BOTUO LAW FIRM - 博拓律所

Foreign businesses interested in entering the Chinese market will be faced with a plethora of regulatory and legal requirements, including ensuring the intellectual property of the foreign party is well protected and registered. At Botuo, we advise clients through three phases when considering entry into China:

Pre-entry and the registration of rights prior to embarking on investment in an entry vehicle;
Entry and the list of items that are needed to fully establish a presence in China, including the selection of a legal representative if it is a formation of a WFOE;
Post-entry and the kinds of filings and maintenance items that will be necessary to ensure your enterprise or investment stay compliant.

Chinese regulatory requirements are often unforgiving and demanding. Botuo offers a one-stop professional services program that assists the foreign investor to enter the Chinese market and stay in the market without the worries of keeping up with all the local laws, rules and regulations. Meanwhile, key sales and executive officers of the company can focus on the business of expanding the enterprise’s core business.

For businesses who want to do business in China by acquisition or merger with a local company, the laws governing the acquisitions of a Chinese registered company are complex and often require the insertion of an intermediary subsidiary to maximize flexibility and tax benefits. A domestic company acquired by a foreign party renders the resulting entity being classified as a “foreign or foreign invested domestic legal entity,” which operates on slightly different and often confusing rules.

At Botuo, we have handled the negotiations, drafting, and closing of hundreds of mergers and acquisitions – representing either the seller’s side or the buyer’s side. Our firm has a solid understanding on the customs and practices in this area of the law. In China, the law is to be followed, the customs are to be respected, and these practices need to be followed if the transaction is to be closed on time and on budget.

The difficulties in most cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions lie in poor due diligence, inadequate understanding of the regulatory, legal and political risks of a transaction, a gross underestimate of the timetable to complete the transaction, and a lack of integrating the target into existing operations. We assist our clients from the inception of the deal through the final closing, including post-closing integration and purchase price adjustments where warranted.

Whether our clients want to file a lawsuit or are being sued, Botuo practices all aspects of commercial law litigation. We will court as required and are always well prepared for evidentiary hearings and trials. However, we will not file frivolous lawsuits. The team at Botuo conducts thorough due diligence on the opposing party before we start litigation and, where appropriate, we will negotiate to settle cases for the best possible outcomes for our clients.

Our litigation experiences involve:

Unfair competition, all aspects of IP litigation
Commercial disputes, partner and shareholder disputes
Trademark civil cases, appeals
Bribery, corruption, white collar crimes, corporate theft
Lease/real estate, land disputes, landlord/tenant
Divestiture and bankruptcy, including bankruptcy of WFOE and Foreign Parent
Priority rights
Breach of contract, with particular emphasis on force majeure
Distribution disputes, sales and territorial disputes, licensing disputes
Import/export trade disputes

We pride ourselves in being experienced in many industries, including retail, IT, entertainment, trading, health and life sciences, biotechnology, medical equipment, manufacturing, apparel, chemical and many other industries.

Sometimes the choice of venue can impact legal representation in the course of litigation. Fortunately, Botuo have experienced partner across China who can handle litigation, and where we serve as first chair. This method helps our clients save money. With our network of talented litigators and legal consultants across the country, we are able to serve as litigation central for many multi-nationals who desire effective litigation management at a reasonable cost.

Clients trust us to handle their litigation in China. Botuo has vast experience with complex cross-border litigation. Our ability to assign and fully staff each case with sophisticated, bilingual attorneys and technicians enables us to effectively advise, litigate, arbitrate, and eliminate the competition.

Botuo often partners with our clients, so that some of our fees are based on a successful outcome and, where appropriate, we may consider handling a litigation matter on a contingency basis.

For matters involving arbitration, we have appeared as an arbitrator or a mediator on numerous cases. While litigation is our expertise, arbitration is a viable alternative should the elongated and expensive court process is not in our client’s best interest. Often, we have inserted a preference for arbitration in business agreements on behalf of our clients.

China labor and employment laws have become increasingly complex, which has driven up the cost of doing business. Labor and employee rights have been strengthened. At the same time, the reformed laws has resulted in a new generation of sophisticated employees that are more innovative, capable, hardworking, able to handle high end tasks, politically sensitive, and astute relative to employee rights and entitlements. This new attitude towards work has brought with it a renewed focus on working hours, employee benefits, employment rights, termination rights, freedom of expression, privacy rights, family leave issues, vacation allowances, assignment of inventions, working environment and conditions, and numerous other labor and employment related rights and obligations. Chinese regulations can be quite unique and differ from other countries’ rules.

“Employee terminations in China can be quite unlike terminating an employee in other countries and can often lead to a somewhat torturous and lengthy process that can turn very ugly very quickly.”

To help understand the specificities of Chinese law on all these matters, Botuo advises numerous multinational entities on the proper handling of employee terminations, proper procedures during the handover of confidential company materials, non-compete clauses, and dealing with use and preservation of company trade secrets. Where there is a contested matter, we have extensive experience in appearing before the Labor Board and advocating on behalf of the employer client. We have years of experience negotiating and drafting employment agreements and documents for employees at all levels in English and Chinese, as well as advising clients on the following matters:

Unfair competition, all aspects of IP litigation
Commercial disputes, partner and shareholder disputes
Trademark civil cases, appeals
Bribery, corruption, white collar crimes, corporate theft
Lease/real estate, land disputes, landlord/tenant
Divestiture and bankruptcy, including bankruptcy of WFOE and Foreign Parent
Priority rights
Breach of contract, with particular emphasis on force majeure
Distribution disputes, sales and territorial disputes, licensing disputes
Import/export trade disputes

Employee code of conduct: An employee code of conduct, ideally couple with an employee handbook, can efficiently protect the brand and reputation of a business and informs employees of behavior expectations. Having one helps maintain a standard of conduct inside the company. Botuo knows how to make it a strong legal tool used to denounce employee infractions accordingly to Chinese’s laws.

These examples are only a handful of areas where Botuo can advise you. Our firm also handles ethical compliance and employee benefit policies.

Together, we will inspire infinite creativity

LEARN ABOUT MORE

Doing business in China

Why China?

Why Botuo?

Our firm’s principals have over 30 yrs experience majoring in law. We have been educated in Chinese and Western world’s top law schools. Our firm have a bilingual department who can speak Mandarin and English. We know your business. We sell value solutions. We play by rules.

What can we do?

01

Foreign Direct investment

02

M&A

03

Dispute Resolution

04

Employment and labor law

Together, we will inspire infinite creativity