China Practice

Perkins Coie is a pioneer in cross-border legal matters between the United States and China.  Our attorneys understand China’s complex, ever-changing business environment and the culture that drives it.  Our experience dates back to 1971, when we participated in the sale of 10 Boeing commercial aircraft, one of the earliest commercial transactions between the United States and China.  Since then, we have been actively involved in the Chinese market helping both U.S. and Chinese companies with their needs in the areas of intellectual property, corporate, international trade and personal planning.

Intellectual Property

Perkins Coie is recognized as a leading international intellectual property firm in the U.S. and China.  The firm has a history of promoting intellectual property protection awareness and education by working with the central government, local governments and hi-tech parks.  Since 2003, Perkins Coie has assisted the China delegation with their presence and affiliated events surrounding the annual BIO convention and welcomed a wide range of government officials, entrepreneurs and clients to the seminal convention for the biotechnology industry.

Our intellectual property attorneys and agents in Beijing and Shanghai are backed by a group of over 90 registered patent attorneys and agents in the U.S.  Our attorneys assist Chinese companies with their patent procurement, international patent portfolio management, patent due diligence analysis and patent litigation.  Our China team assists both Chinese and U.S. companies in obtaining and enforcing their intellectual property assets in a variety of disciplines including biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical devices, semiconductors, telecommunications and industrial chemistry and manufacturing.  Perkins is one of the first U.S. firms to enforce Chinese invented U.S. patents against American defendants.

Corporate and Transactional

Our China corporate practice consists of attorneys in our Beijing and Shanghai offices with decades of China corporate practice experience, as well as experienced attorneys throughout our offices across the U.S.  Our team has assisted clients in a broad range of  industries including energy, banking and finance, venture capital, aviation, shipping, transportation, information technology and communications, infrastructure, automotive, insurance, manufacturing, agriculture, pharmaceutical, engineering, real estate, sports, food, import and export and other industries in China.

We assist clients with the issues that foreign companies face when doing business in China.  These issues include choosing joint venture partners, designing corporate and financial structures, raising venture capital, establishing wholly foreign-owned enterprises and joint ventures, planning taxation strategies and profit repatriating, handling employment and environmental protection.  In addition, our attorneys are able to assist with issues in corporate compliance and governance, mergers and acquisitions, financing, securities, technology transfers, equipment standard certifications, trade, governmental affairs and regulatory issues.

We represent substantial high-tech companies and investment funds based in Silicon Valley, providing innovative and practical structures for foreign direct investment (FDI) into China, and Chinese funds invested into the United States.  We have a team of experienced corporate attorneys in both the U.S. and China working closely with our IP and investment banking expertise, with the support of all necessary resources of the firm, providing a comprehensive and well-focused package for high-tech cross-borders transactions.

International Trade

Our Beijing and Washington, DC-based international trade attorneys have decades of experience in significant trade disputes and investigations involving China.  We have a deep understanding of the laws that apply to issues of unfair trade remedies, including antidumping and countervailing duties, as well as market access, customs, product inspection, duty preferences, country-specific export controls, quotas and duty assessments under international and domestic trade laws and regulations.  We advise clients on U.S./China issues in bilateral and multilateral disputes before the World Trade Organization (WTO), and we regularly counsel clients on issues of U.S./China international trade policy, including trade negotiations and investigations of market access and import competition.

Our team of trade attorneys and professionals frequently work with clients in China and in the U.S. to address the complex laws and regulations that apply in U.S. antidumping, CVD and market access investigations, and we have special expertise in knowing the unique issues that arise in such investigations involving U.S./China trade.  We have appeared frequently on behalf of our clients in trade litigation before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Trade Representative and in the U.S. federal courts (Court of International Trade, Federal Circuit and Supreme Court).

Personal Planning

Our Personal Planning group helps individuals define and meet their estate planning, family and related needs.  We work with Americans and foreign nationals residing in the U.S. and Asia on all aspects of wealth planning through strategic use of wills, trusts, gifts, sales and other income and wealth transfer devices.  For many of our clients who are successful entrepreneurs, the planning mitigates their tax exposure and offers the opportunity to plan for business succession.  In cooperation with our colleagues in our business and immigration groups, we assist clients who are interested in securing U.S. green cards for their families through the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as EB-5. Our attorneys also advise clients on the ever-changing tax filing and reporting obligations and on compliance issues.

The probate and trust administration of our clients' estates facilitate the implementation of their overall estate planning.  Through Perkins Coie Trust Company LLC, we can provide services as Executor and Trustee.  Our attorneys also represent fiduciaries and beneficiaries in estate and trust administration, and if disputes arise, we seek to resolve them through alternative dispute resolution.  Occasionally, when the needs arise or when a private resolution is not possible, we represent our clients' interests in court.

Working With Authorities