China Services
Our China Group is comprised of corporate and commercial lawyers, litigation experts, business consultants and a team of accounting, finance and human resources experts. We offer combined legal, accounting, finance and business service packages tailored to the needs of our clients.
Doing Business in China
As its economy matured, some of the original tax incentives and other advantages that China adopted to capture foreign investment have been removed. Due to the inflation of wages in China and the removal of tax incentives, investment into labor-intensive manufacturing and export industries is decreasing. At the same time, favorable tax rates, policies and economic conditions make it an ideal time to invest into the Western regions of China, business sectors that target China’s domestic consumer market and into high-tech sectors. Despite recent concerns in the media regarding the stability of and fluctuations in China’s stock markets and slower rates of growth, China is the second largest economy in the world and an important business jurisdiction for many of our current and future clients.
Our Clients – Businesses that Improve Living Standards in China
Our recent clients have been operating businesses in niche areas such as sports, fashion, beauty, health care, sports and entertainment. Other businesses that have done well focus on supplying better food or technologies to improve the safety and quality of China’s food. Companies that are bringing technologies to China to help clean its environment and businesses that target China’s consumer market have also done very well during recent years. We specialize in assisting international companies with investments into sectors that are encouraged by the Chinese government in its most recent Five-Year Plan, such as:
- High-quality food and consumer goods – shifting economic growth away from reliance on exports and investment toward domestic consumption
- Development of service industries – recent policies favor the development of the outsourcing, banking, insurance, e-commerce, logistics and supply chain management sectors
- Environment – new energy (e.g. hydro, nuclear, solar, and wind), energy conservation, soil remediation and technologies that improve the environment are current areas of focus for the Chinese government
- Technologies – Innovative technologies and biotechnology that increase the productivity of businesses and day-to-day life in China
- Sports and Entertainment
Providing Legal and Consulting Services for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
We specialize in providing legal and consulting services to a diverse group of international businesses that are breaking into or doing business in China. Alongside the importance of having an experienced legal team to help navigate China’s unique legal and political system, small and medium-sized enterprises investing into China typically require external accounting, human resources, web domain registration, marketing support, market entry research, assistance with locating an office or warehouse, employee recruitment and other consulting services. We have developed our own team of consultants to provide business solutions that are tailored to the needs of our clients who are developing businesses in China or investing into the country for the first time.
An example of the services our China-based lawyers and consultants provide includes:
- Company formation
- Assistance with negotiations
- Drafting commercial contracts in multiple languages
- Corporate compliance and governance
- Employment-related legal and consulting services
- Human resources services
- Accounting services
- Due diligence investigations
- Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
- Trademark registrations
- Provision of intellectual property protection strategies
- Litigation, mediation and arbitration
- Advisory work on inbound and outbound investments
- International trade services
- Applications for work permits and industry specific licenses
- Real estate
- Tax planning and wealth management
Assisting Chinese Businesses with Overseas Investments
We also provide legal services to assist our Chinese clients with their outbound investments. Canada and Southeast Asia have been common destinations of investment for our Chinese clients. Our professionals work together to assist our Chinese clients with overseas public listings, company formation, trademark registration, real estate transactions, immigration investment, asset and share purchase agreements, commercial contracts and a full range of legal consulting services. We also provide tax-planning and wealth management services in English and Mandarin languages.
China-Canada Focus
Our Canadian lawyers and our team of professionals assist our Canadian clients with their investments into China and our Chinese clients with their overseas business projects, public listings, real estate investments and immigration work in Canada. We understand the business environments of both Canada and China and provide services tailored to the needs of our clients to help them bridge the gap between the differences in business cultures and legal systems of both countries, secure new opportunities and close business deals.