Lee and Li is a full-service law firm and understands the need to diversify and specialize. In response to the rapid developments in trade and technology and to satisfy the needs of our clients, we are constantly refining and expanding our practice areas. Over the decades, we have built one of the largest intellectual property right practices in Taiwan, and have been involved in the phenomenal growth of foreign direct investment since 1970s. We were a pioneer in developing banking and capital market practice in the 1980s, and played a pivotal role in the formation of technology law practice in the 1990s. We are also active in public construction, government procurement and merger and acquisition. We stay relevant by staying current on the latest developments in every industry and apply our legal skills to help clients achieve their business goals.
Constant improvement, teamwork and specialization enable us to provide quality services. We restructured our resources and formed practice groups, which span the five departments of the firm, i.e., banking and capital markets, corporate and investment, trademark and copyright, patent and technology and litigation and ADR. Our professionals are placed in the groups in accordance with their expertise and interests (please log onto our website for further details). We believe that the practice groups match the clients with the appropriate specialists and ensure both efficiency and specialization.
In addition to the vertical integration achieved through practice groups, we also formed cross-department, cross-specialty special task forces ("STF") dealing with mainland Chinese and Japanese markets and dispute prevention and settlement (i.e., P.R.C. Practice STF, Japan Practice STF and Dispute Resolution STF). We integrated resources horizontally to further enhance the quality of our service. Our services are performed by over 100 lawyers admitted in Taiwan, patent agents, patent attorneys, trademark attorneys, more than 100 technology experts, and specialists in other fields. In order to provide services related to law or intellectual property right issues, most of our professionals have degrees in law, technology and/or business management in Taiwan or from abroad. Many of our colleagues are licensed to practice law in the United States, and some have also passed the bar exam in the People's Republic of China or are licensed patent attorneys in the United States and the People's Republic of China.
Recognition By Our Clients And Friends
Our professionalism and achievements have long been recognized and relied on by our clients in Taiwan and abroad, many of whom have been with us for decades. The bond between our clients and us can be mostly ascribed to our strong work ethic and an abiding sense of responsibility. Because of our seamless teamwork, functional specialization and various quality-control mechanisms (for example, the legal opinion review mechanism), we are highly sought after by clients and consistently recognized as the preeminent law firm in Taiwan.
Recognition has come from abroad as well. We are often named as one of the best law firms in evaluations of international law firms/intellectual property right firms. For instance, we were selected as the best pro bono law firm in Asia and the best law firm in Taiwan many years consecutively by the International Financial Law Review (the IFLR); we were also named the National Deal Firm of the Year for Taiwan and awarded the Super Deal of the Year by Asian Legal Business. For many years, the renowned Global Competition Review has included Lee and Li on its list of the top 100 competition law firms in the world; we have the distinction of being the only law firm in Taiwan on this list. Meanwhile, our intellectual property right practice has been chosen by Managing Intellectual Property and Asia Law & Practice as the best intellectual property right law firm in Taiwan. Our performance is not only recognized by our clients but also by international professional institutes.
Global And Cross-Strait Networks
We are highly qualified to serve transnational enterprises. Many of our colleagues have studied in the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and so on and are fluent in English or Japanese and experienced in representing international clients. Furthermore, Lee and Li has forged long-term relationships with renowned law firms in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. Our pool of specialists and the international network we have built over time are the key to providing peerless transnational legal services.
We work closely with distinguished international consulting firms, accounting firms and financial institutes and are thus able to integrate specialized resources and promptly provide comprehensive information about financial and investment conditions. To better cope with the needs of our clients in mainland China, Lee and Li provides legal services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Valued for our professional ability and familiarity with clients' global strategies, we are sought by an increasing number of clients to assist with the legal issues they encounter in mainland China. As cross-strait trade activities gather pace, Lee and Li provides integrated legal services in the Greater China area for many clients. Dr. C. V. Chen, Nigel N. T. Li and Chia-Ching Lee are arbitrators of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.
Lee and Li has set up platforms to provide cross-strait legal services/intellectual property right services by collaborating with law firms and intellectual property agencies in Mainland China. With such two-way collaboration, we provide clients in the Greater China area with professional services that they need. We have formed alliances with L&L-Leaven, Attorneys-at-Law in Shanghai, which consolidated with our strategic alliance Leaven, Attorneys-at-Law in Shanghai, and Lee and Li-Leaven IPR Agency Ltd. in Beijing. Such alliances allow us to render extensive and timely services in the Greater China area.
Through the Greater China service platform established by Lee and Li, we have assisted a considerable number of clients on cross strait matters, including a Taiwanese listed company's disposal of shares in its Chinese subsidiary, a well-known Chinese private equity fund's investment in a Taiwanese company, initial public offerings in Taiwan of Taiwan listed companies' Chinese subsidiaries, joint ventures in China by Taiwanese listed companies and litigation or arbitration in China or elsewhere of the Chinese subsidiaries of Taiwanese listed companies. The effectiveness of the Greater China service platform is widely recognized and trusted by our clients. This platform not only significantly saves the clients' time in identifying and contacting suitable lawyers in China but also enables the clients to make investment and operation decisions efficiently and accurately because any misunderstanding of the differences in the legal systems and practices across the Strait has been averted. In view of the positive performance of the Greater China legal service platform and the execution of the investment protection agreement between Taiwan and China, Lee and Li and our strategic alliances have been engaged by a Taiwanese company to advise on the expropriation of the land owned by its subsidiary in China.
