On December 13, 2018, the China Business Law Journal (“CBLJ”) announced its 2018 “A-List,” recognizing the top international and domestic private practice lawyers engaged in the China market. Jincheng Tongda & Neal (“JT&N”) Senior Partners Ms. Guohua (Annie) Wu and Mr. Feng Liang were included as honorees.
In compiling its 2018 A-List, CBLJ consulted thousands of in-house counsel and other legal professionals in order to accurately identify one hundred elite business attorneys in China who exemplify those qualities most prized by clients, including exceptional communications skills, superior problem solving abilities, commitment to clients, and relevant area specialization. The selection of these two JT&N attorneys reflects the very high standard of legal services that they and JT&N provide.
Guohua (Annie) Wu is a Senior Partner at JT&N, and a leader of the Firm’s Outbound Investment practice.
Ms. Wu co-authored the Legal Environment Report of the “Belt and Road” Countries compiled by the All China Lawyers Association. As a Deputy Director of the “One Belt, One Road” Research Institute of the Beijing Lawyers Association (BLA), she co-authored five countries’ reports and edited another eighteen countries’ reports for the Chinese Enterprises Overseas Investment Legal Environment Report Collection of Sixty-Five Countries along the Belt and Road compiled by the BLA. Additionally, she has been a guest lecturer for the “Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructuring” course at Peking University Law School since 2017, and she was a guest lecturer for the “Anglo-American Contract Law” course at the University of International Business and Economics Law School.
A recognized authority on cross-border M&A and private equity transactions, Ms. Wu provides legal services to some of the largest funds, multinationals and industrial companies in China and across the world. Ms. Wu works directly with her clients’ leadership on a regular basis and provides critical insights and advice, enabling her clients to obtain substantially improved commercial terms and legal protections.
Ms. Wu also provides comprehensive services to multinational companies in connection with a broad range of investment activities and daily operational matters in China, including corporate compliance, commercial transactions, labor law, and dispute resolution matters. Ms. Wu’s industrial expertise encompasses the automotive, new energy, entertainment, TMT, and mining and natural resources sectors, among others. Ms. Wu also has extensive experience in capital markets and finance matters.
An outbound transaction in which Ms. Wu served as a lead counsel to Hebei Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd. and other Chinese consortium members was included in the All China Lawyers Association’s 2018 book, Selected International Cases.
Ms. Wu is an award-winning attorney. Among other honors, she was recognized by the Ministry of Justice of China as one of the 2018 “Talent Pool of One Thousand International Lawyers.” She was recognized by Asian Legal Business (ALB) magazine as a winner of the “Client Choice Top 20” award in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Ms. Wu was also ranked by ALB as one of China’s “Top 15 Female Lawyers” in 2016, as well as one of China’s “Top 10 M&A lawyers” in 2017. Additionally, she has repeatedly been recognized by renowned rating agencies like Chambers & Partners, the Legal 500 and Asialaw Profiles, covering several practice areas such as Corporate and M&A as well as Project Finance and Energy.
Ms. Wu obtained her bachelor’s degree from the Law School of Jilin University and her degree of Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School. She is licensed to practice law in China and the states of New York and Illinois, and she is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar.
Feng Liang is a Senior Partner at JT&N and leads the Firm’s Labor and Employment law practice. Mr. Liang is a very well-known labor and employment law and human resources law expert. He is the director of the Labor and Employment Law Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, a managing director of the Beijing Labor and Social Security Law Association and a vice president of the Labor Law Branch, as well as a member of the fifteenth Central Law Construction Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party.
Mr. Liang focuses on Company Incorporation and Compliance, M&A and Restructuring, Labor and Employment Law, Dispute Resolution among other practice areas. As a leading expert in Chinese employment law and labor relations, Mr. Liang works extensively with HR professionals in Chinese, American and European organizations based in China. Mr. Liang is regularly invited to give speeches and seminars on employment-related topics.
Mr. Liang's clients are mainly large and medium state-owned, private or foreign-invested enterprises from industries such as natural resources, manufacturing, agriculture, service, hospitality, catering, etc. Mr. Liang provides systematic and professional legal service including mediation, negotiation, arbitration, litigation on corporate governance and corporate human resources strategy, operation legal matters involved in the management and development process. JT&N is especially well known for handling dispute settlement and providing strategic counseling for labor and employment matters to large domestic and multinational companies in the China market.
Mr. Liang has published a number of professional works such as “Ingenuity: Outstanding Labor Law Masters Notebook,” “Law Guide: Typical Cases of Labor Dispute and Lawyer Tips,” “China Contract Library” (Labor and Personnel Volume), and many other professional works. Additionally, he has been invited to participate in the enactment of several Beijing and national labor laws and regulations on many occasions, and prepared a number of legislative proposals, which have been adopted by the legislative branch.
Mr. Liang was recognized by Chambers and Partners as a “Top Ranked” labor lawyer, and a leading lawyer in the field of labor law. He was also ranked by the Legal 500 as a “Recommended Lawyer” in the field of Labor Law in China.
Mr. Liang obtained his bachelor's degree from the Law School of China University of Political Science and Law and a master’s degree in Economic Law from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Additionally, he studied organization and human resource management at the University of Hong Kong. Mr. Liang also studied at the law schools at the University of Washington and University of Cincinnati as well as Hejun Business School.