Pillsbury is pleased to announce the arrival of a multidisciplinary team of lawyers in China, led by new partner Jia Yan. Yan, who will reside in the firm’s Shanghai office, oversees a broad corporate, investigations and disputes practice that spans all of Asia, the U.S. and the UK. He joins Pillsbury from Paul Hastings, where he previously served as co-chair of the Shanghai and Beijing offices.
“Jia has proven an invaluable resource to his clients, across both geographies and disciplines,” said David Dekker, Pillsbury’s Firmwide Chair. “He and his team operate an uncommonly diverse and highly resilient practice capable of providing seamless advice across transactions, investigations and disputes, and we are excited to welcome him to our firm.”
Over more than 25 years, Jia has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of China’s most trusted legal advisors, overseeing a multifaceted international practice that spans cross-border corporate, investigations and disputes matters. Yan has represented Chinese, U.S. and European companies on M&A, bond and note financings, initial public offerings on the Hong Kong and U.S. exchanges, fund formation and private equity investments. As an arbitration practitioner active in the key Shanghai and Hong Kong dispute resolution centers, he also oversees a full complex litigation, arbitration and corporate investigations practice in Asia and the U.S.
On several occasions in recent years, Yan’s transactional work has earned him Deal of the Year awards by the China Business Law Journal. He has also been named consecutively as among the Leading Lawyers in Corporate and M&A (Foreign Firms) by The Legal 500 and as one of Top 15 M&A Lawyers by Asian Legal Business. Among many other publications, he co-authored “The Financial Law of Hong Kong” and “The Banking Law of the People’s Republic of China.”
Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Yan served as the chief operating officer at ISinoLaw Limited and worked as the general counsel of Tai Kong Tung. He was also associate director and a research fellow at the Hong Kong WTO Research Institute.
Yan will be accompanied at Pillsbury by four long-time team members, who will be based in both Beijing and Shanghai. All Mandarin fluent, they include:
- Special counsel Tianze Ma.
- Associate Xunming Cui.
- Associate Yanqiu Liu.
- Associate Devin Geng.
“No matter the circumstance, Jia and his team can leverage their diversified skillset to help international companies in China with their most critical transactions, compliance and legal disputes,” said Jeffrey Delaney, the leader of Pillsbury’s global Corporate practice. “Their wide-ranging abilities, as well as Jia’s strong relationships and impressive reputation across Asia, the U.K. and the U.S., offers clients the distinct advantage of a ‘one-stop shop’ to help navigate complex legal issues around the globe.”
The firm has been steadily expanding its cross-border capabilities in recent years, particularly in the context of corporate investigations. Recent arrivals relevant to Asia—all of whom are fluent in Mandarin—include partners Audrey Koh in London, Ronald Cheng in Los Angeles and Adam Goldberg in San Francisco.
“Pillsbury was the best choice for us for a number of reasons,” Yan said. “In addition to the firm’s standout China practice, established reputation in other important international markets, and strong connections to the finance and technology industries, the collaborative environment the firm fosters is something we all really value. Knowing and working with many Pillsbury lawyers over the years, including my former colleague Jenny Sheng in Beijing, I look forward to developing deeper relationships with the rest of the firm’s highly regarded professionals.”
Pillsbury’s China practice combines local knowledge, global perspective and industry experience, and has been honored twice with the International Law Office’s Client Choice Award for China. The firm’s team comprises more than 40 U.S., Chinese and international lawyers, highly regarded for extensive experience in advising clients on their most significant cross-border investment, litigation, arbitration, intellectual property, regulatory enforcement, international trade, tax, finance and other matters relating to Greater China. Pillsbury has considerable experience representing Chinese clients on matters in and outside of the United States—and multinational clients on matters in China.