合 作、急客户之所急、专业能力和敬业精神并重的 律所和律师。

TC: 我们与律师的的合作也有个过程。二十几年 前，我们会找一些对中国的法律比较有认识的外 国律师事务所。现在有时候我们会直接找中国的 律师事务所沟通、接触。 而最主要的，我们用哪家律师事务所，最看重的是 专业的能力，这是最重要的。而且有一些律师事 务所，他们专长在某一个方面，譬如商标，品牌； 也有一些特定的律师事务所，在中国专门做这些 业务。所以一般来讲我们选律师事务所都是选在 某一个方面比较有特殊的专长和特别的能力的律 师事务所，比较专业的那些。 我们同样也继 续跟国际的事务所 合作。多数时 候，是看我们要处理的东西。譬如来讲，如果某 一个地方有一个很小的诉讼或争议的话，我们可 能会 选一家当地的律师事务所去 处理，因为牵 涉的标的也不很高。而如果我们有一些并购牵涉 到有特殊的规定，有时候还牵涉在国外的一些其

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

Energy roundtable

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

is a certain amount of competition among them.

LL: We wish there were stronger lawyers specialising in cross border transactions. We need lawyers who have mastered the relevant laws and knowledge, are experienced in overseas deals, are proficient in the needed foreign language, are skilful in international negotiations and communications, and most importantly, are familiar with the style and needs of SOEs. At the moment, we rarely see external lawyers meeting this high bar. We need to work together with external lawyers to develop their expertise and grow this market.

YL: Sinochem strives to establish a transparent, fair and efficient mechanism where a mismatch or juicy contract can be prevented. As the Chinese saying goes, “you don’t need to use an ox-knife to kill a chicken”. We don’t necessarily have to use a mega international firm for every single deal. Rather, we select the counsels according to the size of the deal and also which jurisdictions they operate in, especially when we have to conduct a multijurisdictional transaction.

Experience certainly counts. The lowest bidders are not always the best. And the Haigui, or Chinese overseas returnees with substantial multinational firm experiences, they provide better quality work than the home grown firms, yet their services are priced lower than foreign ones. We increasingly invite them to bid for our work and even let them handle our relatively small outbound deals valued less than $200m.

Consultants such as investment banks can be a dangerous crutch.

Some inexperienced SOEs misplace their trust on their advisers and fail to realise that these advisers don’t carry any fiduciary duty to protect their interests. And their financial advisers, in particular, are more often than not driven by the common incentive scheme of success fee to get a deal done. Eventually you have to rely on your own in-house deal team and your own judgement.

45

他的公司，可能我们就考虑选在中国有分所跨 国律师事务所。

HY: 第一个是专业精通，第二个热情服务，第 三个和我们长期合作，共同成长。 我们希望律所不是给我们处理完一件事就算 一件事，我们希望他们从公司的角度考虑， 对公司最有利的路径，希望他们为我们提供 更多的附加价值。比如通过服务，改进我们 的不足，提高我们的能力，双方相得益彰。

TL: 在选择合作律师的时候，律师和企业的合

作性，匹配性非常重要，要能够互相理解，文 化相融。性价比要比较好，但是我也不太赞成 挑太便宜的律师。不会以服务费为标准。我考 虑的因素是律所派什么人来做，他是不是合 适做 这个项目，他的专业能力，他是不是够 投入，他是不是把我们的事情看得非常重要 等等。不同的规模，大小，难易程度的项目， 也是要配备不同层次的律师。我们也没必要 杀鸡用牛刀，但我们也不可能让小律师去做 我们的大事情。对此我们会对我们的联系人 有要求，他们也要非常清楚我们。这里面也 还存在一定的竞争。

LL: 希望从事跨国交易的律师能更多更强，因

为我们需要律师既有海外并购的经验和相关 法律知识、技能，国际谈判能力和中英文沟 通技巧，还必须了解国企的特点和需求，这样 的人才很难得，需要我们和外部的律师共同 努力，促进法律市场的繁荣和人才的成长。

YL: 中化正努力建立一个透明、公正和高效的 选择机制，以防止出现能力不匹配或者酬劳 过高的情况。正如中国古话说，割鸡焉用牛 刀。我们不一定每一桩小生意都要用上国际 大律所。相反，我们是根据每一笔交易的大 小，所处的司法辖区来选择相应的法律顾问， 尤其是在必须要进行跨法域交易的情况下。 经验当然很重要。报价最低的并不总是最好 的。另外，有相当的国际律所 经验的海归律 师的律所，通常能比本土律所提供更优质的 服务，同时也比外国律所定价便宜。我们越 来越多的邀请他们参与我们案子的投标，甚 至直接委托他们办理一些小于2亿美元的小 规模的对外业务。

A pump jack is seen surrounded by steam during sunset at a PetroChina’s oil field in Karamay. REUTERS/Stringer Shanghai

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by CLS Communication**

** 此文中文翻译由CLS Communication提供 **

依 靠投 行 咨询师等人 则有可能是 比 较 危险 的。一些没有经验的国企错误的信任了这些 顾问，并没意识到这些人并没有义务保护企 业的利益。而这些顾问，特别是金融 顾问， 常常只受奖励方案的驱动，一心促成交易从 而赚取佣金。最后你只能依靠公司内部的交 易团队以及自己的判断。

46

Top 20 largest law firms

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

ALB China

Top 20 Largest Law Firms

ALB 中国律师事务所二十强 ALB China shines the spotlight on China’s 20 largest firms. Cathy Chen talks to the top 10 for insights into market trajectories, their growth objectives and why expansion must always be thoughtful and balanced.

ALB 中国版本期聚焦中国的20家最大的律所。Cathy Chen用第一手访谈为您呈现前十名的的市场轨迹，成长 目标，并解析为何律所扩张规模必须深思熟虑寻求平衡 REUTERS/David Gray

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

Top 20 largest law firms

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

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M ethodology

An online survey was sent to all eligible domestic firms, where participants were asked to submit details about the number of their offices, partners, and associates. It is worth noting that in this year’s survey, we introduced a new parameter: Fee-earner headcount - which speaks to a firm’s size in a broader sense in terms of headcount. Law firms submitted their data by Aug. 1, 2012. Following a review of the data from the completed online questionnaire, interviews were conducted with the firms to further explore the story behind the data.

