Overview
SHANGHAI (APRIL 29, 2014) — McDermott strategic alliance partner MWE China Law Offices was named “Regulatory and Compliance Law Firm of the Year” at the 2014 Asian Legal Business (ALB) China Law Awards ceremony held on April 24, 2014 in Beijing, China. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of China’s legal and business elite, including practicing lawyers, in-house counsel, CEOs, CFOs and investment bankers.
Now in its 11th year, the annual ALB China Law Awards honors the achievements of prominent law firms, in-house legal teams as well as the most outstanding deals and dealmakers in China each year.
Accepting the award on behalf of MWE China Law Offices were partners Leon Liu, Henry Chen and David Dai.
“We are honored to have been recognized as the inaugural winner of the Regulatory and Compliance Law Firm of the Year,” said John Huang, managing partner of MWE China Law Offices. “The past year has seen growing regulatory scrutiny of businesses in China amid an increasing complex regulatory and compliance landscape which encompasses any issues relating to government approvals, government investigations and sanctions including anti-trust, white-collar/FCPA, tax, customs, quality control, as well as issues arising under the jurisdiction of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Ministry of Environmental Protection and State Administration of Industry and Commerce. In this rapidly evolving legal landscape, these honors confirm the depth of knowledge and business know-how that our lawyers—frequently working in collaboration with the lawyers of our strategic alliance partner, McDermott Will & Emery—bring to every matter.”
“We are enormously proud of our colleagues at MWE China Law for once again being recognized for legal excellence in their respective fields,” said McDermott co-chair Jeffrey E. Stone. “Regulatory and compliance work has really become the cornerstone of our practice in China and we are increasingly focusing our work in that space. It is gratifying to know that our compliance team stood out amid some very fierce competition.” Other firms competing in this category included Allen & Overy and Baker & McKenzie.
“This is a tremendous – and very timely — achievement for MWE China’s compliance team, as it comes at a time when the Chinese government is heightening its scrutiny of businesses, including aggressive anti-corruption and antitrust investigations targeting multinational companies operating in the country,” said Peter J. Sacripanti, co-chair of McDermott Will & Emery. “The award is a reflection of MWE China’s increased focus on helping clients evaluate their risk exposure, identify potential mitigation strategies and implement plans to resolve concerns.”
McDermott has a strategic alliance with the People’s Republic of China (PRC)-licensed firm MWE China. As a PRC-licensed firm, MWE China’s lawyers are allowed to maintain their Chinese law licenses; allowing them to communicate with Chinese government agencies on legal issues, collect evidence and represent clients in Chinese courts and before Chinese regulatory bodies. The strategic alliance therefore allows both firms to function as an integrated firm in essentially all respects of service delivery while offering clients the benefit of full legal representation on both sides of the Pacific and in Europe.
Finalists for the ALB China awards are shortlisted from nominations submitted by in-house legal departments, relevant individuals in leading companies, banks and accountancy firms, peer law firms and individual law firms. A panel of external judges then cast their votes for the winners, which are announced during the awards ceremony each year.
About McDermott Will & Emery
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,100 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Extending our reach further to Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
