Aug 02 2010
This time, its Gibson Dunn making a move to open a new office in Hong Kong. According to the firm, it’s their second Asia office, alongside Singapore. Should be an interesting experiment as they are taking not only a general corporate focus, but a compliance aspect in hiring an FCPA expert to anchor this office.
More details after the jump.
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Jun 22 2010
Looks like Sidley Austin has opted to tap an American attorney from its executive committee to lead the Asia Pacific region offices. The firm announced in a press release, “Sidley Austin Management and Executive Committee Member, Thomas W. Albrecht, Relocates to Hong Kong as Managing Partner, Asia Pacific”. More details after the jump.
Jun 01 2010
Just got an email announcing the posting of a webcast entitled, “ ‘China Joint Ventures: Context, Contacts and Contracts” that seems very interesting. Slides and audio, and it’s also free. This is a webcast that is intended for in-house counsel, but I have a feeling that many (law students, outside counsel) will find the information interesting. (and also give them more insight into the minds of in-house attorneys like myself) More information after the jump.
May 04 2010
Just heard that Weil Gotshal poached… err… picked up John Fadely from Clifford Chance’s Hong Kong office in order to beef up its China funds practice. Definitely a good time to continue to beef up in terms of private equity staff while things are still a tad slower since it’s bound to pick up sooner or later. Though from the press release, it appears that Mr. Fadely is somewhat of an Asia generalist as well–which of course can be interpreted as positive or negative depending on what your emphasis is. Press release after the jump.
Apr 27 2010
Yet another post from the Georgetown Managing and Representing Exempt Organizations conference. Lawrence Mendenhall from the Hewlett Foundation and Drew Porter from the Gates Foundation gave a good session about lobbying rules for non-profits, and also talked about how you can properly push the limits of the regulations as well.
Apr 23 2010
Still at the Georgetown conference. Had a very good session called “General Counsel Roundtable”, and one of the speakers was Mary Elcano, GC for Red Cross and former acting/interim CEO. While the topic of the discussions was mostly about the role of a general counsel and what worries the typical GC, Mary did a short piece of compliance and ethics policies that I thought was helpful.
Apr 22 2010
Here live at the Georgetown Managing and Representing Exempt Organizations Conference 2010. I was thinking about live blogging, but given the lack of free internet and poor connectivity, I will try to post over the next few days different things that I hear and learn about.
The morning session opened up with Sarah Hall Ingram, Commissioner of Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) Division of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS” or the “Service”). She had quite a bit to say in terms of developments, and I found some particularly interesting:
Apr 12 2010
So many emails to pile through my inbox, but ironically, many of them are about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In light of the recent things happening with Avon in China (see e.g., this post at the Wall Street Journal’s law blog), it seems like FCPA compliance and enforcement is coming towards MNCs doing business in China. What better time to get educated on the FCPA?
Mar 08 2010
Sorry for the last minute notice on this one, but I wanted to encourage those in the Bay Area who might be interested to attend. The State Bar of California International Law Section is hosting “Careers in International Law” tomorrow (Tuesday, March 9, 2010) at 12:30 pm at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. More information after the jump.
Feb 09 2010
Well, looks like Li Zhuang got 1 and 1/2 years after his appeal. (see my original post about defense lawyer tactics here) I suppose that’s better than 2 and 1/2 years, but I am still left wondering why in the world he even got a prison sentence. (again, see my original post)
Dec 30 2009
Looks like Xinhua published its defense of the execution of a British mentally ill man in an article entitled “Experts defend China’s execution of British drug smuggler”. I’m actually glad they did–it makes it a lot easier to dissect. And for the poor professors (Mingliang Wang and Jinzhan Xue), I’m sorry, you lose and that’s just how the game is played.
Again, caveat: I normally don’t just go into attack mode like this anymore. (I don’t litigate on a regular basis anymore and I try to turn off this gear that’s internal to my brain) But if you want to read on, feel free.
Dec 29 2009
CNN just published an article, “China executes British citizen for drug smuggling”. I normally don’t try to weigh in and blatantly criticize the Chinese justice system despite certain corrupt documented incidents and obvious issues because it’s been improving over the years, and I have been hopeful that the rule of law has a chance to survive there. I am, however, severely disturbed about the recent execution of the mentally ill British man when there were obvious due process issues, despite The Global Times insisting that “the trial process was extremely careful”.