ALB China Top 20 largest law firms Firm name

Managing partner

Head office

Number of offices

Number of partners

Number of associates

Fee-earned Headcount

1

Dacheng Law Offices LLP

Wang Zhongde

Beijing

39

749

1428

2676

2

Beijing Yingke Law Firm

Multiple

Beijing

18

567

1053

1820

3

King & Wood Mallesons

Wang Ling

Beijing

21

380

1420

1800

4

Grandall Law Firm

Lv Hongbing

Shanghai

14

215

580

1112

5

DeHeng Law Offices

Wang Li

Beijing

22

187

763

1106

6

Zhong Yin Law Firm

Li Ju

Beijing

21

117

584

960

7

AllBright Law Offices

Wu Mingde

Shanghai

9

184

671

940

8

Zhong Lun Law Firm

Zhang Xuebing

Beijing

7

203

560

747

9

Jun He Law Offices

Wei Xiao

Beijing

7

149

299

482

10

Guanghe Law Firm (GH Law Firm)

Multiple

Shenzhen

5

112

348

455

11

ZhongLun W&D Law Firm

Chen Wen

Beijing

10

98

320

418

12

Guangdong Sun Law Firm

Zhifeng

Shenzhen

7

35

234

350

13

Zhongcheng Renhe Law Firm

Wang Guangren

Jinan

8

78

275

307

14

Jingtian & Gongcheng

Multiple

Beijing

4

85

96

279

15

Deheng Law Firm

Multiple

Beijing

7

37

181

277

16

Jincheng Tongda & Neal

Max Tian

Beijing

6

99

217

271

17

Guantao Law Firm

Cui Liguo

Beijing

10

65

140

268

18

Grandway Law Offices

Multiple

Beijing

7

46

214

260

19

Hylands Law Firm

Hong Liu

Beijing

5

43

150

235

20

Global Law Office

Jinrong Liu

Beijing

3

60

200

200

Rank

Top 20 largest law firms

48

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

排名方法

本刊向所有符合要求的国内律师事务所发送在线调查问卷，向受访律所征集其办公室、合伙人及律师数量方 面的详细信息。值得一提的是，在今年的调查中，我们引入了一项新的参数：收费专业人员总数— —用于在更 广泛的意义上衡量律所的规模。受访律所提交 数据的截止日期为2012年8月1日。对在线调查问卷数据审核 完成后，本刊还对各律所进行了采访，以进一步发掘数据背后的故事。

A L B 中 国 律 师 事 务 所 二十 强 排名

事务所名称

管理合伙人

总部

办公室

合伙人

律师

收费专业人 员总数

1

大成律师事务所

王忠德

北京

39

749

1428

2676

2

北京盈科律师事务所

多人

北京

18

567

1053

1820

3

金杜律师事务所

王玲

北京

21

380

1420

1800

4

国浩律师事务所

吕红兵

上海

14

215

580

1112

5

德恒律师事务所

王丽

北京

22

187

763

1106

6

中银律师事务所

李炬

北京

21

117

584

960

7

锦天城律师事务所

吴明德

上海

9

184

671

940

8

中伦律师事务所

张学兵

北京

7

203

560

747

9

君合律师事务所

肖微

北京

7

149

299

482

10

广和律师事务所

多人

深圳

5

112

348

455

11

中伦文德律师事务所

陈文

北京

10

98

320

418

12

广东国晖律师事务所

孙智峰

深圳

7

35

234

350

13

众成仁和律师事务所

王广仁

济南

8

78

275

307

14

竞天公诚律师事务所

多人

北京

4

85

96

279

15

德衡律师集团

多人

北京

7

37

181

277

16

金诚同达律师事务所

田予

北京

6

99

217

271

17

观韬律师事务所

崔利国

北京

10

65

140

268

18

国枫凯文律师事务所

多人

北京

7

46

214

260

19

浩天信和律师事务所

刘鸿

北京

5

43

150

235

20

环球律师事务所

刘劲容

北京

3

60

200

200

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

Top 20 largest law firms

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

Legal market landscape in 2012 It was another year of growth in size for Chinese law firms, though this time it has been more stable compared to previous years. The understanding that being large does not necessarily equate to strength is clearly shared by the Chinese firms. While these firms take similar or different approaches to expansion, they are focusing more on the quality of people and services, and brand building. The firms are strategically forging their core competences, and deploying their presences across China and around the world. A pulse of consolidation of management and resources on the legal market can be strongly felt.

Although firms are approaching consolidations, and various methods they find suitable to their own needs, they may foretell a new landscape that has yet to take shape in the years to come. In this context, King & Wood’s merger with Mallesons Stephen Jaques may demonstrate the momentum - inspiring and spurring more firms into action - and even point to the future.

Among the top 10 firms on the ALB China Top 20 Largest Law Firms list (the List), Dacheng, Yingke, and King & Wood Mallesons land in the top three spots, exactly as they were in 2011. They surely

have grown, though interestingly enough, King & Wood’s merger with Mallesons did not alter its position in the ranking. Jun He and GH Law Firm rose up in the rankings to no.9 and no. 10 this year, up from their spots in 12th place and 11th place last year, respectively. The other five biggest players (Grandall, DeHeng, Zhongyin, AllBright, and Zhong Lun) were also among the Top 10 in 2011, with their rankings varying minimally this year.

With it comes to the next 10 players, it is quite a different picture.

We see five new entrants: Beijing Grandway Law Offices, Jingtian & Gongcheng, Zhongcheng Renhe Law Firm, Guangdong Sun Law Firm, and Global Law Office, which reveals local firms’ quiet, but evident growth. While Zhonglun W&D, DHH, Jincheng Tongda & Neal, Guantao and Hylands retained their footing in the top 20 (with amended placements), it is worth noting that Tahota, Tianyuan, United Zhongwen, and Longan did not participate this year. These spots may be a more volatile battlefield that the firms will jostle for in the coming years. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

2012年法律市场环境 中国的律师事务所在2012年继续规模扩张 之路，不过与前几年相比步伐已更趋稳健。规 模大并不一定等同于实力强，国内律所对此显 然已有共识。这些律所扩张的方式各有千秋， 但着眼点都在于人员和服务质量以及品牌建设， 从战略上建立其核心竞争力，将触角伸向中国乃 至世界各地，令我们强烈地感受到法律市场在管 理和资源方面日趋整合的脚步。尽管各家律所 尚在摸索适合自身需要的整合道路和方法，但 可以预见法律市场必将在未来数年气象一新。 作为业内先行者，金杜与万盛两家律师事务所 合并正激励并带动更多的律所付诸行动，着眼 于未来发展。 在《ALB中国律师事务所二十强》榜单前 十位中，大成、盈科和金杜仍占据前三名，位 次与2011年保持不变。三家律所规模都有所

扩大，但有趣的是，与万盛合并后，金杜的排 名并未改变。君合和广和的排名分别从去年 的第十二和第十一位升至今年的第九和第十 位。其他五强（国浩、德恒、中银、锦天城和中 伦）去年也位列前十，今年的排名变化不大。 不过，二十强中后十位变化较大，其中五家（ 国枫凯文、竞天公诚、众成仁和、广东国晖、环 球）今年首次现身榜单，显示出区域性律所韬光 养晦，厚积薄发的发展之路。中伦文德、德衡、 金诚同达、观韬和浩天信和继续跻身二十强（位 次略有变化），但值得注意的是，泰和泰、天元、 中闻和隆安没有参加今年的排名。市场瞬息万 变，未来几年律所之间的竞争将更为激烈。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

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Top 20 largest law firms

Rankings 排行榜

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

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第一名

Dacheng Law Offices | 大成律师事务所 管理合伙人：王忠德 总部：北京 办公室：39 合伙人：749 律师：1428 收费专业人员总数：2676

Managing partner: Wang Zhongde Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 39 Number of partners: 749 Number of associates: 1428 Fee-earner headcount: 2676 The firm remains in the top spot on the largest firm list for the fourth straight year, with its fee-earner headcount of 2676 - 856 more than that of Yingke over the same period of time. Its partners and associates increased by 150 from 2011, although no new offices launched as of Aug. 1, 2012. Dacheng’s growth is aimed at achieving market penetration and building up services networks, and now the firm’s focus is on fortifying its culture and upgrading its branding. Wang Zhongde, the managing partner of Dacheng admits, “A firm’s large size does not mean it is strong.”

