Jianwei Fang

Practice Areas

Compliance & Investigation, Litigation & Arbitration, Antitrust & Competition

Personal

Mr. Jianwei (Jerry) Fang is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm and he splits his time in Shanghai and Beijing offices. Mr. Fang practiced law with leading international law firms, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York and Beijing offices and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Hong Kong office. Prior to study at Columbia Law School, Mr. Fang was a judge at a Chinese trial court where he handled hundreds of civil and commercial cases. Mr. Fang also worked as a legal intern in the Legal Office of the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Fang counsels the clients on a wide range of maters from complex corporate and financing transactions, as well as litigation and enforcement cases. As a former Chinese judge, he also specializes in dispute resolution, investigation as well as regulatory compliance. In the commercial litigation area, he represents domestic and international clients in complex litigation cases involving commercial contracts, international trade, intellectual property, construction, employment, competition and trade secrecy matter. Mr. Fang also counsel clients in arbitration matters, including enforcement of foreign arbitration awards with Chinese courts. He also acts as Chinese law expert in litigation and arbitration proceedings outside China, especially with the litigation and investigations in the United States.

In the areas of regulatory, compliance and white-collar matters, Mr. Fang represents numerous clients in internal investigation and regulatory investigation by Chinese government authorities, including police, prosecution office, market regulation, customs, tax, environmental, food and drug safety, work safety, etc.

By leveraging his substantive experience working at international law firms, Mr. Fang works regularly as local PRC counsels to international counsels on cross-border litigation and enforcement cases, including cross-border securities class actions, patent and trade secrecy litigation, as well as various criminal or regulatory investigations by U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other foreign authorities.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Fang was also a corporate lawyer where he worked on complex merger & acquisition and financing deals for private equity powerhouses, investment banking firms, and Fortune 500 companies. He continues to counsel his clients on corporate and transaction matters involving PRC legal issues.

Work Highlights

Commercial and Complex Litigation

• Successfully defended Airbnb China in several litigations brought by users (hosts/guests) in Beijing Internet Court

• Successfully defended Komatsu China in a lawsuit brought by a professional service provider regarding contingent payment

• Successfully represented Lane Crawford in various litigations in Shanghai and Chengdu courts involving (i) trademark infringement (ii) leasing dispute (iii) sales disputes (iv) employment dispute and (v) consumer claim

• Represented Intel China in patent infringement case in Chinese court, as well as the related patent invalidation proceeding (ongoing)

• Represented Shell in antitrust litigation brought by former distributor alleging abuse of dominant positions (ongoing)

• Represented a car driving school in an antitrust litigation brought by a competitor (ongoing)

• Represented one consumer product retailer to recover earnings of trust investment (ongoing)

• Represented ContextLogic/Wish in lawsuits brought by online merchants in Chinese court

• Represented Arrow Electronics, Borouge, Groudtruth, CNOOC, Doka Framework, GE, Hankle, SABIC, Somfy, Umicore and other multinational corporations in various litigations in different courts in China and arbitration cases with CIETAC and other arbitration centers

Cross-board Litigation & Investigation (as PRC counsel to international law firms)

• Advised Motorola Solutions in related civil proceedings in the U.S., Australia and Germany relating to discovery and document production issues in China, including cybersecurity and state secrecy review

• Advised a well-known Chinese consumer products retailer with PRC legal analysis on the influence of penalty by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• Represented an executive of a Fortune 500 company in a potential cross-board criminal investigation

• Represented a Fortune 500 company in an internal investigation relating to potential FCPA violations brought by U.S. DOJ and SEC

• Represented a sovereign fund in a cross-board investment dispute following government investigation

• Represented a well-known U.S. timber import and export company in conducting internal compliance investigations arising out of its imported timber products from China in violation of California environmental protection laws

• Provided legal advice from perspective of customs compliance, advertising law, and data & cyber security for one Japanese technology company in a cross-border product donation

• Represented a Chinese airline in a U.S. criminal proceeding, including Chinese state secrecy review

• Represented a Chinese state-owned manufacturing company in several U.S. patent proceedings

• Represented a Chinese company and its subsidiary in a criminal trade secrecy case in the U.S.

• Represented Arrow Electronics in related civil proceedings in Canada, Hong Kong and U.S.

• Represented multiple international clients in banking frauds and assist clients in asset tracing

• Represented various Chinese companies in U.S. arbitration, litigation, administrative and criminal investigation, in the capacity of Chinese law counsel to support lead U.S. counsels in these cases

• Retained as the PRC legal expert on various Chinese law issues in legal proceedings in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Hong Kong

Antitrust Litigation and Investigation

• Acted as lead and coordinating partner to successfully defend Motorola Solutions in complex, multi-jurisdiction, and high-profile anti-trust litigations in Chinese courts, as well as related patent invalidation proceedings and patent infringement cases

• Represented Shell Oil in various antitrust litigations relating to abuse of dominant market position and vertical monopoly agreement in various court in China

• Represented a leading e-commerce platform in lawsuit against a leading competitor due to monopolistic practices of “coercive choosing one from two"

• Represented various clients in administrative investigation involving abuse of dominant market position brought by Chinese regulators

• Represented a leading Chinese telecommunication service provider on general antitrust advice

Regulatory Compliance and Government Investigation

• Represented Fortune 500 companies and major investment banking firms in various regulatory investigations by the U.S. SEC and DOJ involving FCPA issues relating to China operations

• Advised a well-known Chinese consumer products retailer with legal and compliance analysis on the impact of the administrative penalty by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)

• Advised a well-known Chinese consumer products retailer with compliance analysis on the potential breach of agreement with local government, and represented the client to communicate with local government

• Represented multiple clients in various industries as the FCPA/Compliance counsels in M&A transactions, including:

Ⅰ. Goldman Sachs in investment in (i) a real estate development company in India and Southeast Asia (ii) an energy company in China

Ⅱ. TPG in minority investment in a Chinese micro-finance company

Ⅲ. AstraZeneca in a joint venture of medical research company in China.

Ⅳ. Fortune 500 company in the proposed acquisition of a security company in China

• Represented Ferguson in legal and compliance due diligence of various acquisitions in China

Mr. Jianwei (Jerry) Fang’s bio can be found here: https://en.zhonglun.com/team/jfang.html

Languages Spoken

Chinese

English

Experience

Partner Zhong Lun Law Firm

Partner Global Law Office

Associate Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Hong Kong

Associate Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, New York and Beijing

Associate Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, New York

Judge People's Court of Zhejiang

Expert in these Jurisdictions

New York State Bar Admission

PRC Bar Admission