Your Growing Business in China

Many major Chinese companies and foreign multinationals have already established a national footprint for their businesses in China, while an even greater number have established subsidiaries in several different provinces. Similar legal problems often occur across multiple locations, and the head offices of these companies need to manage their legal support in a consistent, coordinated manner and ensure that each problem is addressed by an experienced local legal expert.

Only the SGLA is positioned to provide legal services that are coordinated nationally at an international standard but that are delivered locally by trusted professionals in each of the following areas:

• Corporate secretarial services (corporate governance, equity transfers, amendments to constitutional documents, establishment of branches and subsidiaries, annual reports, license renewals, amendments to registrations, etc.)
• Labour matters (labour contracts, employment handbooks, redundancies, terminations, labour disputes and arbitrations, etc.)
• Litigation matters (commercial disputes, debt collection, arbitration / mediation, enforcement of judgments and awards, etc.)
• Real estate and construction matters (land use rights transfers, construction contracts, leases of factories and commercial space, environmental health and safety matters, mortgages and other security interests over land and buildings, related government registrations, related disputes, etc.)
• Commercial transactions (supply / procurement and sales / distribution contracts for goods and services, related licenses and registrations, etc.)
• Financing matters (commercial bank loans, shareholder loans, granting and enforcement of security, counter-party insolvency, etc.)
• Intellectual property matters (registrations, enforcement, oppositions, licenses, disputes, etc.).

The SGLA Value Proposition

Each SGLA local member firm is a clear market leader in its own jurisdiction and was identified through an extensive ground-breaking market survey and due diligence process undertaken by Hogan Lovells. Each is a full-service law firm with specialist capability across all of the key practice areas of importance to your day-to-day operations in China. SGLA member firms are well integrated into the local community and have strong ties to the government departments relevant to your operational requirements. They know the game and they know the players, so they can help you get things done in a timely and cost-effective manner.

At the same time, the SGLA offers coordinated and uniform legal services across all parts of China. You can select one member firm to act as the single point of contact to coordinate services across various regions, as necessary. Where there is an international element or a requirement for interface with global policies and systems, Lovells can play a coordinating role as appropriate. In other cases you may select to work directly with one of the SGLA local member firms. Because member firms in the SGLA are independent law firms and the alliance cooperation is non-exclusive, we can be completely client-focused and client-driven. You determine how best to utilize the unmatched resources and coverage of the SGLA to achieve your commercial objectives.

Our Integrated Practice Areas

The SGLA features five core cross-firm specialized practice groups:

• Corporate and Commercial
• Dispute Resolution
• Intellectual Property
• Real Estate and Construction
• Financial Services

These practice groups are comprised of lawyers from each of the member firms. The members of each practice group meet regularly to share standard templates, best practices and local knowledge and experience. We can direct you to the best lawyer in the best law firm in the relevant practice area, and we can work on a coordinated basis to provide both cross-province and cross-border service.

For more information on how the SGLA can assist your company's business operations within China, please contact us at contact@sglalaw.com. For more information on the capabilities of the SGLA in a given practice area, please click on the relevant Practice Group link in the side bar to the left. For more information on the practice area capabilities and experience of the individual SGLA member firms, please click on the Member Firms tab above.