大成连续四年占据领头羊的位置，收费专业人员总数达2676人，比第二 位的盈科同期多出856人。合伙人及律师也比2011年增加150人，不过截 至今年2012年8月1日尚未新设分所。大成的发展着眼于实现市场渗透和 建设服务网络，目前该所的工作重点是巩固律所文化、提升品牌价值。大 成管理合伙人王忠德坦承：“一家律所规模大并不意味着它的实力强”。

Dacheng’s core competence does not lie in its size, but its quality of services for clients. According to Wang, forging its core competence is a systematic and comprehensive project, which shall involve a firm’s positioning, strategy, and talent pool. Dacheng stresses motivating its people, and exploring their potential through its internal mechanism. Wang highly values building a firm’s branding and reputation, with the understanding that large size does not necessarily bring about good reputation. Wang also told ALB that Dacheng has gradually improved its network platform by consolidating its management and resources. Dacheng is committed to becoming a strong firm. “The legal market in China is still not saturated; there is a lot of potential to explore,” says Wang.

大成的核心竞争力不在于其规模，而在于客户服务的品质。据王忠德介 绍，打造核心竞争力是一项系统性、全方位的工程，涉及到律所的定位、 战略和人才储备。大成强调通过内部机制激励员工并发掘其潜力。王忠德 认为，规模大并不一定能带来良好的声誉，必须高度重视建立律所的品牌 和信誉。王忠德还告诉本刊，大成已通过管理层和资源整合，逐步改善其 网络化服务平台，致力于成为一家实力强大的律所。王忠德表示：“中国的 法律服务市场还没有饱和，仍有很大的潜力”。

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第二名

Beijing Yingke Law Firm | 北京盈科律师事务所 Managing partner: Multiple Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 18 Number of partners: 567 Number of associates: 1053 Fee-earner headcount: 1820 The firm takes the second place on the List, same as in 2011. Yingke has increased in partner number more than it has decreased in associates, with the total number of partners and associates exceeding that of last year by a slight margin of 37. Its fee-earner headcount reaches 1820.

According to Yingke’s global network managing partner, Mei Xiangrong, the firm is expanding in response to the demand for comprehensive and one-stop services from the marketplace. It aims to meet the needs of the clients, as well as to ensure that quality is consistent. Yingke emphasises its people and service quality, which can be better achieved due to its Beijing headquarter’s direct investment and management of its branches.

Yingke has its research institute to track and assess the lawyers’ services, and professional committees to train its lawyers in different practice areas.

The firm’s strength lies in its all-round services, business resources, and platforms provided to the clients. With Chinese companies going global, Yingke follows their clients’ footprints, and sets up its offices in those hot destinations for outbound investment. Currently, as a domestic firm, Yingke has the largest number of offices abroad. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

管理合伙人：多人 总部：北京 办公室：18 合伙人：567 律师：1053 收费专业人员总数：1820 盈科在榜单上继续保持去年第二名的位置。盈科的律师人数有所减少， 但合伙人数量增加较多，两者合计比去年小增37人。收费专业人员总数 达1820人。 据盈科管理合伙人梅向荣介绍，该所规模正不断扩大，以满足市场对全方 位、一站式服务的需求。盈科的目标是满足客户需求，同时确保高品质服 务。该所通过北京总部直接投资并管理各家分所，从而更好地控制其人员 和服务质量。所内设有专门的研究部门跟踪并评估律师的服务，还成立了 专业委员会对律师进行各业务领域的培训。 该所优势在于为客户提供全方位服务、业务资源和平台。随着越来越多的 中国企业走出去，盈科也跟随着这些客户的足迹，在对外投资的热点地区 设立了分所。目前，该所是拥有海外分所最多的国内律所。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

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Top 20 largest law firms

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

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第三名

King & Wood Mallesons | 金杜律师事务所

管理合伙人：王玲

Managing partner: Wang Ling Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 21 Number of partners: 380 Number of associates: 1420 Fee-earner headcount: 1800

总部：北京 办公室：21 合伙人：380 律师：1420

With 21 offices, and 1800 partners and associates on a global basis, King & Wood Mallesons wins third place on the List. Compared with its 16 offices, and 990 partners and associates in 2011, the firm has grown substantially in size - largely attributed to its combination with Mallesons Stephen Jaques earlier this March. The merger did not alter its placement in third, but attracted much attention from the legal business world, with the long-term impact of the merged firm set to unfold over time.

The combination was surely not intended just for scale, as Wang Ling, China managing partner of the firm put it in an earlier interview with ALB. She said it “reflects the developments in this (legal) market and our clients’ ambitions”. As business goes global, client-led and focused firms will follow where clients have their business operations, thus services covering different jurisdictions (here China, Australia, Hong Kong, and UK) is a close call, with quality and consistency to be managed across the different offices and jurisdictions. The combination of two leading firms will also largely broaden and reinforce their services and capacities. Wang expects the Asian legal market to become more competitive, perhaps with more consolidation in the next five years, and that “there will be an evolution in the way firms approach their structures, headcount, and their footprints,” says Stuart Fuller, the global managing partner of the firm.

收费专业人员总数：1800 金杜在全球拥有21个办公室、1800名合伙人及律师，位列排行榜第三名。 与2011年的16个办公室、990名合伙人及律师相比，金杜的增长幅度很 大——主要归功于今年三月初成功合并了万盛国际。此次合并虽未改变 金杜第三名的位置，但在法律服务界备受关注，合并后新所在业内的长 期影响会随着时间的推移而显现。 金杜中国区管理合伙人王玲此前在接受本刊采访时表示，合并的目的并 不仅仅是为了扩大规模，而是响应“（法律）市场发展的要求和客户需求” 。随着业务逐渐全球化、定制化和专精化，各家律所纷纷进军客户开展 业务的地区，跨法域（金杜已在中国内地、澳大利亚、香港和英国设有分 所）提供法律服务并保证各分所及各司法管辖区的服务质量和一致性才 是律所的生存之道。两家业内领先的律所合并也会极大地扩展和增强其 业务范围和能力。王玲预计，未来五年亚洲的法律服务市场竞争必将日 益加剧，整合速度也将加快。金杜全球管理合伙人Stuart Fuller律师表 示：“律所在结构、人员、覆盖范围等方面的发展，都会发生全新的变化”。

