Adam Li

Practice Areas

US–China Cross-Border Transactions

Mr. Li is a seasoned M&A lawyer focused on transactions between China and the US, advising Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, investors, and entrepreneurs acquiring businesses in China, and their Chinese counterparts entering the US market. His extensive work and life experience on both sides of the Pacific enables him to bridge gaps and navigate the nuances that help close complex cross-border deals.

China-Bound

Mr. Li regularly represents US-based corporations and MNCs to invest in China, and has been the lead lawyer on numerous "deal of the year" transactions in M&A, investments, and joint ventures. He also counsels clients on corporate governance and ongoing compliance for their China operations.

US-Bound

In recent years, Mr. Li has increasingly advised Chinese entrepreneurs and corporations to invest and operate in the United States, with particular focus on the West Coast. He regularly coordinates with colleagues in different states to help clients navigate complex federal, state and local issues including CFIUS review, export controls, data protection, and cross-border employment.

Career

In 35-plus years of practice, Mr. Li has reinvented himself multiple times, evolving from a pioneering banking lawyer in Shanghai into one of China's foremost IPO counsels, and later from a leading cross-border M&A practitioner into a trusted legal advisor for US–China transactions. His journey has taken him from Shanghai to New York City, from Palo Alto to Seattle, and in each market he has embedded himself in the local professional community, becoming a connector across legal, business, and civic worlds.

As capital markets counsel, Mr. Li was among the first generation of Chinese securities lawyers after the PRC market reopened, and has served as lead counsel in more than 200 IPOs and bond offerings listed in Shanghai, New York, Hong Kong, London, and on other leading global exchanges. Many of these transactions were firsts of their kind or the largest offering of the year globally, including China's first B-share offering and its first GDR, as well as the largest-ever IPO on the Singapore Exchange at the time.

Early in his career, Mr. Li was an exchange lawyer in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, working on distressed securities, IPO and M&A transactions. He was a founding partner of a "Red Circle" law firm based in Shanghai. The Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China named him one of the Ten Best Lawyers in China for his pioneering contributions to China's capital markets and the Shanghai legal community.

Mr. Li has also served as an expert witness on PRC law matters in litigation before courts in California, New York, and Ontario, Canada, covering issues including real estate ownership transfer, statutes of limitation under PRC civil procedure, travel regulations, and PRC accounting rules and company law.

Professional Memberships

Founding Director, Chinese American Lawyers Forum

Contributor, The International Institute for the Study of Cross-Border Investment and M&A

Director, Seattle Chinese Bar Association

Member and Former Executive, Chinese American Lawyers of the Bay Area

Member, Washington State Bar Association

Member, The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Member, International Bar Association

Former Vice-Chair, China Committee, American Bar Association, Section of International Law

Arbitrator, Shanghai Arbitration Commission

Member and Former Director, Shanghai Bar Association

Former Adjunct Lecturer, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, School of Law

Publications

Guest speaker on various Chinese law topics in law schools of University of Washington, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University and Cardozo Law School, as well as in several leading law schools in China

Author, The Draft Foreign Investment Law and Its Impact on VIEs, XBMA, 2015

Author, The Most Recent Challenges to the VIE Structure for Foreign Investment in China. XBMA, 2011

Co-translator, Principles of Corporate Governance Analysis and Recommendations, the Law Press, 2006

Personal

Mr. Li is active in both local and international legal communities as well as in charitable organizations. His philanthropy focuses are Asian American communities, children living in extreme poverty and education.

Mr. Li is married with two children, loves hiking, jogging and classical music.

Industry Sector Expertise

Mr. Li has experience across the following key sectors:

• Automotive & Clean Energy

• Healthcare & Life Sciences

• Financial Services (Banking, Life Insurance, Private Equity, Venture Capital)

• Technology & Online Retail

• Hospitality & Consumer Goods

• Education & Charities

Expert in these Jurisdictions

People's Republic of China

United States (federal and state matters; New York and Washington State bars)

Cross-border (esp., China–US)

Languages Spoken

English (fluent)

Mandarin Chinese (native)

Shanghainese (native)

Education

Awards