Cross-border legal intelligence · China & the world
Four decades of practice, much of it spent receiving legal advice rather than giving it, and what that changes.
When a company genuinely needs outside counsel, and why you do not hire a law firm but lawyers.
Why an annual retainer is better understood as risk management than as a pricing mechanism.
With its island-wide special customs regime in force since December 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port has moved from policy blueprint to working economic pilot. An assessment of the dual-border “first line, second line” model, the concrete opportunities now open in trade, healthcare, tourism and advanced industries, and the governance risks that will decide whether China’s most consequential opening-up experiment succeeds.
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Part four of a four-part series. Should a company satisfied with its existing counsel nevertheless maintain a relationship with a second firm? The answer is generally yes — not from dissatisfaction, but because loyalty should never eliminate independent judgment or optionality. On second opinions as good governance, and why the case is strongest precisely when the stakes are highest.
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Part three of a four-part series. Once a company has found counsel it trusts, how should the relationship be structured? The case that an annual retainer is not primarily a pricing mechanism but a relationship and risk-management one — examining limited versus unlimited quick-question retainers, and why the most valuable call a client makes is often the earliest one.
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Part two of a four-part series. When does a company genuinely need outside counsel, and when is Big Law the right answer rather than the automatic one? On why you do not hire a law firm but lawyers, responsiveness as a component of legal competence, and why cross-border work demands global experience and local expertise in the same adviser.
Read the article →Market entry, negative-list analysis and structuring inbound investment.
Deal structuring, foreign-investment screening and post-merger integration.
International arbitration, enforcement and cross-border litigation strategy.
Trademark registration, trade-secret protection and anti-counterfeiting.
Franchising, distribution, licensing and operating compliance.
Anti-Monopoly Law compliance, pricing practices and regulator engagement.
Hiring, termination, handbooks and workforce disputes under PRC law.
Governance, exit mechanics and protecting contributed technology.
Financing, securities regulation and cross-border capital formation.
Urban renewal, land-use rights and project execution in China.
Trade policy, sanctions exposure and supply-chain compliance.
Conversations with lawyers, investors and business leaders shaping China-related work.
"The firms that win cross-border mandates are the ones fluent in two legal cultures, not just two languages."