国枫凯文 为实现强强联合、优势互补，北京市凯文 律师事务所与北京市国枫律师事务所合 CHINA’S 并，经北京市司法局批准于2012年3月16 LARGEST 日重组为北京国枫凯文律师事务所。国枫 FIRMS $/%⏷⦌㈚゗屓㲰 ㇉ 凯文是一家具有高度专业化并提供综合性 法律服务的合伙制律师事务所。其总部设 在北京，并在上海、深圳、广州、重庆、成都、西安设有分 所。国枫凯文的宗旨是：以全新的现代法律服务意识，调动整 体资源优势，竭诚为客户提供优质、专业、高效的法律服务。

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北京 上海 深圳 广州 重庆 成都 西安

54

Top 20 largest law firms

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

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第四名

Grandall Law Firm | 国浩律师事务所 Managing partner: Lv Hongbing Head office: Shanghai Number of offices: 14

管理合伙人：吕红兵 总部：上海 办公室：14

Number of partners: 215 Number of associates: 580 Fee-earner headcount: 1112

With two new offices (Nanjing and Xi’an) lined up, Grandall has extended its services to more clients in broader geographic areas - especially to those areas Chinese policies direct investments to and where economic activities are dynamic. Meanwhile, the firm brought 83 associates and partners together on board, with fee-earners totaling 1112, earning Grandall the fourth spot.

合伙人：215 律师：580 收费专业人员总数：1112

随着南京和西安的两家新分所开业，国浩已将业务范围扩展到更多地区 的更多客户——尤其是在国内政策鼓励投资的领域和经济活动活跃的 地区。同时，该所年内新聘83名律师及合伙人，收费专业人员总数达1112 人，在排行榜中位列第四。

However, as executive partner of Grandall, Weidong Wang explains, “Grandall never expands so fast, rather it pursues growth with guaranteed quality as well as ensured reputation”. At the entry level, Grandall will hire high quality lawyers and law school graduates with a good command of English, as well as those with foreign education backgrounds. Meanwhile, it will promote its own associates and rainmaker partners who can run high end deals.

不过，国浩执行合伙人王卫东坦言：“国浩的扩张速度并不快，我们追求的 是在成长的同时，确保服务质量和信誉”。在招聘新人时，国浩首选熟练掌 握英语的优秀律师和法学院毕业生以及具有国外教育背景的人士。与此 同时，国浩还将精心培养旗下律师和招揽业务的合伙人处理高端业务。

The firm’s core competence lies in the areas of securities and capital markets, electricity, energy and resources, aviation, corporate, and IP. According to Wang, the Chinese legal services’ going global is a step-bystep process. Law firms, while following their clients where they invest, have to abide by the binding rules and regulations in the jurisdictions, and perform their services with partnership with the local firms. Currently, Grandall has an office in Hong Kong, and a representative office in Paris.

It has also built up partnerships with foreign law firms. Grandall will unremittingly upgrade its services, reinforce its quality control and professional training, and enhance its communication with clients – all combining to render value-added services to its clients, adds Wang.

该所在证券和资本市场、电力、能源和资源、航空、公司及知识产权领域实 力强劲。据王卫东介绍，国内法律服务业“走出去”是一步一步摸索的过程， 客户去哪里投资，律所就跟到哪里，但必须遵守当地相关的法律法规，并 在提供服务的过程中与当地律所开展合作。目前，国浩在香港设立了分所， 并在巴黎设有代表处，还与多家国外律所建立了合作伙伴关系。王卫东表 示，国浩将坚持不懈地提升服务水平，优化质量控制和专业培训，并加强 与客户的沟通，从而为客户提供增值服务。

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第五名

DeHeng Law Offices | 德恒律师事务所 Managing partner: Wang Li Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 22

Number of partners: 187 Number of associates: 763 Fee-earner headcount: 1106

With three new offices opening up this year, DeHeng has a total of 950 partners and associates, an increase of 152 from 2011, while the number of fee-earners reached 1106. It launched its new offices in response to the needs of the market and clients. As Dai Qingong, global partner and deputy director of the firm told ALB: “DeHeng is growing in a steady and healthy way, well planned, with its standardised process to hire and train people.” He emphasises that “it is people, their expertise and quality services that underlie our core competence”. The firm is always a platform for quality people with a teamwork spirit who want to work together and grow, with a culture of inclusiveness and diversity.

DeHeng’s core services are in finance and securities, restructuring, M&A, IP, infrastructure and real estate, and inbound and outbound investments.

They target influential clients and high end deals. Even in an economic downturn, the firm can manage to mitigate risks by seeking synergy among its different resources. The legal market is becoming more and more competitive, and DeHeng has been striving to fortify its strength and enhance its competitiveness. “DeHeng is well positioned to serve its clients with stronger expertise, and build collaboration with peer firms with openness,” says Dai. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

管理合伙人：王丽 总部：北京 办公室：22

合伙人：187 律师：763 收费专业人员总数：1106

为满足市场和客户需求，德恒今年新开三家分所。合伙人及律师共950人， 比2011年增加了152人，收费专业人员总数达1106人。德恒全球合伙人兼 副主任戴钦公对本刊表示：“德恒正以稳健的方式有条不紊地发展，运用标 准化的流程聘用和培养人才”。他还强调：“人才、专业知识和优质服务是 打造我们核心竞争力的基石”。该所坚持为愿意共同工作和成长、具备团 队合作精神的优秀人才打造良好的平台，建立了包容、多元的律所文化。 德恒的核心业务包括金融和证券、企业重组、并购、知识产权、基础设 施和房地产、境内外投资等，侧重有影响力的客户和高端交易。即使面对 经济不景气的情况，该所也能协同不同资源来降低风险。法律服务市场 竞争日趋激烈，德恒也一直在努力巩固自身实力，增强竞争力。戴钦公表 示：“德恒已充分准备利用强大的专业知识为客户提供服务，并以开放的 态度与同行建立合作关系”。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

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中国地方律所总部暨北京平台建设论坛 德和德衡全国合作发展战略研讨会 (第二次：吉林、江西、陕西、海南、内蒙古、贵州、甘肃、青海、西藏专场） 报名条件：曾获全国或省（区）市“优秀律师所”称号者 报名热线：010-85219100-835 E-mail: maxiaoping@deheng.com

北 京 2012.11.17

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Top 20 largest law firms

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

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第六名

Zhong Yin Law Firm | 中伦律师事务所 Managing partner: Li Ju Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 21

管理合伙人：李炬 总部：北京 办公室：21

Number of partners: 117 Number of associates: 584 Fee-earner headcount: 960

With three new offices lined up this year, Zhong Yin has increased its partners to 117 from 68 in 2011. Its associate count increased to 584 from 526. Its 960 fee-earners put the firm in 6th spot, two places up on the list from last year.

