Chen Yang

Practice Areas

OVERSEAS INVESTMENT, ANTI-MONOPOLY, INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND WTO, LITIGATION AND ARBITRATION

Professional Memberships

· LAWASIA, Alternate Director

· One Belt One Road Subcommittee of LAWASIA, Committee

· Foreign Legal Service Commission of All China Lawyers Association, Secretary General

· Foreign Affairs Committee of Beijing Lawyers Association, Vice President

· Economic and Trade Frictions Legal Advisory Committee of CCPIT, Vice President

· International Trade Dispute Settlement and Coordination Committee of CFIE, Expert Committee

· International Trade Friction Working Group of Zhejiang Province, Panelist

· International Trade Friction Committee of Fujian Province, Legal Consultant

· WTO Center of Shenzhen, Distinguished Legal Expert

· China International Economic and Trade Commission, Arbitrator

Work Highlights

· Assisted the Chinese government in dozens of cases/projects in the field of trade and investment in connection with negotiations, legislation, and litigation, including WTO dispute settlement, negotiation for bilateral multilateral investment agreement, major project transactions, and similar matters

· Advised China Pharmaceutical Group Limited and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited in responding to a U.S antitrust litigation (the first foreign antitrust case brought against Chinese companies)

· Represented a renowned international real estate fund and a well-known international real estate management company in a successful real estate transaction project litigation, which included first instance proceedings before the Beijing High Court, second instance proceedings, and retrial and successful ruling by the PRC Supreme Court

· Represented a renowned international VC/PE fund in a series of investment disputes with a Chinese giant company, which involves legal proceedings (arbitration, litigation, recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award) in Hong Kong, US and China mainland. The disputed value is more than 200M US Dollars

· Advised quite a few multinational companies such as Honeywell, Chrysler, Keystone, Itochu, etc. in various trade remedies cases initiated by Chinese relevant industries and MOFCOM. In most cases, we help the clients get the best results among all respondents

· Advised Quanta Computer lnc. in response to anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard investigations into WWAN modems initiated by the EU, involving approximately 4.1 billion USD. The petitioner in the case ultimately withdrew the complaint

· Advised several large-sized enterprises, including China Communication Construction Group Ltd. and China Poly Group Corporation Ltd., in dozens of overseas investment / M & A projects, including Yangon New Town Project and the Pakistan Gwadar Free Zone Project, among others

· Advised BBCA Group in its investment project involving 60,000 ton Hungarian citric acid plant

· Advised SUNAC China Holdings Limited in its acquisitions of LeTV Internet Information & Technology Corp, Dalian Wanda Group, and other projects, both of which are the deals of the year awarded by various medias

· Advised MTR Corporation Limited in investment, construction and operation of Shenyang Metro Line 1, which is the first foreign invested subway in China

· Advised Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co., Ltd. and Hongkong Land Holdings Limited in a joint bid for Zhongfu plot (Landmark of Beijing)

Experience

Chen YANG is a Managing Partner and the Director of Jincheng Tongda & Neal (JT&N). Before practicing law, Mr. Yang worked as an official in the PRC State Council.

· Dispute Resolution; International Trade and WTO

Mr. Yang has specialized in handling major commercial disputes, leading teams in many high profile and famous cases involving immense sums of money and exerting significant social influence. Those cases include representations of Chinese and foreign governments, business associations, and exporters/producers in many international dispute settlement cases, such as investigations of anti-dumping, countervailing, and safeguard measures, as well as WTO dispute resolution.

In addition to such classic, well-known cases, Mr. Yang routinely represents commercial enterprises in dispute resolution matters involving cross-border trade and investment. The aggregate value of more than 20 such cases exceeds one billion US dollars. Moreover, Mr. Yang often partners with foreign legal teams in representation of Chinese clients before overseas tribunals in international trade, anti-trust, Intellectual Property, among other areas. One exemplary case that represented and won by Mr. Yang on behalf of Fufeng Group before the U.S. International Trade Court against the U.S. Department of Commerce was chosen by the All China Lawyers Association as one of the “most followed event/people in 2018”.

Other than dispute resolution, Mr. Yang has also provided extensive legal services related to customs matters, such as import and export trade arrangements, custom duties, country of origin, etc., for a large number of Chinese and foreign import and export enterprises.

For 10 consecutive years, Mr. Yang has been ranked by internationally-renowned legal rating agency—Chambers and Partners—as a top-ranked “Band 1” lawyer for International Trade, both globally and in the Asia-Pacific region. His team has also been ranked by Chambers as a top-ranked “Band 1” International Trade practice. Other team recognition includes selection as “China International Trade Law Firm of the Year” by the China Business Law Journal and the “best law firm in the area of international trade” by Corporate INTL. Mr. Yang is routinely invited to participate in research projects regarding international dispute and relief, and to speak at conferences sponsored by government agencies, industry associations and non-governmental organizations.

· Anti-Monopoly

Mr. Yang has represented dozens of business operators in centralized filing or antitrust administrative investigation cases. He is also one of the first Chinese lawyers to represent Chinese companies in responding to antitrust litigation overseas. Notable representative cases include a case initiated in 2005, involving Chinese vitamin C manufacturing, and a 2016 case involving allegations of monopolistic activity of the Chinese steel industry:

In 2005, four Chinese vitamin C manufacturing companies were sued in U.S. Federal Court for allegedly manipulating the price of products exported to the United States and limiting increases in production. This was China's first export cartel case, in which Mr. Yang represented both China Pharmaceutical Group Limited and Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (CSPC). The case involved approximately US $150 million and extended for a period of nearly 13 years. In particular, the defense in this case involving of the principle of comity of national sovereignty drew wide public attention. In 2018, the case remanded by the U.S. Supreme Court to the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for rehearing. Ultimately, Mr. Yang successfully assisted the client to settle the case with the plaintiff in the first instance.

In 2016, the U.S. Steel Corporation filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission accusing Chinese enterprises who produce or market carbon and alloy steel products (including eleven large Chinese steel production group and nine steel trading companies) of monopolistic behavior. Mr. Yang, as the leading attorney in the team of Chinese attorneys, represented Baosteel Group, Hesteel Group, Maanshan Iron and Steel, among others, and ultimately achieved a final, favorable ruling in 2018. This case was chosen by the All China Lawyers Association as one of the “most followed event/people in 2017”.

· Mergers and Acquisitions

Mr. Yang is highly proficient in mergers and acquisitions and venture capital and private equity (PE/VC) related matters. He provides legal services in investment and mergers for PE/VC funds, financial institutions, multinational companies, large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, including but not limited to fund establishment and management, equity investment, asset acquisition, syndicated loans, and concentration filing of business operators, and including mineral resources, real estate, IT, machinery and equipment manufacturing, food and beverage, automotive, media, education, sports and other industries.

Mr. Yang is very active in the field of cross-border investment and has participated in many such projects on behalf of large central and private enterprises. He is particularly adept at combining overseas investment compliance and risk assessment, with a company's strategy of globalization of trade, routinely providing regulatory-related comprehensive services, including investment, trade, customs, export control, and other, related advice to Chinese enterprises, including support in connection with cross-border investment affected by the recent Sino-US trade war.

Among other noteworthy achievements, Mr. Yang has been perennially recommended as a "Leading Lawyer" in the field of corporate/M & A legal services by the highly regarded international law magazine Asialaw, and the Gwadar Port project in which he participated, has been rated as one of the top ten legal service case in the "Belt and Road" investment.