CCCL Seminar: Practising Business Law in the Hong Kong and Mainland Cross-Border Environment (28 Sept 2022)
On 28 September 2022, the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law (CCCL) of the City
University of Hong Kong's School of Law hosted a virtual seminar to assist students in
understanding how to practice business law in Hong Kong and the mainland environment. Mr.
Haifeng Yang, Alan Xu, and Frank Sun have been invited as our awesome guest speakers to
explain their experiences.
The seminar kicked off with a welcoming speech by Dr. Chunyan Ding, Associate Dean and
Associate Professor at the City University of Hong Kong.
Mr. Haifeng Yang is a founding partner of Silk Road law Firm, that his area of practice includes
capital market, IPO, M&A, listed company M&A, Cross Border M&A, and private equity. Mr.
Yang briefly shared the ecology of law firms in the mainland legal market. Next, he explained
what cross-border transactions different mainland lawyers are generally involved in. He, at last,
exchanged his personal views on the development of the mainland legal market.
Mr. Alan Xu is an equity partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm, founded in 1993, which is one of the
first partnership law firms in the PRC. Mr. Xu is an international lawyer with more than 20 years
of experience in Hong Kong and mainland China. As one of the few lawyers qualified to practice
laws in the PRC, Hong Kong, and the New York state, Mr. Xu has advised clients on hundreds
of cross-border transactions, which include Fortune 500 companies, leading global investment
banks, PRC state-owned enterprises as well as public institutions listed on the stock exchanges in
PRC and Hong Kong. Mr. Xu's practice in foreign and large domestic firms is very
representative, so he talked about his own valuable learnings to the participants.
Mr. Frank Sun is a partner in the Hong Kong office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the Corporate Department, which specializes in private equity investment and public and private M&A transactions. Mr. Sun regularly advises private equity funds and corporate clients in private equity investments, cross-border acquisitions, PIPEs, privatizations, and an extensive range of other complex M&A transactions as well as venture capital financings. Mr. Sun has been practicing in a global international law firm, so he briefly shared what kind of business the foreign law firms are doing now. He also talked about the trends that he observed in foreign law firms over the years. Last but not the least, he shared how to connect what law students learn in the School of Law with their future work.
Following the speakers’ three-hour thought-provoking speech, we moved on to a discussion conducted primarily by Mr. Rehman Ubaid, Barrister-at-Law of Alexandra Chamber and also the PCLL Programme Director at the City University of Hong Kong School of law, who presented his insightful views on practicing business law in Hong Kong. The majority of those in attendance took the opportunity to voice their opinions, many of which were thoughtful and innovative. Dr. Ding concluded the seminar with a closing speech in which she thanked the speakers for their valuable contributions and all of the participants for their attendance, which made the seminar a success.
香港城市大學法學院中國法與比較法研究中心（CCCL）於 2022 年 9 月 28 日舉辦了一個在線研討會，題 為「香港及內地之商業法律」，協助本院學生了解律師眼中的香港及內地的商業法律。是次研討會邀請了 楊海峰律師、徐建輝律師及孫秋寧律師作為演講嘉賓，講述專業律師處理兩地商業法律工作的經驗。
研討會由香港城市大學副院長兼副教授丁春艷博士向所有與會者致歡迎辭展開序幕。
第一位演講嘉賓為楊海峰律師，現時是錦路律師事務所的創始合夥人，執業領域包括資本市場、IPO、併 購、上市公司併購、跨境併購和私募股權等。楊律師先簡單地分享了大陸法律市場的律師事務所生態，再講解不同的大陸律師一般參與哪些跨境交易。最後，他就大陸法律市場的未來發展分享了自己的個人看 法。
第二位演講嘉賓徐建輝律師，從事跨境法律服務近 20 年，持有香港、美國紐約州和中國律師執業執照，現 時為中倫律師事務所的權益合夥人。中倫律師事務所成立於 1993 年，是中國最早的合夥制律師事務所之 一。徐律師作為少數同時在中國、香港和紐約州擁有執業資格的律師之一，為客戶提供了數以百計的跨境 交易，其中包括財富 500 強公司、全球領先的投資銀行、中國國有企業以及在中國和香港證券交易所上市 的公共機構。由於徐先生在外資所及國內大型事務所的執業經驗很有有代表性，所以他向與會者講述了自 己過往的執業經歷和寶貴經驗。
第三位演講嘉賓為孫秋寧律師，現時是瑞生國際律師事務所香港辦事處的合夥人，主要從事私募股權投資 和公共及私人併購交易。孫律師長期代表私募股權基金及公司客戶處理私募股權投資、跨境收購、上市公 司股份定向增發、上市公司私有化及其他各種複雜的併購交易項目以及風險資本融資。由於孫律師一直在 國際律師事務所執業，所以他先簡單地分享了外所的執業事務。此外，他還談到了他多年來觀察到的外所 執業及發展趨勢，最後述說了如何將法學院學到的東西與學生未來的工作聯繫並銜接起來。
在三位律師發人深省的演講之後，進入到主要由歷山大律師事務所的 Rehman Ubaid 律師（城大法律學院 PCLL）課程主任帶領的討論環節，他分享了自己在香港律所的經驗，其他與會者都藉此機會表達了他們的 看法，當中不乏值得深思的獨到論點。本研討會以丁春艷博士簡單的閉幕辭作結及向各位與會者致謝結 束，他感謝各位演講者的寶貴貢獻及所有與會者的出席，使這次研討會取得了豐碩的成果。