合伙人：117 律师：584 收费专业人员总数：960

中银年内新设三家分所，合伙人及律师分别从去年的68人和526人增至 117人和584人。收费专业人员总数达960人，在排行榜中位列第六，比 去年上升两位。

Zhong Yin considers mainly whether business at a new location can generate good revenue to sustain a new office before deciding to launch new branches in certain areas. Also, the location of every branch office is reasonably chosen in order to avoid unnecessary competition in the country-wide legal service market. As Li Ju, chairman of the firm’s managing committee states: “Zhong Yin has pursued scaled development in the past decades, now it is taking a much more steady and sound approach for growth. It is putting more weight on enhancing the quality of its legal services and human resources, especially lawyers with partnership, which defines the strength of the firm, and represents the future of the firm.” The firm’s core competence lies in the professional proficiency of its partners and core professionals. Aiming at a client-led culture, the firm is strengthening training and managing its partners and core professionals, while partners manage their respective teams accordingly. Zhong Yin’s services quality is managed by its professional sub-committee and monitoring sub-committee under the management committee.

中银在决定设立分所时，首要考虑的因素是在当地开展业务能否实现收 支平衡；此外，分所的选址也要尽可能避免在国内法律服务市场导致不 必要的竞争。中银管理委员会主席李炬指出：“过去几十年，中银实现了 规模化发展，现在的成长脚步更趋稳健，更加注重提高法律服务和人力 资源质量，尤其是我们的合伙人律师，代表了中银的实力、中银的未来”。 中银的核心竞争力在于其合伙人及主要律师的专业能力。该所以建立客 户导向的律所文化为目标，加强了对合伙人及主要律师的培训和管理， 并由合伙人负责各自团队的管理。中银还在管理委员会下专门设立了专 业委员会分会和监察委员会分会，负责监管服务质量。

Zhong Yin is growing in scale while at the same time fortifying its professionalisation and specialisation. Its core practice areas are in banking, finance, securities, corporate legal risk management, arbitration, and other commercial law practice. Zhong Yin is expected to strengthen its core services, develop new service products, improve its management, promote its branding and explore new trends for firms’ growth. “The legal market in China is enormous, and lawyers will play more important roles in our social and economic life,” expects Li.

中银在规模扩张的同时，坚持职业化和专业化的发展方向。该所的核心业 务领域包括银行、金融、证券、公司法律风险管理、仲裁及其他商业法律业 务。中银将进一步增强核心业务实力，开发新的服务产品，改进管理模式， 提升品牌价值，探索律所新的发展道路。李炬预计：“国内法律服务市场规 模巨大，律师必将在我们的社会和经济生活中发挥越来越重要的作用”。

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第七名

AllBright Law Offices | 锦天城律师事务所 Managing partner: Wu Mingde Head office: Shanghai Number of offices: 9

Number of partners: 184 Number of associates: 671 Fee-earner headcount: 940

With the launch of three offices this year, the firm increased by 291 partners and associates from last year. Its fee-earner headcount topping out at 940, AllBright moves up two places this year to clinch seventh spot. “AllBright’s focus is not on scale but strength,” states Victor Wang, a senior partner of the firm. AllBright is taking a prudent approach to growth. The firm has hired partners and associates externally with clear and consistent criteria based upon its development strategy.

According to Wang, it will continue to strengthen its core services in M&A, capital markets, IP and complex litigations, and it will closely follow the biopharmaceutical, TMT, and automotive industries. While based in the Yangtze River Delta and open to the whole country, the firm is striving to maintain its leading position in the legal industry. “AllBright’s core competence lies in its quality people, client base, and leading services in our core practice areas,” adds Wang. **The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

管理合伙人：吴明德 总部：上海 办公室：9

合伙人：184 律师：671 收费专业人员总数：940

锦天城今年新开三家分所，合伙人及律师比去年增加了291人，收费专业 人员总数达到创纪录的940人，排名提升两位至第七名。锦天城高级合 伙人王正超表示：“锦天城关注的不是规模，而是实力”。锦天城采取了较 为审慎的发展方式，根据其发展战略，运用明确、一致的选聘标准招聘 合伙人及律师。

据王正超介绍，锦天城将继续巩固在并购、资本市场、知识产权及复杂 诉讼领域的优势，并密切关注生物医药、数字新媒体和汽车行业。该所 立足长三角，辐射全国，全力保持在法律行业的领先地位。王正超还补 充道：“锦天城的核心竞争力就在于我们的优秀人才、客户基础以及核心 业务领域的优势”。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

Top 20 largest law firms

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

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第八名

Zhong Lun Law Firm | 中伦律师事务所

Managing partner: Zhang Xuebing Head office: Beijing Number of offices: 7 Number of partners: 203 Number of associates: 560 Fee-earner headcount: 747

管理合伙人：张学兵 总部：北京 办公室：7 合伙人：203 律师：560 收费专业人员总数：747

With a fee-earner headcount of 747, and an increase of 142 partners and associates from 621 in 2011 to 763 this year, Zhong Lun moves up from 12th place to eighth this year. According to Liu Yulin, partner of Zhong Lun, the firm never targets achieving the largest size.

中伦的合伙人及律师从去年的621人增至今年的763人，净增142人，收费

In its pursuit of stable and sound growth, Zhong Lun prioritises the quality of its practice teams. Its talent strategy enables hiring excellent lawyers, while its systematic training also guarantees improving lawyers’ quality.

Zhong Lun has a proper ratio of its partners and lawyers. In the coming years, it will promote its associates; while at the same time bring in some influential partners through lateral hiring. Given the current macroeconomic environment, Zhong Lun has no plan for scaled development, yet it may bring on board some key lateral partners to strengthen the firm’s comprehensive competitiveness when the timing is right.

专业人员总数达747人，排名从第十二位跃升至第八位。中伦合伙人刘育 琳表示，该所并未设定发展成为业内规模最大的律所这一目标。 中伦着眼于提高业务团队的质量，实现稳健发展。中伦的人才战略是聘 请优秀律师，辅以内部系统的培训，提高律师的素质；同时，还确定了合 伙人及律师之间的适当比例。未来几年，在晋升本所律师的同时，中伦 还将通过横向聘用的方式邀请一批有影响力的合伙人加盟。鉴于目前的 宏观经济环境，中伦没有大规模扩张的计划，但可能会在时机成熟的情 况下，以横向聘用方式引进一批知名合伙人，增强公司的综合竞争力。

To build its core competence, Zhong Lun employs three key strategies: Partners are experts in their practice areas, programmes will train practice skills, and strengthening the quality and efficiency of its services. Zhong Lun’s practices in real estate, capital markets and securitisation, corporate and M&A, private equity, finance and banking, anti-monopoly and unfair competition, international trade and employment are all recognised in the market.

Currently Zhong Lun has offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and London. The task it is facing head on is to further create an efficient collaboration between home offices and overseas ones, so as to render one stop services to clients.

