Our areas of expertise
Our firm’s Chinese Desk comprises a partner who is a Chinese national practicing law in France, who is fully bilingual and who has a dual French-Chinese legal background, and Olivier Mandel, our managing partner, who was admitted to the Paris Bar in February 2004.
Our firm advises Chinese SMEs and large corporations on corporate law matters related to establishing or expanding their operations in France, particularly in the context of subsidiary creation, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. We advise these companies on all their corporate transactions, from the initial incorporation stage to ongoing operations (branch establishment, subsidiary incorporation and registration, capital increases or reductions, voluntary liquidation, drafting of shareholder agreements, etc.), as well as on foreign investment control.
We also advise Chinese companies, whether or not they have a presence in France, on all their business operations related to France: negotiation and drafting of distribution agreements, international sales contracts, technology transfer agreements, commercial leases, employment contracts, etc.
Furthermore, we assist Chinese companies of all sizes and sectors with the filing, management, valuation, and defense of their French and European Union trademarks and designs, whether before French courts (particularly in cases of trademark infringement) and EU courts (General Court and Court of Justice of the EU), or before the INPI or the EUIPO (particularly in cases of opposition or actions for invalidity or revocation of French or EU trademarks).
Our firm also handles complex cross-border disputes, whether through litigation or arbitration, in all major areas of law: civil and commercial litigation, banking litigation, intellectual property litigation, real estate and construction litigation, competition, distribution and consumer law, international trade, etc.
From France to China, our firm is also able to provide legal support to French companies of all sizes with investment or development projects in China. In addition to the fact that one of our partners, a Chinese national, studied law in China, we travel there regularly, which has allowed us to establish a strong network of correspondent lawyers in most major Chinese cities, particularly in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Our recent cases
- Advising a Chinese company that acquired the assets of a French private higher education institution in a merger and acquisition’s operation;
- Advising a Chinese company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of pool robots (establishment of the French subsidiary, provision of ongoing advice on labor law and economic immigration, etc.);
- Filing and managing French and EU trademarks for several Chinese companies;
- Advising a Chinese company operating, through its French subsidiary, a Bordeaux wine estate, in connection with the planned sale of this wine estate;
- Advising Chinese writers and artists on copyright and publishing contracts.