Mervyn Chen

Practice Areas

shipping, litigation and arbitration, economic tansaction

Career

2006 – Present

Wintell & Co Senior Partner, Managing Director

WINTELL-HFW Joint Operation Office, Managing Partner

Professional Memberships

· Singapore International Commercial Court Certification of F

· Deputy Director of the Maritime and Marine Professional Committee of the National Lawyers Association

· Legal counsel to the CPC Pudong New Area Committee, Pudong New Area People's Government and China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration Committee

· Arbitrator of China Maritime Arbitration Commission

· Specially Appointed Mediator of Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center

· Arbitrator of Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (Shanghai International Arbitration Center)

· Arbitrator of Nanjing Arbitration Commission

· Specially Appointed Professor of Lawyer College, East China University of Political Science and Law

· Visiting Researcher of Insurance Law, Dalian Maritime University

· Visiting Professor, Shanghai Maritime University

· Member of the 10th Maritime Law Committee of Shanghai Nautical Society

Work Highlights

Compliance & Anti-Sanctions

· In March 2020, the U.S. Department of State announced that it had imposed sanctions on nine entities and three individuals for "knowingly purchasing, selling, transporting, or marketing chemical products from Iran" as authorized by Executive Order 13846. Shanghai Aoxing International Ship Management Co, a subsidiary of Junzheng Group, is also on the list. Junzheng Group is the largest chemical ship owner in China and one of the largest in the world, and the sanctions will have a significant impact on its commercial operations and international development. Wintell & Co attorneys, together with HFW attorneys, were engaged to assist Junzheng in developing disclosure and compliance documents, preparing testimony, and communicating with U.S. attorneys to successfully assist the client in getting the client removed from the sanctions list. This case is one of the first cases in which a Chinese private company has used the legal rules to defend its rights. This case is also one of the very few cases in recent years in which a Chinese company has been able to obtain the full lifting of U.S. economic sanctions without paying any settlement fines and without any follow-up conditions by filing a complaint against the U.S.

· For Russian sanctions compliance projects, Mervyn provided legal services to Junzheng Logistics, including issuing assessment reports and compliance recommendations on EU and US sanctions risks related to Russian business, assisting in drafting standard sanctions compliance clauses, providing necessary compliance training, and assessing compliance risks, etc.

· Mervyn assisted a state-owned enterprise in conducting a risk control and compliance review on its internal sanction risk management system and system and assisted in establishing an effective business compliance system to protect corporate trade secrets.

Insurance & Reinsurance

· Assisted Chubb Insurance Company to handle Cyber insurance claim. In this case, the production line control system software had error and caused the production line shutdown. This incident caused the BI big loss for the insured. Besides, we assisted a foreign insurer to translate and localize Cyber insurance policy in China.

· Represented CCIC in a marine insurance contract dispute involving the vessel "Sagan". The other party had insured the vessel for term insurance with our client and later the vessel ran aground. The other party claims from our client RMB30,648,960 for total loss of the vessel and interest thereon, US$3,559,866.49 for vessel salvage expenses and interest thereon, RMB166,395 for case processing fee of the related case, RMB75,000 for judicial assessment fee, and case processing fee of this case. After the first trial in Shanghai Maritime Court and the second trial in Shanghai High People's Court, the court rejected all of the plaintiff's claims. This case was selected as 2022 the 12th issue of the Gazette of the Supreme People's Court.

· Represented PICC’s Shipping Insurance Center to undertake its case of ship construction insurance contract dispute with Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co., Ltd., which was concluded after retrial by the Supreme People's Court. This case is the first ship construction insurance case in China and was selected by the Supreme Court as one of the top ten typical maritime trial cases in 2017, as well as selected as the "2018 CBLJ Outstanding Transaction of Commercial Law".

Shipping

· Acting for the Polar Research Institute of China in the rescue of the icebreaker “XUE LONG” trapped in thick ice floes after her successfully evacuating 52 passengers onboard stranded Russian vessel “AKADEMIK SHOKALSKIY”, saving a huge amount of salvage costs.

· The case of "HAIYUN LIJIANG" was the first case involving the safety of nickel ore cargo. We represented the shipowner in the case of the plaintiff's domestic consignee claiming damages against the defendant shipowner, and after the first trial, the second trial and the retrial by the Supreme People's Court, the plaintiff's entire claim was successfully defended and dismissed.

Languages Spoken

Chinese; English

Publications

The Impact of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict on Marine Energy Transportation Insurance

(This article was published in the 2023 Issue No. 1 of "China Law Society Information" and received positive remarks from national leaders.)

Key Amendments and Implications of the "Regulations on Vessel Routing in the Jiangsu Section of the Yangtze River (2021)"

Awards