目前，中伦在香港、东京和伦敦设有分所。该所当前面临的主要任务是

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

中伦在建立自身核心竞争力的过程中采用了三大主要战略：合伙人须在其 业务领域成为专家；通过项目培养执业技能；提升服务质量和效率。中伦 在房地产、资本市场和证券化、公司和并购、私募股权、金融和银行、反垄 断与反不正当竞争、国际贸易及劳动领域的实力备受市场好评。

进一步推动境内与海外分所之间的高效协作，为客户提供一站式服务。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

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Top 20 largest law firms

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

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第九名

Jun He Law Offices | 君合律师事务所

Managing partner: Wei Xiao Head Office: Beijing Number of offices: 7 Number of partners: 149 Number of associates: 299 Fee-earner headcount: 482

管理合伙人：肖微 总部：北京 办公室：7 合伙人：149 律师：299 收费专业人员总数：482

With its partner count at 149, associate count at 299, and fee-earner count at 482, Jun He jumps to the ninth spot, two places higher than last year.

The firm experienced only a moderate increase in headcount in the past 12 months. “Jun He has always been taking an approach of steady growth and relying on its high quality services, with a focus on consistent quality, teamwork and integrated management,” says David Liu, the recentlyelected new chairman of the firm’s managing committee.

君合拥有149名合伙人及299名律师，收费专业人员总数达482人，排行比

As a full-service firm, Jun He’s core services are in the corporate practice area for foreign- invested enterprises and capital markets, especially offshore IPOs. Jun He also takes a lead in its practices in banking and finance, labour, tax and infrastructure. Noticeably this year, Jun He has promoted 14 of its associates to partners, while introducing four counsels from outside. These counsels include high-end experts in the new practice areas of energy, and in areas the firm is strengthening, such as litigation, bankruptcy, anti-monopoly, and anti-dumping. This demonstrates Jun He’s response to market needs.

作为一家全方位服务的律所，君合的核心业务是为外商投资企业提供

Given that the clients are facing new challenges and opportunities posed by the changing economy, based upon Jun He’s understanding of the marketplace, policy and clients’ business needs, the firm, externally, is making every effort to render to its clients more integrated services.

Internally it is building a larger, integrated platform across the firm, in both cases requiring an underlying trust – both from its clients and from within the firm, among the partners. This trust shall embody and engender new values to the clients and their partnership, Liu notes. Jun He is also targeting building a global legal services platform by maintaining close partnerships with other leading firms through a seamless collaboration and mutual trust. As Liu looks ahead, Jun He will build up its partnership with clients on the basis of a deeper trust, and render new value to them, assist them in countering challenges in the China market, and escort Chinese companies in their outbound investments.

**The Chinese translation of this story was prepared by Synmax Translation**

去年上升两位至第九名。过去一年，君合的员工人数增幅不大。君合新任 管理委员会主任刘大力表示：“君合一直采取稳健发展的方式，为客户提 供高品质的服务，质量稳定、团队合作和综合管理是我们的工作重点”。

公司法律服务，以及资本市场业务（尤其是境外IPO）。君合在银行和金 融、劳动、税及基础设施领域也占据领先地位。值得一提的是，君合今 年将14位律师晋升为合伙人，同时还响应市场需求，新聘四名法律顾问 加盟，包括该所新进业务——能源和主攻业务领域（如诉讼、破产、反 垄断及反倾销）的高端专家。 刘大力指出，面对瞬息万变的经济形势，客户面临着新的挑战和机遇，君 合根据对市场、政策和客户业务需求的了解，对外尽全力为客户提供更多 的综合性服务，对内则跨部门建立一个规模更大、更为融合的平台。这就 需要律所与客户、与内部合伙人之间建立信赖关系，为客户和合伙人树立 并体现新的价值观。君合还希望通过无缝协作和相互信任，与其他业内 领先的律所保持密切的合作关系，建立一个全球性的法律服务平台。展 望未来，刘大力表示，君合将在进一步深化相互信赖的基础上与客户建 立伙伴关系，为客户提供新的价值，帮助客户应对国内市场的挑战，并为 中国企业的对外投资保驾护航。

** 鑫马翻译提供中文译文 **

Top 20 largest law firms

WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM : @ALB_Magazine : Connect with Asian Legal Business

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第十名

GH Law Firm (Guang He Law Firm) | 广和律师事务所 Managing partner: Multiple Head office: Shenzhen Number of offices: 5

Number of partners: 112 Number of associates: 348 Fee-earner headcount: 460

Compared to 2011, the firm has increased its partners and associates by a little more than 10 percent, moving it up one place to the 10th spot on the List. However, director and founding partner Tong Xin says that, “GH firm is pursuing an organic growth rather than simply increasing headcount.” GH attaches great importance to developing its high quality people by internal training, as well as by hiring from outside. GH expands its geographic coverage mainly in response to the needs of the marketplace and clients.

Meanwhile, the firm is reinforcing its core services, including IP and real estate. It has strengthened its IP practice through a recent merger with Shenzhen Yongjie Intellectual Property Agency Limited Company. Also in its representation in Weiguan (Shenzhen)’s case against Apple and a series of other high-profile cases, GH has demonstrated its competence and tempered its teams as well. GH is strengthening its core competence by improving its professional proficiency, upgrading its services, and building its branding and reputation.

From a long-term perspective, GH will set up its offices in major European and American countries following Chinese investors’ footprints for outbound investment. As the largest firm in South China, it is also building up a strong presence for its comprehensive capacity in the region, says Tong.

管理合伙人：多人 总部：深圳 办公室：5

合伙人：112 律师：348 收费专业人员总数：460

与2011年相比，广和的合伙人及律师人数增幅逾10%，在排行榜前移一 位至第十名。不过，广和管理合伙人童新坦言：“广和正努力实现有机发 展，而不是简单地增员”。广和高度重视通过内部培训和外部选聘培育高 素质人才。为满足市场和客户需求，广和正逐步将业务扩展到更多地区。 与此同时，广和进一步提升在核心业务领域（包括知识产权和房地产） 的优势。最近该所与深圳市永杰知识产权代理有限公司合并，增强了知 识产权领域的实力。此外，该所还代理了深圳唯冠诉苹果公司以及其他 一系列社会关注的案件，既证明了广和的竞争力，又锻炼了团队。广和正 通过提升专业水平、改善服务质量、打造品牌和声誉，进一步增强其核 心竞争力。按照长期规划，广和将紧跟国内投资者对外投资的脚步，在欧 美主要国家设立分所。童新表示，作为华南最大的律所，广和会继续在 该地区加快扩张步伐。

HYLANDS | 浩 天信 和 Hylands Law Firm (“Hylands”) was founded in 2007 through the consolidation of Hao Tian Law Office and Li Wen & Partners, both of which were founded in 1990s. Headquartered in Beijing, Hylands is capable of advising its clients worldwide with its domestic branch offices in Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, as well as its cooperation with over 150 law firms in more than 100 countries through TerraLex. There are 43 partners, nearly 150 lawyers and paralegals at Hylands. All of them are graduates from prestigious Chinese or foreign law schools, and many can work in English, Italian, German, or Japanese, in addition to Chinese. With their expertise in law and a good sense of commercial practices in various industry sectors and the overall investment environment in China, Hylands’ legal teams are able to provide customized advice tailored to the specific needs of each client.

