About

Tim Steinert became general counsel of multi-billion dollar revenue e-commerce company Alibaba Group in 2007, and has played a key role in the company’s impressive growth since. Indeed, in 2014 the company was floated on the New York Stock Exchange in the largest initial public offering in history, raising $25bn after additional stock options. Steinert’s involvement in the, on average, 50 major transactions that the business undertakes yearly means he is a legal professional with almost unparalleled experience of corporate deal oversight. With extensive technical ability honed via a notable career as a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and ability to speak fluent Mandarin, he was identified as the ideal person to lead Alibaba’s fledgling legal team. Steinert created a culture of versatility and adaptability in his department, which now contains around 250 individuals. He is also at the forefront of innovation in the in-house legal sector in China. For example, he has been involved in Alibaba’s joint project with Zhejiang province to develop an online court able to resolve e-commerce disputes remotely, a project that has the added benefit of greatly enhancing the legal team’s knowledge base of litigation events and allowing them to identify potential future risks. Steinert and his team have also contributed to the regulatory environment in China for e-commerce through their dialogue with the Chinese government and other industry partners. Steinert’s overall influence on the development of the in-house legal role in China is highly significant, as he continues to reinvent the legal and business elements of the role.