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Introduction
Chengdu is the principal economic centre of the Western China region and a focal point of China's new "go west" preferential investment policies. Tahota Law Firm was founded in Chengdu in 2000 and is one of the largest law firms in Western China, with 150 lawyers and offices in Chengdu, Beijing, and Shenzhen. Tahota's main practice areas include real estate, corporate (including finance and securities), litigation and arbitration and intellectual property.
Awards and Recognition
Tahota was officially recognized in 2004 as Famous Trademark in Chengdu, and the firm has won a number of awards for its service to clients, including Outstanding National Law Firm status from the Ministry of Justice and the All China Lawyers' Association (ACLA), the Outstanding Professional Advisor to the Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Committee (SASAC) from the Sichuan SASAC, the Golden Rose Cup Award for outstanding performance and achievements in real estate practice and the 2008 Asian Legal Business award for Best Law Firm in Western China.
Representative Clients
Representative clients of Tahota include Swiss Life Group, Caterpillar (China) Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., China Mobile, China Unicom, China Netcom, SAFRAN (a Fortune 500 company), COSCO International Freight Co., Ltd. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Agricultural Bank, China Everbright Bank, Yanlord Land Group Limited, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd., Sichuan Expressway Construction & Development Corporation, Chengdu Expressway Construction & Development Corporation, Sichuan Wei-ao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd.
Founding and Offices
Tahota followed the opening of their Chengdu office in 2000 with the opening of an office in Beijing in 2003 and recently opened an office in Shenzhen to better serve their clients with interests in that area. Tahota's Chengdu headquarters continues to serve domestic and international clients entering the Western China market, providing a full range of services both regionally and nationally.
Qualifications and Background of Lawyers
Among Tahota's 150 licensed lawyers, more than 60 have received Master or Doctor degrees or have studied abroad. Tahota's lawyers have a range of additional professional qualifications, including qualified arbitrators and registered tax agents. More than 50 of Tahota's lawyers can speak foreign languages, including English, Japanese and German.
Government Relations
Tahota serves as counsel for a number of local and regional government entities, including the Sichuan Development and Reform Commission, the Sichuan Bureau of Communications, the Sichuan Food and Drug Administration, the Sichuan SASAC, the Chengdu SASAC, the Sichuan Coalfield Geology Bureau, the Chengdu Tobacco Bureau and the Sichuan News Publishing Bureau.
In addition, a number of Tahota's lawyers are active in professional organizations and have experience working in government organizations or serving on the Chengdu Intermediate Court. Tahota's lawyers include a former director of the Chengdu People's Procurate, a former judge on the Chengdu Railway Transportation Court, a judge on the Qingyang District People's Court, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration, a mediator of the Mediation Centre of China Chamber of International Commerce, an arbitrator for the Mianyang Arbitration Commission, a vice director of the WTO Regulations Committee of the Sichuan Lawyers' Association, a trustee of the ACLA and a vice president of the Sichuan Lawyers' Association.
Main Practice Areas
Real Estate and Construction
More than 20 lawyers make up Tahota's Real Estate Practice Group, which advises clients on a variety of real estate matters, including transfer of land use rights, contract drafting, property management and real estate financing for major projects.
Key partners in Tahota's Real Estate Practice Group include Deng Guolin, Liu Jun, and Peng Li (see bios of key partners below).
Representative real estate and construction matters include:
- Acted for clients on real estate projects such as Nanan Yijia, Panda City and the Plaza Central
- Acted for the defendant, a real estate company, on a claim of wrongful eviction, winning litigation before the Supreme Court and avoiding a loss of RMB 30 million for the client.
Corporate
Tahota's Corporate Practice Group advises clients on a wide range of matters, cooperating closely with other practice groups to provide comprehensive legal services to domestic and international clients. The corporate practice often advises on international trade and WTO-related affairs, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), IPOs, regulatory compliance, overseas investments and investment vehicles for foreign direct investment (FDI), including wholly foreign owned enterprises (WOFE), joint ventures and representative offices.
Key partners in Tahota's Corporate Practice Group include Cheng Shoutai, Tao Jie, and Han Yingmei, Tang Qianhong, Liu Jing and Yang Jianhong (see bios of key partners below).
Selected corporate matters include:
- Advised Hongda Chemical Industry Ltd., one of 20 subsidiary companies of Sichuan Hongda Co. Ltd., on restructuring prior to an IPO
- Advised Huiyuan Science and Technology Company on an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- Acted for China Import & Export Bank's Sichuan Branch in successfully defending an action filed by a large-sized state-owned Philippine enterprise.
Litigation and Arbitration
The firm's Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group is the firm's largest, with over 30 lawyers focusing their practice on this area. Tahota has represented domestic and international clients in a variety of disputes, including civil litigation, maritime disputes, banking, financial services, international trade, contract disputes, and labour arbitration proceedings.
Key partners in Tahota's Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group include Xu Zhengping and Wang Kai (see bios of key partners below).
