Let me put it right out there: most North Americans and Western Europeans do not understand court corruption. They have heard about it, of course, but they generally do not understand how it impacts their business. Otherwise they would not so frequently say there is no point in having a contract or bringing a lawsuit
1. International Dispute Resolution Clauses Every month or so, a lawyer will write me out of the blue with a “quick question” about a draft contract. One of the most common “quick questions” we get are those asking us to “confirm” that some particular court or arbitration body would make the most sense for such
In my last post I discussed the importance of having the right person craft your China contracts. I am often asked (usually right after I quote our fee) whether a China contract I am proposing to write “is even enforceable in China.” I always give the same answer, which is more or less the following.
But sometimes litigating/arbitrating IS the best option. Our law firm’s international lawyers often work with many really experienced and really good product sourcing consultants. These consultants are usually really good for the following reasons: They know the ins and outs on doing business in/with a particular foreign country. They know the ins and on finding
At any given time, my law firm’s international litigation team are involved in 3-5 matters involving companies owed money by Chinese companies. Late last year — right before COVID I received I was cc’ed on an email from one of our litigators to an attorney who is regular counsel for a company we are assisting
Our international litigation lawyers long ago developed template emails for responding to companies that write us about their China product quality problems. The below is the one we use for U.S. companies that write us with a China product quality problem and the contract provided us is not good at all. Most of the time
In the last few years, my law firm’s international dispute resolution team (of which I am a part) has seen a tremendous increase in cases involving individuals and companies and lawyers wanting to sue Chinese companies for a Chinese manufactured product that injured someone. The cases coming to our law firm typically involve one of
On June 26, 2020, Bedford Industries Inc. (Petitioner) filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions against Twist Ties from China. Yes – twist ties – the thin bendable ties used to close garbage bags, bundle broccoli and other vegetables, and tie up all sorts of other stuff. The petition does not publicly disclose the
Every day for the last week I have gotten at least one email from a foreign company that paid money to a company in China and got literally nothing in return. The term for this is theft. This sort of thing is a given by Chinese companies and for why this is so prevalent lately
China presumes employers are more powerful than their employees and so it explicitly favors employees. For example, not only does the law permit employees to unilaterally terminate their employment contracts by giving notice of leaving (unless one of the very limited exception applies), employees also may terminate their employment contract and demand statutory severance for