As one of the leading full-service law firms in China, Hylands is highly recognized and acclaimed by both clients and legal professionals in the following practice areas: corporate & securities, banking & financing, transnational investment, intellectual property, media & entertainment, anti-dumping, anti-monopoly, international trade, real estate, labor & employment, litigation & arbitration.

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CHINA’S LARGEST FIRMS

Hylands Law Firm 5A, East Wing, Hanwei Plaza, No.7 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100004, China Tel: +86 10 5201 9988 +86 10 6598 2828 Fax: +86 10 6561 2322 www.hylandslaw.com

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ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

SPONSORED UPDATE

international tax

Whistleblower receives US$104 million reward for exposing UBS tax fraud The US authorities rewarded former UBS Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfield with a record sum of US$104 million for exposing the Swiss bank’s tax fraud.

“This is believed to be the largest reward ever given to an individual whistleblower in the United States and the first major reward issued under the IRS tax whistleblower law,” quoted the US National Whistleblowers Centre.

Birkenfeld had provided the US Government with “insider information on UBS’s illegal offshore banking scheme” and his disclosures led to UBS paying a US$780 million fine to the US.

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Birkenfeld who knew the inner workings of UBS- a poacher turned gamekeeper- revealed many secrets about his former employer’s dealings with US clients. However, he was jailed after the government said that he withheld other information and he spent 30 months in prison (however his approx reward per month whilst in prison was US$3.5m!).

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Experts say that this unprecedented move will encourage whistleblowers to step up and report any wrongdoing in organizations, especially banks and investment managers.

Most tax authorities in western jurisdictions, and also China, have programmes to pay large rewards for reporting information on tax evaders.

For example, do you want to earn some extra cash by calling the IRS whistleblower programme? Telephone +866 775 7474; read www.irs.gov/individuals/taxshelter-hotline, or email irs.taxshelter.hotline@irs. gov! They will pay a reward based on 30% of the undeclared US taxes collected.

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TH ANNIVERSARY 12-12-12 Debbie Annells, CTA (Fellow) Managing Director A: AzureTax Ltd – Suite 1010, 10/F Lippo Centre, Tower Two, 89 Queensway, Hong Kong T: +852 2123 9339 (direct line), +852 2123 9370 (main line) F: +852 2122 9209 W: www.azuretax.com, a member of AzureTax Group

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新加坡《公司法》将面临重大修订

中国企业境外投资相关规定简介

SINGAPORE

SHANGHAI

目前，越来越多的中国企业开始走出国门，进 入全球市场。本文将对中国现有的境外投资相关 规定及审批流程做一简要介绍，希望能对广大企 业有所帮助。

2012年10月3日，新加坡财政部（Ministry of Finance）公布其已经接受或修订来自指导委员会 （Steering Committee）就修订《公司法》而提出 的共计209条建议。这是自1967年新加坡公司颁 布以来最大规模的修改，旨在降低管理成本、合 规负担、改善公司治理、且提供更大的灵活性，重 点建议包括：

• 中国企业境外投资的主要形式 根据《境外投资项目核准暂行管理办法》，“ 境外投资项目指投资主体通过投入货币、有价证 券、实物、知识产权或技术、股权、债权等资产和 权益或提供担保,获得境外所有权、经营管理权 及其他相关权益的活动”。该办法适用于中华人 民共和国境内各类法人及其通过在境外控股的 企业或机构,在境外进行的投资(含新建、购并、 参股、增资、再投资)项目的核准。 《境外投资管理办法》也规 定，“境外投资，是指在我国依法设立的企业通过新设、并购 等方式在境外设立非金融企业或取得既有非金融企业的所有 权、控制权、经营管理权等权益的行为。”简言之，中国企业境 外投资的方式主要是新设和并购。 在实践中，企业采用何种方式进行投资，既取决于其本身 拥有的资源和采取的发展战略，也应考虑东道国的政治、经 济、法制等方面的宏观环境。另外，境外投资的目的是分散经 营风险、加强企业联合，最终获取投资收益。因此在投资过程 中，还应注意考察合作对方的资质，充分重视有关文件的准备 和签署，加强法律风险管理。

1． 运用电子科技处理公司事务 公司将可在采用更多电子化的方式处理公司事 务。从而可在电子科技化时代，令公司采用更便捷 的运营方式，从而降低运营成本和提升效率。 2． 允许公司发行无表决权、或多重投票权的多种股票 此前上市公司只能遵守“一股一投票权”的原则，但新规将允许上市 公司建立在采取措施保护现有股东的利益的前提下，且在取得新 加坡证券交易所（SGX）的同意后，发行附有不同种类投票权的 股票。SGX在审核发行多重投票权的股票的申请时应谨慎评估股 票结构，且咨询金融管理局（MAS）的意见。 3． 更多小规模公司将被豁免审计义务 现有的豁免审计义务的标准为年度营收不超过新币500万元，或 者股东不超过20人且无公司法人股东。新的建议中，新设立的私 人公司公司若满足列三项条件中（a. 年度总营收不超过新币1000 万元； b.总资产不超过新币1000万元；或c. 员工不超过50人 ） 二者，即可豁免其进行年度审计的义务。为维护股东的利益，所有 的公司仍应当保留恰当的会计记录，且赋予持有5%以上投票权 的股东主张公司提供审计报告的权利。目前新加坡的25万家公司 中有80%的公司被豁免进行审计，预估新规生效后将会再有10% 的公司从中受益。

•

审批流程 中国企业境外投资项目，均需经发改委核准、商务部门核 准以及办理外汇登记备案。 根据《境外投资项目核准暂行管理办法》，国家（发改委和 国务院）对境外投资资源开发类和大额用汇项目实行核准管 理。投资项目根据是否属于资源开发类以及中方投资用汇额 的不同，由不同级别的发改委审批。 根据《境外投资管理办法》，商务部和省级商务主管部门 对企业境外投资实行核准。企业申请获得核准后，将取得《企 业境外投资证书》，凭该证书办理外汇、银行、海关、外事等 相关事宜。 在取得发改委和商务部门审批后，企业还应进行外汇登记 备案。根据《外汇管理条例》，“境内机构、境内个人向境外直 接投资或者从事境外有价证券、衍生产品发行、交易，应当按 照国务院外汇管理部门的规定办理登记。” 若涉及国有资产境外投资，则除需获得上述相关的批准文 件外，对非货币资产还需进行评估，并对所有国有资产进行产 权登记。同时，占有国有资产的境外机构不得以“无限责任公 司”形式办理注册登记。

4. 允许董事提供替代地址以用于登记信息 现有的规定是要求董事在新加坡公司与会计注册局（ACRA）的 公开信息中披露其住址。但建议将允许董事采用替代地址，从而 保护董事的隐私。 5. 引入多名代理人的制度 多名代理人制度将允许间接投资者或者CPF（Central Provident Fund即新加坡的社保基金）投资者在出席股东大会时，与直接投 资者享有同等权利，例如托管公司和银行可任命多于两人的代理 参加股东大会。此制度将会允许更多的CPF投资者参与会议，且 享用平等的举手表决或票数决的权利。 新加坡财政部预计将在2013上半年向公众征询对修订草案的 反馈，上述建议将在适时被纳入《公司法》中。 吳艷娟, 企業事務部资深法律顧問 T: +65 6322 2232 F: +65 6534 0833 E: wuyanjuan@loopartners.com.sg

