International Law

Wood & Lee provides a full array of legal services to clients that conduct business internationally. Our lawyers have extensive experience advising clients on the business opportunities and challenges presented worldwide. We represent companies conducting business abroad, as well as clients involved in other cross-border transactions and disputes worldwide. We provide strategic advice to corporations looking to expand their businesses overseas. Our lawyers are experienced with international treaties and conventions. Our lawyers regularly advise on foreign corrupt practices compliance. We represent clients in foreign acquisitions, in establishing foreign-owned enterprises and joint ventures, licensing, structured finance and tax planning. We also work with emerging companies and the entities that fund them in a variety of financing transactions. Our clients include multinationals and financial institutions, corporations and trade associations. Core Practice Areas / Industries

• Capital Markets
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Construction
• Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions
• Dispute Resolution
• Emerging Technology / Venture Capital
• Energy
• Foreign Corrupt Practices / Regulatory Investigations
• Financial Institutions
• Fund Formation and Investment
• Venture Capital
• Angel Investment
• Hospitality, including Hotels, Resorts and Peer-to-Peer Property Rental Companies
• Intellectual Property
• Life Sciences
• Private Equity
• Real Estate and Infrastructure
• Software/IT
• Hardware
• Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
• Telecommunications
• WTO and International Trade 

We represent clients in the design and documentation of domestic and global cross-border and domestic joint ventures, strategic alliances, collaborations, and research and development and other teaming arrangements. Our lawyers have been advising clients on the opportunities and challenges presented by doing business internationally.

About Our Practice

• We maintain relationships in all the major countries of the European Union, Asia and Oceania.
• We possess considerable experience in business transactions, litigation, regulatory compliance and patent prosecution.
• We handle complex and high-value international transactions involving multiple countries.
• Our lawyers have represented the foreign subsidiaries of banks and investment banks and foreign affiliates of accounting firms.
• Similarly, our lawyers have represented numerous corporate defendants and individuals investigated by foreign and administrative authorities and in parallel proceedings.

Our Capabilities

Intellectual Property

We offer a range of international intellectual property services that few firms can rival. Our lawyers have assisted numerous clients in protecting their IP rights in China, and our lawyers have significant experience in managing local PRC counsel. We draw on our extensive litigation and technology skills to prosecute and defend complex patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark cases in a variety of industries. We work with clients to develop and manage intellectual property portfolios. We offer all patent-related services such as patent searching, drafting and filing, patent prosecution, patent term extensions and regulatory exclusivity, as well as opinions regarding patentability, validity and infringement. We obtain and maintain trademarks, trade names and copyrights for many of our clients.

Intellectual Property Transactions

We represent clients in the design, documentation and operation of strategic alliances, licenses, and a variety of collaborations relating to research and development, commercialisation, distribution, manufacturing and supply, clinical trials and related transactions. We participate on both the idea and money sides of ventures involving small and large companies as well as research institutes, often handling transactions involving multiple parties.

International Tax

Our international activities arise from two separate sources: we represent foreign-based clients and we represent corporate clients in handling the tax issues they face as they expand globally. Our foreign-based clients include foreign trading companies and individuals. Our lawyers represent clients in transactions ranging from highly complex cross-border acquisitions and reorganisations to the establishment of foreign entity structures to export sales and cross-border transactions.

WTO and International Trade

Our lawyers have extensive World Trade Organization and trade law experience, particularly in the areas of anti-dumping and other trade remedies, dispute settlement, trade negotiations, trade policy, regional groupings, customs and trade-related intellectual property issues. We help our clients understand and make use of the benefits conferred by WTO regulations, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) laws, bilateral investment protection treaties and other bilateral treaties such as CEPA (the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement between China and Hong Kong). Our lawyers are experienced in representing exporters, importers, industry associations and Asian domestic producers in numerous anti-dumping investigations and other trade-related matters across a wide array of products and jurisdictions.

Corporate

In addition to providing general corporate advice and assisting clients in corporate finance and commercial transactions, our lawyers are experienced in complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and securities regulation, including Nasdaq and regional stock exchange offerings, foreign direct investment in China and Asia; angel investment, private equity and venture capital fund formation, and structuring, financing and strategic investing in emerging technology companies.

Corporate Securities, Mergers and Acquisitions

Wood & Lee provides the full array of corporate services. Our mergers and acquisitions team counsels clients in transactions involving the change of control in all or part of a business. Our lawyers are experienced with sophisticated public financing instruments of all types and have well established relationships with venture capital and investment banking firms. We also counsel clients in securities laws, regulations and compliance.

Real Estate

Our lawyers represent entities in offshore real estate investment activities and foreign investors active in the real estate market. Our cross-border real estate work involves every variation on the structural theme, from direct asset acquisitions to ground leases, incentive-based strategic alliances, mortgage loans, and mezzanine debt and hybrid debt-equity transactions.

Antitrust and Competition

Our lawyers provide legal counselling and representation in proceedings involving abuse of dominance, cartels, intellectual property licensing and mergers. Our lawyers have substantial experience in multi-jurisdictional mergers and acquisitions, cartel enforcement and dominant firm conduct cases.

Foreign Corrupt Practices and Other Government Regulations

We help clients to set up compliance programs and to run internal investigations in the world’s riskiest countries for purposes of foreign corrupt practices compliance. We also advise numerous global clients in connection with investigations by local government authorities.

Transactional

Our lawyers have significant experience in advising clients who conduct business in foreign markets. Our practice includes cross-border transactions relating to corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions, financing, investment partnerships and funds, private equity, IPOs and capital markets, project finance, angel investment, venture capital, secured lending, licensing and partnerships. Our lawyers understand and are experienced in coordinating transactions that engage the laws of the various countries involved in a single deal as well as the body of international treaties and conventions that often arise when conducting business globally.

Arbitration and Dispute Resolution

Our lawyers have extensive experience representing clients in international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. We advise on issues of jurisdiction and choice of law in agreements, as well as on the selection of arbitration or litigation to provide the most favourable forum. We negotiate and draft alternative dispute resolution (ADR) agreements and dispute resolution provisions for international and domestic commercial transactions and design dispute resolution systems for corporate use. We represent clients in mediations, adjudications and conciliations.

Capital Markets

Wood & Lee’s capital markets practice assists our clients in finding and securing the funding they need to grow and prosper. Drawing upon the resources of our lawyers from across the firm’s offices, our capital markets practice leverages our strong relationships with the angel investment, venture capital and investment banking communities to help raise funds through public and private offerings of equity, debt and equity-linked securities.

Litigation Services

Our lawyers have handled litigation matters in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property, consumer defence, securities, insurance coverage and employment law.

Food

We focus on food regulatory, policy, enforcement and product development regulatory strategy issues, as well as commercial transactions involving pre-clinical and clinical testing, manufacturing, distribution, labelling, marketing, advertising and promotion, and the exportation and importation of medical diagnostic devices, foods, dietary supplements and cosmetics.