Representative contentious matters include:
- Successfully acted for a Singaporean limited company in an international arbitration before CIETAC
- Successfully acted for a client in defending a claim in a foreign-related arbitration, reducing the award by RMB 40 million
- Acted for Chengdu Highway in a multiparty litigation over RMB 400 million, involving large companies, provincial governments and other agencies.
Intellectual Property
The intellectual property practice is one of Tahota's most important practice areas. There are nine lawyers currently in Tahota's Intellectual Property Practice Group, which has experience advising domestic and international clients on a variety of matters, including trademark registration, patent applications, investigation of infringing activities and infringement litigation, copyrights, trade secrets, licensing agreements and transfers of intellectual property.
Key partners in Tahota's Intellectual Property Practice Group include Ni Hong, Zhou Min and Deng Guolin (see bios of key partners below).
Representative intellectual property matters include:
- Acted for a client in a litigation brought by Warner Music Limited against Chengdu Haoledi with respect to MTV infringement
- Acted for A client in a litigation between Zhan Qiao (a well-known writer) and Sichuan Economic Television Production Centre with respect to copyright licensing of the popular TV series The Ultimate Story of Wang Bao
- Acted for a client in litigation on a suit by Xinli (Hong Kong) Disc Co., Ltd. against Sichuan Public Information Industry Co., Ltd. on an alleged infringing broadcast of copyrighted materials over the internet.
Biographies of Key Partners
Cheng Shoutai, a senior partner of the firm, focuses his practice on corporate matters. Mr. Cheng received an L.L.B. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1993 and an MBA from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in 2005, and he is currently completing a Doctorate in Law from Southwest University of Political Science and Law. He is active in a variety of professional organizations and is a trustee of the ACLA and a vice-president of the Sichuan Lawyers' Association.
Tao Jie is a senior partner in the firm's Corporate Practice Group. She received an L.L.M. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law and has been practicing law since 1992, with a focus on general corporate matters, M&A, real estate and corporate restructuring.
Han Yingmei is a senior partner in the firm's Corporate Practice Group. She received a Bachelors degree from the Central University for Nationalities and an L.L.M. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ms. Han's practice is focused on project feasibility studies and business negotiations.
Xu Zhengping is a senior partner in the firm's Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group. Mr. Xu received an L.L.B. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1993, receiving an L.L.M. from the same institution in 2001. Mr. Xu has been licensed to practice law since 1994 and prior to entering private practice he worked as an Intermediate Court judge for ten years in the Economic Division. Since joining Tahota in 2001, he has published a variety of academic papers and was recognized by the provincial government as an Outstanding Lawyer of Sichuan Province in 2004.
Ni Hong, a leading partner in the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group, is an active member of the Sichuan Lawyers' Association. She received an L.L.B. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1992 and an L.L.M. from the same institution.
Zhou Min is another leading partner in the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group. He received an L.L.B. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1993 and an L.L.M. from the same university in 2002. Mr. Zhou has been qualified to practice law since 1998 and is active in a variety of professional organizations, including as vice-chairman of the Chengdu Credit Guarantee Association and as a member of the Sichuan Consumers' Association. In addition to his private practice, he also takes an active role in providing pro-bono services to the community.
Deng Guolin is a senior partner in the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group and Real Estate Practice Group. He received an L.L.B. from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1992 and qualified to practice law that year. Mr. Deng is active in a variety of professional organizations and holds positions as associate president of the Sichuan Real Estate Association and senior committee member of the Real Estate Committee of the Sichuan Lawyers' Association.
Liu Jun is a senior partner in the firm's Real Estate Practice Group. He received an L.L.M. from Southwest University of Finance and Economics, and his practice is focused on real estate and corporate law. He often acts as corporate counsel and provides legal advice for over 10 real estate enterprises.
Yang Jianhong is a senior partner in the firm's Corporate Practice Group. He received a B.A. in philosophy from Peking University and an L.L.M. from Sichuan University, qualifying to practice law in 1992. Mr. Yang worked for six years at the Sichuan Provincial People's Procurate, gaining detailed knowledge on practices relating to government investigations and collection of evidence.
Tang Qianhong is a senior partner of the firm's Corporate Practice Group. In addition to his practice, he is currently a PhD candidate preparing a thesis on the Legal Obligations of Multinational Corporations at the Southwest University of Political Science & Law. Mr. Tang's practice area includes international trade, international investment, government legal affairs, corporate and commercial matters and litigation and arbitration.
Liu Jing is a senior partner in the firm's corporate practice group. She graduated from Southwest University of Politics Science and Law and studied at Western Sydney University in 2003. Mrs. Liu's practice includes administrative law and company law, and she often advises various agencies of the Sichuan provincial government.
Contact Tahota Law Firm
Chengdu Office
25/F and 27/F, Tower A, World Trade Centre
Shuncheng Street
Chengdu, 610015
Tel +86 28 8662 5656
Fax +86 28 8676 1128
Beijing Office
Tel +86 10 8586 5151
Fax +86 10 8586 1922
Shenzhen Office
17/F Jiangong Building
No. 112 Shashen Road, Yantian District
Shenzhen, 518081
Tel +86 755 2555 8080
Fax +86 755 2555 8080