Morrison Foerster

The firm: With approximately 1,000 lawyers in 17 offices, Morrison Foerster is a pre-eminent global law firm dedicated to delivering business-oriented results to clients across the United States, Asia and Europe. Dynamic technology and life science companies, large financial institutions, leading consumer product companies and other market leaders come to Morrison Foerster for knowledge, innovation and business aptitude. Morrison Foerster handles some of the world’s largest cross-border transactions and resolves major disputes across multiple jurisdictions. The firm has a long-standing commitment to pro bono work and social justice.

For more than 40 years Morrison Foerster has been on the ground advising clients about their most important China-related matters. The China offices have more than 50 multilingual US-, PRC-, and Hong Kong-qualified professionals, who work closely with attorneys throughout the firm to deliver calibrated and sound advice to clients.

The firm counsels a wide variety of clients in China on their high-profile investment, finance, and regulatory matters, including many of the world’s largest multinationals and the most substantial and active institutional PRC companies, as well as promising startups in the Internet, technology, entertainment, telecommunications, life sciences, energy, clean technology, and renewable energy industries.

Areas of practice: Morrison Foerster opened its Hong Kong office in 1983. It was one of the first international firms to have local Hong Kong law capabilities, approved by the Hong Kong Law Society in April 2001. The firm’s lawyers based in Hong Kong have particular expertise in working with multinationals, PRC and Hong Kong companies, foreign and China-based venture capital and private equity investors active in China’s technology industries, and technology-based PRC companies.

Intellectual property and litigation: MoFo has extensive experience in representing Chinese companies in their IP disputes in the US and in the development of their global IP portfolios.

MoFo has also been advising its global clients who seek to proactively protect their IP from infringement and misappropriation in China.

Mergers and acquisitions: MoFo’s China M&A practice combines senior PRC regulatory expertise with international deal execution capability. The firm’s lawyers in Shanghai, and Hong Kong have significant PRC-related, as well as Asia-wide and global cross-border M&A experience.

Private equity and venture capital: combining corporate finance expertise with diverse technology, healthcare, life sciences and real estate practices, lawyers in MoFo’s Hong Kong office are active in all aspects of the evolving private equity and venture capital market in China. The practice regularly represents private equity investors, venture capitalists, private equity fund sponsors and issuers in a wide variety of private equity transactions, including buyouts (leveraged and non-leveraged), early and late-stage venture investments and restructurings and recapitalisations.

Real estate: the China real estate practice team represents investors in the financing, acquisition, joint venture and development of real estate investments across China and internationally. The group has a robust practice representing real estate private equity firms, investment managers, sovereign wealth funds, development companies and REITs that invest in real estate assets and companies in this sector.

Technology transactions: MoFo has assisted leading media and IT companies, global banks and financial institutions, biotech companies and private equity funds in navigating legal, structuring and commercial challenges arising from handling technology projects in China’s rapidly evolving business and regulatory environment.

Dispute resolution: MoFo is one of the world’s premier litigation firms. Its full-service Asia Dispute Resolution practice is a fully integrated regional practice, working seamlessly across its five offices in Asia, to handle all aspects of complex commercial litigation, international arbitration and predispute counselling matters. MoFo also appears in Hong Kong courts and before regulatory bodies in Hong Kong

Investment funds: MoFo’s Private Funds practice is widely recognized by fund sponsors and institutional investors as a leading group in Asia and globally. As one of the largest private funds practices in Asia, we represent fund sponsors and investors in the formation and operation of investment funds in a number of strategies. We are one of only a handful of law firms in Asia with the experience to effectively guide both GPs and LPs through the entire fund formation process.

Fintech: MoFo has long been recognized as a leading financial services and technology firm. Our Fintech practice is not just a corporate practice that happens to handle M&A deals in the very sector. We have one of the few dedicated operational Fintech teams in China, and our partners have nearly two decades of on-the-ground experience at the heart of one of the world’s fastest growing technology markets, catering to a stellar list of industry-leading companies who rely on us to help ensure the success of their most critical deals in mainland China and Hong Kong in a challenging political climate

Healthcare and life sciences: Leading life sciences investors and companies throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and China choose MoFo to help them enter, expand within, or grow outside of the Chinese life sciences market because of our experience in complex, cutting-edge cross-border commercial transactions and financings, our legendary scientific expertise in matters from IP strategic counseling to IP due diligence, and our long and storied track record working within the Chinese life science market.