Exit, Disputes & Crisis Management

Exiting a China business is a transaction with its own regulatory choreography: buyer identification and negotiation, equity-transfer approvals, tax clearance and withholding on capital gains, and the mechanics of closing — including SAFE registration to repatriate the sale proceeds.

We also handle distressed exits, where the JV partner or legal representative is uncooperative — the cases where exit clauses drafted years earlier determine whether you can actually leave, and on what terms.

We represent clients in CIETAC, HKIAC, SIAC, and ICC arbitrations and in PRC court litigation at all levels. Our experience spans international sale-of-goods disputes, JV and shareholder disputes, distribution and agency terminations, fraud and misrepresentation, and the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards in China — and Chinese awards abroad.

Enforcement is where many disputes are actually decided. China is party to the New York Convention, and enforcement of a foreign award is generally available — but procedural pitfalls around public policy, time limits, and asset identification routinely determine the outcome. We plan the enforcement route before we choose the forum.

We run trademark infringement and counterfeiting actions across civil, administrative, and criminal tracks; patent infringement litigation and invalidation defense; trade-secret misappropriation claims — strengthened significantly by the 2020 Anti-Unfair Competition Law amendment; copyright enforcement; and cross-border e-commerce platform takedowns.

China's IP regime is now a serious forum for enforcement — but results depend on choosing the right track (civil damages vs. administrative raid vs. criminal referral) and assembling evidence early. We map the enforcement path against your commercial objective, not just the legal claim.

We defend wrongful-dismissal claims, enforce non-compete and confidentiality obligations against departing employees — especially sales and R&D personnel — and manage mass layoffs (经济性裁员) with the procedures and severance the law requires. We also handle discrimination and harassment complaints.

Labor disputes in China are fast, employee-favorable, and low-cost to initiate — which makes them a frequent leverage tool in other disputes. We treat every termination as a potential arbitration, documenting the statutory grounds and process from the start.

We represent clients in regulatory investigations and enforcement actions by SAMR (antitrust, unfair competition), tax authorities, customs, SAFE (foreign exchange), the Cyberspace Administration (data/privacy), and environmental bureaus.

An investigation in China is rarely a single-agency affair — a customs inquiry can spill into tax, and a data inquiry can draw in SAFE. We manage the interface between the investigation and your global compliance obligations, respond to information requests strategically, and negotiate the administrative outcome while protecting against follow-on civil or criminal exposure.

We conduct internal investigations into commercial bribery (PRC Criminal Law Art. 164), embezzlement (Art. 271), and trade-secret theft (Art. 219) — privileged where applicable — assess criminal exposure, and negotiate with prosecutors. We coordinate with global counsel on parallel FCPA / UK Bribery Act exposure, since the same conduct frequently triggers liability in multiple jurisdictions.

Crisis management includes dawn-raid response protocols: who meets the investigators, what documents are produced, how employees are instructed, and how the company preserves privilege while cooperating — decisions that must be made in the first hours, not the first weeks.