‘When you grow and improve, that’s the ultimate happiness’
Assisting corporations in cracking down on internal corruption and helping Chinese companies solve cross-border disputes forms the basis of international law firm DLA Piper’s continued expansion into the Chinese mainland, says its Hong Kong office Managing Partner Kevin Chan.
While DLA Piper’s primary objective is to provide legal services to corporate clients, it also assists some wealthy individuals with their tax planning, Chan tells China Daily.
“About 99 percent of our clients are international corporations and very substantial corporations, and the remaining 1 percent comprises of low profile and high net-worth individuals,” says Chan.
Considered a young firm in Hong Kong and the AsiaPacific region, DLA Piper set up its Hong Kong office in the 1980s. After several mergers, the firm has steadily increased in size and now employs 250 people in the city.
The firm also has two offices on the Chinese mainland, situated in Shanghai and Beijing. The Shanghai office was set up 12 years ago, with Beijing following three years later. Both offices each have around 60 to 70 employees.
Chan says there has been extensive media coverage relating to anti-corruption investigations launched by large US corporations in China.
Corporations need to conduct internal investigations to prevent corruption by employees, and to also find the cause of the problem, Chan explains. Companies also need to find solutions to prevent similar cases in the future.
“Companies need lawyers to help them do that, and only very big law firms are able to provide this kind of service. For one client, DLA Piper engaged 200 lawyers globally to help it with the investigation.”
The demand for legal services relating to corruption investigation is steadily rising, as US companies in the Chinese mainland remain cautious about graft, Chan says.
“We are expanding in that area, as we believe there will be more investigations in the future.”
Settling disputes
Another field that the firm is targeting is disputes, particularly cross-border disputes. As Chinese companies have been investing heavily overseas, issues are bound to arise he explains.
“I am a dispute resolution lawyer: I’ve been doing litigation and arbitration for more than 20 years. T he clients I’ve been serving in the last few years have mainly been involved in cross-border disputes,” Chan says.
He says many State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are involved in overseas disputes, stemming from purchase agreements or joint-venture deals.
“One of my clients is a Chinese company that invested in a port in Egypt, and there were disputes because the project was delayed. Certain licenses, which were promised before they signed the agreement, were never granted according to the contract, so the client wanted to get its money back, but the other side didn’t agree and it became a dispute.”
Chan also says he often has to deal with disputes between shareholders — usually involving large private enterprises.
In the past two years, Chan has also been helping banks with defaulted loans that are a direct result of the economic downturn. He says the cases usually involve large companies going into bankruptcy, and Chan helps the banks to recover their assets.
“I expect these kinds of cases will increase in the future.”
Pride in helping others
Apart from its business exploits, Chan says the firm takes great pride in its pro bono work where legal services are provided without charge. DLA Piper announced in July the appointment of full-time pro bono lawyer Annette Bain as its Pro Bono Counsel Asia based in Hong Kong. He also acts as a pro bono partner at the firm.
Chan believes DLA Piper is
If what you are doing today is part of your longer-term plan, you will be passionate and energized to accomplish it.” Kevin Chan, DLA Piper Hong Kong office managing partner
the first law firm to appoint a full-time pro bono lawyer in Hong Kong and is very proud of its investment.
“Although I am not a fulltime pro bono lawyer, I support the firm’s pro bono work in my role. I take part in the related meetings and help develop strategies, and my job is really
to coordinate and provide the support that my colleagues need (for their pro bono work).”
The firm recently assisted a Filipina domestic helper with an employment issue when she was fired after falling pregnant. DLA Piper helped her negotiate with her employer, where she eventu-
CAPITAL IDEAS: PETER LIANG
For DLA Piper Hong Kong office Managing Partner Kevin Chan, studying law at university came naturally due to his love of debating.
Chan was born in Shantou in Guangdong province, before his family moved to Hong Kong in 1980 when he was 10 years old.
He recalls his family had no place to live when they arrived in the city, but they were fortunate enough to stay with a relative who owned a mahjong shop in Yau Ma Tei. Along with his parents and two older brothers, Chan lived in a spare room above the shop for two months before they moved to Sham Shui Po.
“Then I continued to study in Hong Kong, but when I first went to primary school here, I couldn’t speak Cantonese and I wanted to go back (to Shantou). I think I cried a little bit as some kids in school made fun of me and I couldn’t respond in Cantonese.”
In order to learn English, Chan was the only child at a night school in Sham Shui Po that was normally attended by adults. But after working diligently for eight months, he topped his primar y school’s English tests.
Later he was admitted by Queen’s College — one of the best secondary schools in Hong Kong — and then went onto the University of Hong Kong where he studied law.
“I’ve always liked debate, so became a lawyer was quite natural to me, also I watched a lot of TV series about how great lawyers are, they are doing great job and having fun, which also had some impact on me.”
T h e f i r s t l aw f i r m h e joined was Johnson Stokes & Master, where he trained for two years before leaving
ally got her job back.
Without the firm’s assistance, the woman may have had to apply for legal aid — a potentially lengthy process and force her to live in a halfway house. But Chan says the case was resolved within two weeks, and that the firm encourages its lawyers to par- for a small firm specializing in litigation.
“I had a schoolmate who worked at that firm and told me it was a young firm, very energetic, so I joined, but it didn’t work out as then the partners started to leave.”
Around that time, he was approached by a partner of DLA Piper, before signing on in 1997. After the global merger, the firm drastically increased in size in 2005 — the year Chan was made partner. He was named as managing partner in 2012.
“I was promoted to partner quickly as I worked really hard. One year after I joined the firm, I started to bring clients to the firm … before I was promoted to partner, I was already doing the same work as a partner, so to me, promoting me was something both the firm and myself expected to happen — also a partner title would help me expand my client base.”
ticipate in pro bono work.
“If our lawyers take part in pro bono work, they can put down their time for internal purposes as counted as chargeable time. We have our core group to handle pro bono work, but since it is our culture, it is easy to get the help they need in the company.”
Chan says he is a great believer of self-motivation, as you can’t force people to do something they do not enjoy. Instead, he tells his staff that they don’t work for him but for their clients, and to help people will give them satisfaction.
He says he spends a lot of time with the firm’s junior l aw y e r s t o u n d e r s t a n d their goals in life, and then encourages them to combine their personal career plan with the vision of the firm.
When you see yourself grow and improve, that’s the ultimate happiness you can get, Chan says, so he encourages his young colleagues to have a long-term plan about where five or 10 years from now.
“Then you need to combine your plan with your dayto-day work. If what you are doing today is part of your longer-term plan, you will be passionate and energized to accomplish it,” Chan says.
DLA Piper is also a global partner of the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). It assists by drafting legal documents about human rights and discrimination, and providing legal advice.