Grandall Law Firm ("Grandall"), previously known as Grandall Legal Group, was established as a result of a merger between 3 prominent Chinese law firms. Since the merger, Grandall has become a nationwide full service law firm.
Grandall has approximately 150 partners and 1500 practitioners, including legal attorneys, trademark / patent attorneys, foreign legal counsels and various legal professionals. Grandall is the third largest law firm in China in terms of the number of lawyers. The firm is headquartered in Beijing and has branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Hong Kong.
Grandall is a global player in the legal services industry. The firm has established close working relationships with prominent law firms across the globe, including USA, Latin America, Europe, South-East Asia, the Middle-East, Africa and Australia.
Grandall is recognized as a market leader in the legal services market of China. For example, the Ministry of Justice of PRC granted Grandall the honourable title of "Excellent Law Firm" in 2000 and 2008. Both our Beijing and Shanghai Offices have won titles of "Outstanding Law Firm" and "Top Ten Law Firms", awarded by All China Lawyers' Association, local bar associations and judicial authorities.
Many of our partners have been honoured by international legal ranking organizations, such as Chambers & Partners, Who's Who Legal, Legal 500, Asia Law & Practice, ALB China Law Awards and others. The honours include "Leading Lawyers" and "Recommended Lawyers" in insurance & reinsurance, project finance, anti-monopoly, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution and restructuring & insolvency.
MAIN INTERNATIONAL AREAS OF FOCUS
ANTITRUST & COMPETITION: Grandall, as one of the largest and leading law firms in China is uniquely positioned to assist its clients in this area. Our clients benefit from our wide array of experience in areas relevant to anti-trust such as large scale mergers and acquisitions both inbound and outbound, commercial litigation and foreign direct investment. In addition, Grandall maintains longstanding and close working relationships with the relevant government authorities dealing with the administration, supervision and enforcement units of anti-trust laws and policies.
AVIATION, SHIPPING & MARITIME: Grandall has a group of specialized aviation and maritime partners who currently represent most of the major airlines in China, various shipping companies, leasing companies, financial institutions, manufacturers, and service providers in a wide range of commercial, corporate, financing and operational matters.
BANKING & FINANCE: At Grandall, our banking and finance lawyers have been involved at the forefront of this area with some pioneer lawyers having assisted in the drafting of China's banking and finance laws and regulations. In addition, since 2002, Grandall has undertaken various high profile projects and has been retained as legal counsel for various banks and other types of financial institutions. Grandall have a strong understanding of this sector and are capable of handling the most complex transactions in this field.
CAPITAL MARKETS & CORPORATE FINANCE: Grandall is one of the foremost leading law firms in assisting PRC and foreign clients in the area of capital markets and corporate finance. Many of our lawyers were instrumental in the formulation of the current securities laws. To date, Grandall has acted for more than 100 PRC enterprises on raising capital by stock and bond issuance and/or through restructuring.
CORPORATE, M&A & RESTRUCTURING: Our Corporate, M&A and Restructuring practice group consists of our investment, securities, tax, accounting, IP and employment practice groups for the benefit of our clients. We have represented acquirers, target companies, financial advisors, trustees and major shareholders in a wide variety of industries.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION, ARBITRATION & LITIGATION: When crisis occurs, what an international client needs most is legal counsel who possesses local knowledge, international perspective and can adopt a practical and cost-effective approach to tackle the relevant issues. Currently, there are several attorneys in Grandall who have been appointed as arbitrators of CIETAC and many of Chinese local arbitration committees. In the past we have represented clients in international arbitration commissions, including but not limited to the ICC, SCC, LCIA, HKIAC, SIAC and FOSFA.
