35 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA is the regional transportation hub for the ASEAN-China Free Trade Zone. Based in Chongqing, Tang has a deep understanding of how active clients in industries along the Yangtze River have been in investing overseas. “Clients mostly invest in the construction, manufacturing and agricultural product trading industries, and popular investment destinations are mainly Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam. At the same time, some large manufacturers have begun to venture into Australia, New Zealand and the European market.” As businesses “go global,” Baijus Law Firm has provided many large manufacturers with services to invest and establish presence overseas, assisting clients with a series of procedures such as ODI, BOI and IEAT licenses. For example, the firm provided Antaibo Group (Thailand) with special legal services for overseas investment, presence establishment and compliance, and other full-process services such as localized labor rules, tax filing and contract template development. In addition, leading manufacturers, such as Changan Automobile and Chongqing Chuanyi, are also among the clients Baijus has served in venturing overseas. Opportunities aside, Tang admits that firms also face challenges in serving clients in this regard, citing “lack of understanding of local legal practices and customs, and lack of relevant talents to meet the service needs of multijurisdictional clients.” Baijus has responded to these challenges by actively building up its crossborder service capabilities. “We have established a cross-border legal practice group with dozens of members with LLMs and JDs from well-known overseas universities. We provide higher-level services in a seamless manner by sharing professional capabilities and client resources across teams. Moreover, we have established strategic partnerships with multiple leading firms in popular investment destinations to ensure that we respect local customs and laws, and have a clear division of tasks with local partners to jointly provide clients with overseas legal services,” says Tang. research institutes to accelerate the commercialization and application of scientific and technological achievements.” He focuses on the following areas in terms of the new service opportunities brought about to lawyers by the development of tech innovation. The first is the increase of investment and financing, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring services. “Tech start-ups require a large amount of financial support. Law firms can provide legal services for private equity, venture capital, debt financing, crowdfunding, etc. In addition, the development of tech industries is often accompanied by activities of merger, acquisition and restructuring where law firms can provide services such as transaction structuring, due diligence, transaction documentation drafting and regulatory filing.” In addition, the development of intellectual property and data protection legal services is also worth watching. “The core competitiveness of a tech startup often lies in its technology and innovation, making IP protection crucial. Law firms can provide services such as patent application, trademark registration, copyright protection and trade secrets protection, and handle IP infringement disputes. Further, with the application of technologies such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, data protection have become issues that tech start-ups need to watch out for. Law firms can provide companies with data compliance review, data protection policy formulation, and data breach response services,” says Wang. Finally, as tech start-ups along the Yangtze River accelerate their pace of international expansion, “ESG has become an aspect that they cannot ignore. Law firms can help tech startups with ESG strategic planning, compliance assessment and sustainability report preparation.” Wang shares that Fadedongheng has already provided full-cycle legal services for a number of unicorns, and two tech start-ups have entered the guidance phase for listing on the STAR Market. “The rapid development of tech industries requires firms to continuously adapt to new market demands, update service offerings, and provide more professional and efficient legal services.” Chongqing is one of the most important cities in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Tang Yuzhou, senior partner of Chongqing-headquartered Baijus Law Firm, has similarly noticed significant tech innovation developments in this old industrial base in recent years. “Guided by the modern manufacturing cluster system proposed by Chongqing government, tech industries mainly rely on existing industrial capabilities and focus on industrial software, new energy vehicles, electronic information manufacturing and new materials. Progress has also been made in emerging industries such as blockchain, biotech and instrumentation.” This creates new opportunities for Chongqing’s legal market as well. “The growth of tech industry has driven increasing demand for new legal services such as information security and data compliance. Therefore, Baijus has set up a cybersecurity practice group comprising several PhDs and postdoctoral fellows who are proficient in engineering and law. The team has already successfully participated in many typical deals, such as the construction of a provincial blockchain underlying platform, the blockchain regulation system of a regulatory authority, and the data compliance project of a large automotive research institute. Some of these projects have been rated as typical use cases by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for two consecutive years,” says Tang. OVERSEAS INVESTMENT On a broader geographical scale beyond China, the Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and the third longest globally, making the economic influence of the Yangtze Belt transcending national boundaries. In 2022, the total import and export volume of the Yangtze Belt reached 19.3 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion), accounting for 45.9 percent of the national total. The Chengdu-Chongqing region in the upper reaches of the River is an important nexus and link between the Yangtze Belt and the “Belt and Road Initiative,” while the central Yunnan region REGIONAL REPORT
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