陶丽, 主任合伙人 T: +86 21 6211 2390, +86 21 6211 2357 F: +86 21 6211 2387 E: li.tao@victorylegalgroup.com

陈姝, 企業事務部资深法律顧問 T: +65 6322 2230 F: +65 6534 0833 E: chenshu@loopartners.com.sg A: 俊昭法律事務所 16 Gemmill Lane, Singapore 069254 W: www.loopartners.com.sg

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夏娅, 律师 T: +86 21 6211 2390, +86 21 6211 2357 F: +86 21 6211 2387 E: sara.xia@victorylegalgroup.com

A: VICTORY LEGAL GROUP 双胜律师事务所 Unit J, 14 Floor, Huamin Empire Plaza, No. 726, Yan An West Road, Shanghai, 200050 PRC W: www.victorylegalgroup.com

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ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012

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Wong & Partners is a Malaysian law firm dedicated to providing a quality and solution-oriented legal services to its clients. Wong & Partners has grown steadily with international standards of quality and experience and the Firm has a solid commitment to training its lawyers, and invests in training, professional development and quality management programs with the aim of producing lawyers of global standard.

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fUJIAN Sphere Logic Partners is a mid-sized business law firm known for its offering of value, sophisticated legal solutions in a leaner approach across a range of practice areas, critical to the success of clients. We maintain an established global network with numerous law firms and relevant service providers. Our seasoned and cultureready professionals assist clients in cross-border investment, M&A and financing, governance and daily operations, identification of business opportunities and solving of complex legal disputes.

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BEIJING 2012

IN-HOUSE LEGAL SUMMIT THE WESTIN BEIJING CHAOYANG - 28 NOVEMBER 2012 | 金茂北京威斯汀大饭店 - 2012年11月28日(星期三)

A special platform for the frank exchange of views, sharing of best practices and formulation of strategies to deal with opportunities in 2013 and beyond. Topics include Private Anti-Trust Litigation in China, PRC Employment Law- Latest Developments on Trade Unions & Collective Actions, Recent Developments and Dispute Management in M&A, PRC Trademark Law & Infringement, In-House Counsel’s Role in Creating and Communicating Value for the Organisation and much more.

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64

SUNDRIES

ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS october 2012 Compiled by RANAJIT DAM

VALUE OF THE LAWSUIT FILED BY HONG KONG ACTOR-DIRECTOR STEPHEN CHOW'S (S$11.2 MILLION) IN COMMISSION HE ALLEGEDLY OWED HER ON THE PROFITS SHE BROUGHT HIM WHEN SHE WAS HIS FINANCIAL ADVISER.

LAWYER GOES SHIRTLESS IN PROTEST Channeling popular resentment in India directed at recent price rise and fuel rate hikes, lawyer Santosh Kumar Suman decided on a rather unique form of protest in New Delhi against the Indian prime minister: He took his shirt off. As Manmohan Singh prepared to make his speech at the high security Vigyan REUTERS/B Mathur Bhawan, Suman climbed on to the table, took off his shirt and shouted thrice in quick succession — "PM go back! Roll back diesel price hike!" It took some 30 seconds for the stunned security personnel to react, though, but they ultimately whisked him out of the venue. However, Suman was not completely topless; he had a vest on underneath. We have known lawyers to get a bit shirty while pleading their case, but getting shirtless is in a different league altogether.

PUBLISHERS’ LAWSUIT SPARKS OUTRAGE According to students of India’s Delhi University, publishers Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press are “criminals”. Their crimes? The publishers have filed a lawsuit seeking a ban on photocopying of their books, alleging that a shop in the university hands out “course materials”, which are essentially photocopies of books that are recommended reading. The students now want cheaper books, having accused the publishers “of bullying and stifling of democratic student culture”. Copyright aside, the moral grandstanding and rhetoric are a bit rich when you remember that books cost half (and sometimes a quarter) as they do anywhere else, and text books are available at less than a fraction of the cost. Who are the criminals now, then?

REUTERS/Bobby Yip

EX-GIRLFRIEND ALICE YU AGAINST CHOW FOR THE

Attorney salaries: A global comparison CHINA TOPS THE LIST OF AVERAGE ATTORNEY SALARIES IN A SELECTION OF COUNTRIES

COUNTRY

SALARY IN US$

CHINA

146,954

UAE

104,733

U.S.

94,076

AUSTRALIA

74,078

INDIA

36,565

Source: LLM Info. See www.llminfo.com for the full list.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“THE LAW DOES NOT DEFINE THE VARIOUS STAGES OF KISSING.” Singapore lawyer Chia Boon Teck tells AsiaOne that the point at which public kissing might be considered obscene or indecent in the Lion City is unknown.

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中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会 关于约定由中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会上海分会、 中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会华南分会仲裁的案件的管理公告 2012年《中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁规则》已于2012年5月1日起施行。作为中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会的派出机构，中国国 际经济贸易仲裁委员会上海分会、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会华南分会（原名为中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会深圳分会）拒不执行2012 年《中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁规则》，拒绝继续接受中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会统一的业务管理，其行为违背了《中国国际经 济贸易仲裁委员会章程》和2012年《中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁规则》中关于中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会及其分会是一个统一 的仲裁委员会、分会基于中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会的授权从事仲裁业务的基本原则。 为确保当事人选择在中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁意愿的有效实现，维护当事人仲裁权利的正常行使，使当事人及时通过中国国 际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁解决争议，根据2012年《中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会章程》和2012年《中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会仲裁 规则》的相关规定，现就有关事项公告如下： 一、自2012年8月1日起，中止对中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会上海分会、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会华南分会接受仲裁申请并管理仲 裁案件的授权。 二、当事人约定将争议提交中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会上海分会或中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会华南分会（中国国际经济贸易仲裁 委员会深圳分会）仲裁的，自2012年8月1日起，当事人应向中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会申请仲裁，由中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会秘书 局接受仲裁申请并管理案件。未经中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会授权，其他任何机构无权接受上述仲裁申请并管理相关案件。 三、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会秘书局接受仲裁申请并管理上述案件时，除非当事人另有约定，约定由中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会 上海分会仲裁的案件，仲裁地和开庭地为上海；约定由中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会华南分会（中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会深圳分会） 仲裁的案件，仲裁地和开庭地为深圳。 四、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会秘书局为上述有关案件提供服务的咨询和联络方式如下： 上海 : 电话：86-21-58200329, 86-21-50810729 | 传真：86-21-50810965 | 邮箱：infosh@cietac.org 深圳 : 电话：86-755-82796739 | 传真：86-755-23964130 | 邮箱：infosz@cietac.org 北京 : 电话：86-10-82217788 | 传真：86-10-82217766 | 邮箱：info@cietac.org 特此公告。 中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会 二〇一二年八月一日

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