EMPLOYMENT & LABOUR: Grandall's Employment and Labour practice group has been closely involved with the new labour laws and have been successfully advising both its Chinese and foreign clients on compliance with the PRC's complex labour laws. In addition, Grandall's foreign practice group has advised domestic and foreign firms with Chinese subsidiaries on key foreign laws that may have an impact on their operations, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: Grandall has extensive experience in assisting companies and individual business persons with their foreign direct investment projects in China. Our clients include large MNCs, Fortune 500, SMEs, public and private companies. We have advised clients in different industries, on every aspect of foreign direct investment, from initial setup, maintenance of the operation, restructuring (e.g. M&A), and also divestment out of the country. Our advice to clients utilizes our firm's expertise in diverse areas relevant to FDI such as corporate structuring, tax planning, employment, intellectual property protection and dispute resolution.
INFRASTRUCTURE, POWER & ENERGY: China has a rapidly growing need for the development of infrastructure projects. Grandall advises a wide range of clients on all aspects of infrastructure development and related financing. Grandall has advised on projects related to highways, ports, bridges, water, wastewater, and telecommunications industries.
INSURANCE & RE-INSURANCE: Our Insurance practice group is a market leader in the Chinese insurance legal market to date. With respect to our quality services, we were awarded the Insurance and Reinsurance Law Firm of the Year in the Chambers Asia Awards: China in 2010 and 2011 presented by Chambers & Partners, the world's leading legal profession ranking organization. At the 2009 ALB China Law Awards, Grandall was presented the award of the Insurance Law Firm of the Year.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Grandall has assisted both multinationals as well as major domestic companies in the area of intellectual property protection and IP litigation. The IP lawyers in Grandall's IP practice group have represented clients in the form of judicial review of administrative decisions conferring patents and trademarks, to civil litigation concerning disputes of patents, trademarks, copyrights (including software), domain names, and unfair competition (including infringement of trade secrets). In what is particularly critical for our foreign clients, we have the skills and experience in designing practical IP rights protection schemes and enforcing IP rights in China's evolving environment. We also work collectively as a whole with our offices throughout China to leverage our local and regional expertise to assist our clients in combating and enforcing actions against knock off and counterfeit goods.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE & WTO: Grandall is able to advise on complex WTO and China regulations and provide solutions to our clients who operate in the international trade market. Grandall has experience to assist clients on the following international trade matters: Customs Measures and other Import and Export Matters - Provide legal services to clients in the areas of customs classification and valuation, rules of origin, import and export, bonded zones and processing trade; Antidumping Investigations and Reviews; Countervailing Duty Investigations and Review; Representation of Enterprises in responding to Safeguard Investigations.
PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE CAPITAL: Grandall's Private Equity practice group advises various equity funds, including buy-out funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, and other funds, in structuring and organization of fund vehicles and management companies, preparation of memoranda and documentation, fundraising and other operational issues.
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: Due to China's increasing wealth and tremendous population, the real estate industry is thriving in China. Both foreign and domestic real estate development companies are becoming increasingly transparent in their operations, due to changing business practices and new laws and regulations. Moreover, companies involved in infrastructure projects must comply with a large number of (governmental) requirements for disclosure and compliance with standards.
SECURITIES: Grandall is one of a handful of domestic firms licensed by the State Council, China's highest executive ruling body, to provide legal advice on the Chinese securities field. Our securities attorneys were involved in some of the earliest initial public offerings on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Our firm has continued to be involved in key securities deals for years, and Grandall's attorneys involved in the securities practice group are highly regarded as experts in this area. In addition, our Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing offices maintain close relations with the relevant Chinese authorities such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Our attorneys have also assisted a large number of Chinese firms in listing abroad on foreign exchanges. We have advised both on initial public offerings and other legal matters for foreign-listed clients, such as compliance issues (often in coordination with securities counsel in other jurisdictions). To date, we have acted as Chinese legal counsel to issuers and underwriters on various exchanges including the NYSE, NASDAQ, AIM (London), HKEX (Hong Kong), SE (Singapore), Osaka Securities Exchange and the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
TAX & TRUSTS: China has implemented a relatively complex local and federal tax system. Grandall is able to effectively assist its clients on a wide range of issues, including local, federal, and international tax matters. The firm's clients range from major multinationals to individuals protecting their personal wealth, utilizing both tax-effective planning and structuring along with trust arrangements, both domestically and internationally.