JIE LIAN, Esq.

Mr. Jie Lian is an international dispute resolution and risk management lawyer licensed in both the U.S. (California) and PR China. He has more than 15 years of combined experiences resolving high-profile litigation, arbitration, and regulatory matters in many jurisdictions, including the China’s Mainland, United States, Australia, and Hong Kong, etc.. The combination of his common law and PRC capacities has uniquely positioned him to effectively assess, prevent, and mitigate unconventional legal risks faced by entities with cross-border operations. He is particularly experienced in handling cross-border matters where unique jurisdiction, discovery, conflicting local law, and case management concerns are involved.

Mr. Lian has successfully represented business entities and individuals in strategically important cross-border litigation, arbitration, and regulatory enforcement matters including enforcement of foreign judgments and awards in China, asset recovery, IP protection, commercial fraud, investment dispute, products liability, white-collar investigation and defense, anti-unfair competition, and cybersecurity, etc.. 

Utilizing his extensive experiences in dispute and regulatory matters, Mr. Lian also advises clients regarding risk prevention and mitigation in major transactional deals and regulatory investigation matters through the litigator’s lens. Furthermore, Mr. Lian has issued legal opinions about PRC law in English which are often relied upon by key regulators in making administrative decisions.

Based on Mr. Lian’s accomplishment, he has been frequently invited by top law schools, such as Peking University Law School to teach lawyers and corporate counsel courses including cross-border dispute and compliance.

Representative Matters:

 - Dispute Matters:

• Represented a large construction company whose funds in a bank account located in the U.S. was stolen by a computer hacker via cyberattack; successfully recovered the lost funds by pursuing multiple highly complicated cross-border legal proceedings simultaneously, including a U.S. federal litigation and more than a hundred parallel proceedings in other jurisdictions piercing hundreds of layers of offshore structures.

• *Successfully defended a client in a major financial dispute arbitration before the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA); Mr. Lian conducted a major part of the cross-examination and defeated all claims of the other side totaling 55 million U.S. dollars.

• Represented a major China-based trust company in a high-stakes investment fraud case and pursued disputed funds of more than 140million U.S. dollars in multiple jurisdictions, including China Mainland, Hong Kong, and BVI, etc..

• Represented a famous Chinese movie star in a high-profile reputational crisis litigation in a state court in the U.S., where unconventional procedural matters and complex cross-border facts findings and evidence and testimony in Chinese language were involved. Mr. Lian conducted effective cross-examination in the U.S. court and obtained favorable results in the litigation.

• Represented a multi-national consumer goods manufacture headquartered in Brazil in an IP protection matter against a party who sold infringing products in PRC; successfully forced the infringing operation to shut down.

• Successfully defended a major new-energy manufacturer before the CPSC, U.S. Justice Department in a major product liability investigation.

• Provided urgent legal advice for a large manufacturer based in Asia regarding the explosion accident of its production facility.

• Defended a major sporting goods company in a strategically important trademark infringement litigation filed in a U.S. District Court, where millions of copies of documents and cutting-edge cross-border e-discovery and data security issues were involved; successfully forced the opponent to settle on favorable terms after intensive litigation.

• Advised a leading cellphone maker in a high-profile investment dispute against a major supplier in an arbitration where complex technology licensing issues were involved.

• Represented a major Asia-based franchise in an investment dispute arbitration before the American Arbitration Association (AAA), where complex financing, trade secrets, and contract issues were involved.

• Represented claimant in a high-stakes investment and real estate dispute arbitration before American Arbitration Association (AAA).

*Defended a company in a large contract dispute arbitration before the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

*Represented a Spanish licensor in a contract dispute against the licensee in PRC for unpaid licensing fees.

*Won a jury verdict in a complex investment fraud case for plaintiff against a conspiracy formed by seven entities and individuals in a California court and obtained very favorable compensatory and punitive damages.

*Won a jury verdict in an international investment fraud case for plaintiff against multiple international defendants in a California court.

*Obtained very favorable settlement terms during the jury trial of a real estate investment fraud case for a wrongfully accused defendant in a California court.

*Obtained favorable settlement terms on behalf of a manufacturer operating in China who was the supplier for a major U.S. sporting goods retailer in a product defect claim brought by a claimant in California.

*Obtained very favorable settlement terms on behalf of the buyer in a multi-million international trade lawsuit brought by a U.S. company in a California court, which also involved complex trade secret protection issues.

*Represented an employer in a trade secret theft case in California, where an employee stole the company's trade secrets and started a competing company; due to Mr. Lian’s creative litigation strategies, the case was settled in favorable terms even after the employee filed a baseless bankruptcy which stayed the litigation.

*Successfully represented multiple business entities in employment law litigations brought by both domestic and foreign employees in the United States, including a class action based on gender discrimination.

- Risk Management Matters:

*Represented a major New York PE firm in a large M&A deal; conducted complex cross-border, buyer-side due diligence regarding both U.S. and PRC legal risks where the target company maintained complex China-based technology development and sourcing operations.

*Issued legal opinion regarding PRC law in English which was submitted to the U.S. State Department based on which an administrative decision was made in favor of the client.

*Conducted FCPA anti-corruption investigations and FCPA compliance policy reviews on behalf of a major multinational medical device company.

*Conducted review of the PRC cybersecurity law compliance framework for a major foreign oil company operating in China.

*Resolved complex PRC labor law compliance matters for a major U.S. car parts manufacture operating in PRC.

*Reviewed PRC anti-unfair competition risks concerning a major foreign airline's operations in China.

*Developed PRC cybersecurity law compliance framework for a major foreign manufacturer operating in China.

*Conducted FCPA investigations on behalf of a major multinational electronic device company.

*Conducted FCPA and cybersecurity compliance training for senior managers of the Greater China regions for a number of large foreign and Chinese entities. 

Education：

University of Minnesota Law School, 2010, J.D.

Qualifications：

Licensed in PR China and California;

United States District Court for the Central District of California;

Arbitrator, Hainan International Arbitration Court;

Arbitrator, Xi’an Arbitration Commission;

Arbitrator, Zhuhai International Arbitration Court;

Arbitrator, Tianjin Arbitration Commission

Adjunct Instructor, Peking University Law School

Expert Instructor, Shenzhen Qianhai International Commercial Mediation Center

Languages：

English, Chinese