Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to Expand Corporate & Securities Practice in Greater China

PALO ALTO, Calif., and SHANGHAI, April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, today announced that Zhan Chen will become a partner at the firm. Her practice focuses on private equity, going-private transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. She will be based primarily in Shanghai and divide her time between the firm's Shanghai and Hong Kong offices.

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"Zhan is a talented and accomplished attorney with substantial expertise in a number of key corporate areas in both China and the U.S.," said co-managing partner Jack Sheridan. "Her corporate and transactional experience will be extremely valuable to our clients as they continue to take advantage of the many investment opportunities in the region. She will be a terrific addition to our China-based team, and we are very pleased to welcome her to the firm."

"Zhan has impressive experience in private equity, going-private, and cross-border M&A transactions and enjoys a solid reputation in the Chinese business and legal community," said Weiheng Chen, head of the firm's China practice. "Her addition illustrates our continuous efforts to build transactional capabilities to serve our enterprise and private equity client base in China, which is a key growth focus of the firm. We all look forward to working closely with her." 

Chen has extensive experience with private equity investments, public company mergers and acquisitions, private company acquisitions, going-private transactions, private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions, and foreign direct investments in China. In addition, she represents companies in connection with debt and equity securities offerings and advises clients on general corporate and governance matters. Her clients have included prominent private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, as well as companies in such industries as online entertainment, healthcare, semiconductors, financial institutions, and energy and clean technology.

Chen will join the firm from Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she practiced for 10 years in New York and Hong Kong. A native Mandarin speaker and fluent in English, she received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2002, a master's degree in economics from the State University of New York, Buffalo, in 1999, and a B.A. in economics from Shanghai International Studies University in 1993.

About the Firm's China Practice

With a long-standing presence in Asia, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati currently has offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The firm's China practice represents both China- and U.S.-based clients in a variety of cross-border matters, including those related to mergers and acquisitions, private equity, going-private transactions, joint ventures, foreign investments, branch operations, spin-offs, capital market offerings, and intellectual property counseling. The practice does the corporate and securities work for a number of notable U.S.-listed public companies based or operating in China, and has extensive experience advising on international public offerings by Chinese companies, as well as private equity and venture capital transactions and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. In addition, the China practice frequently teams with the firm's U.S.-based litigation and technology transaction practices to represent Chinese clients in various litigation and IP matters.

About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

For more than 50 years, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has offered a broad range of services and legal disciplines focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leader in the fields of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust, among many other areas of law. With deep roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has offices in Austin; Brussels; Georgetown, DE; Hong Kong; New York; Palo Alto; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.wsgr.com.

SOURCE Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati