Winston & Strawn Expands Its Corporate Capabilities in China With M & A, Private Equity and Venture Capital Attorney Jem Li, Two Other Corporate Attorneys

BEIJING and HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Winston & Strawn LLP announced today that it is expanding its transactional capabilities in China by welcoming prominent corporate and M & A attorney, Jem Li, as managing partner of its Beijing office. He was most recently with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. Also joining Winston & Strawn from Cadwalader are corporate associates Haihang (Helen) Zhang and Na (April) Wang.

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Li has been practicing with international law firms for more than a decade in New York as well as in mainland China. Speaking native Chinese and fluent in English, Li's experience includes complex cross-border commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, private equity investment, venture capital investment, and foreign direct investment in China. Most recently, he represented diverse Chinese clients in both in-bound and out-bound mergers and acquisitions. Practicing in China since 2004, Li has become known as one of the most active international lawyers in China handling various mining rights investments in Europe, North America, Latin America, Central Asia, and Africa. Li's past representations include successful deals handled on behalf of such leading entities as the Warner Music Group, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, IBM Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, United Parcel and Fidelity Investments. He also counseled the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. Among other prominent Chinese clients Li represented in the past few years, are Agriculture Bank of China, China National Aviation Fuel Group, Jinchuan Group Ltd. and Nuctech Company Ltd.

"We're delighted that Jem has joined our Beijing office because he gives additional quality and breadth to our already strong team of sophisticated attorneys in Asia. China clearly plays an important role to our strategic vision of expanding the firm's footprint in Asia and we are excited about the opportunity to provide even stronger service to our clients there," said Thomas Fitzgerald, Winston & Strawn's managing partner. "We expect to continue our strategic expansion on a global basis—and in regions widely viewed as having the greatest growth opportunities for the firm as well as its corporate clientele."

Said Li: "I joined Winston because of its growing international presence and global platform for cross-border transactional practices like mine, and its strong commitment to the China legal service market. I look forward to capitalizing on the firm's reputation in Europe and the United States in serving our clients."

According to David Hall-Jones, managing partner of the firm's Asian offices, "The world markets are continuing to rebound from last year's downturn, and we see Asia, with a special focus on China, continuing to play an increasingly important role. Our work levels are strong in Asia and we need to grow to continue to serve our Chinese, U.S. and European clients." The firm's Hong Kong office, Hall-Jones noted, has substantial experience in corporate mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, private equity and fund formation, and real estate financing, as well as in international arbitration and complex commercial litigation.

Li obtained his M.I.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from Pace University.

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international commercial law firm with 14 offices in America, Asia and Europe. More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.

SOURCE Winston & Strawn LLP