In today's fast-changing business landscape, workforce adjustments are often necessary to maintain competitiveness. Over the past few years, we have successfully managed dozens of redundancy projects for international companies operating in China.
Our firm was open for little over a year when a European gentleman called for an appointment. He was referred to us by a European embassy. He had just discovered that his Chinese business partner of many years and joint venture partner, had been defrauding him.
Last year, we assisted a European client whose China subsidiary faced a classic trade secret issue. A senior sales manager resigned and joined a direct competitor.
Early this year, a client called with an unusual problem. He was in China to attend the annual party of his Chinese subsidiary, but when he tried to return to Europe, he was informed that he could not board the plane.
When structuring cross-border agreements with counterparties in the Chinese mainland, it can be tempting to choose a familiar legal framework — particularly U.S., English or an EU governing law — combined with a neutral and reputable arbitral seat like Hong Kong (which is part of China, but retains its own legal system under the One Country, Two Systems principle).
For international companies operating in China, non-compete agreements remain a key instrument to protect trade secrets and preserve competitive advantage.
On 29 December 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued the Announcement on Submitting the Compliance Audit Status of Minor Personal Information Protection (the "Announcement").
One of our US-invested clients recently faced a challenging claim from an employee who had been working from home under an approved remote-working arrangement. During normal working hours the employee took a short break, entered his kitchen, and suffered a serious injury while preparing lunch.
