ASIAN PRACTICE

Our team specializes in representing Asian clients, including native Chinese speakers, on doing business, resolving disputes, and initiate or defend litigations in Massachusetts. Navigating the American legal system presents unique and complex challenges to our Asian clients.  Language barriers are only one contributor, more crucial differences are rooted in differences in ideology, cultural and value norms.  Failure to adequately identify, understand, and manage these challenges inevitably leads to unnecessary and negative results to clients.  Some of the common sense and practices in the U.S. are not obvious to native Chinese. Mere translation of words and phrases without appreciation and understanding of the concepts and rationales that give rise to why these words/phrases are stated that way is not sufficient for clients’ meaningful participation in communication with lawyers and gives a little guarantee to clients’ making the right decision, regardless in general counsel, business transactions or litigation.  

Our team of China-born lawyers together with American lawyers sometimes serve as co-counsels are experienced in bridging these deeply rooted cultural and linguistic gaps. We have the ability to recognize potential areas of miscommunication and misunderstanding. We have developed ways of addressing these issues before their impact arises.  

Our team offers the following capabilities to Chinese clients and other law firms:

• Fluent in speak Chinese - Mandarin, and Cantonese.

• Fluent in reading and writing Chinese.

• Translate and explain English documents including corporate, employment, agreements, and any other legal documents.

• Explain and communicate U.S. jurisprudence concepts.

• Prepare Chinese native speakers for the taking of their deposition(s).

• Prepare Chinese native speakers to testify at trial or arbitrator.

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Represented Matters:

• Acting as a client company’s (a Chinese company’s subsidiary) in-house risk control counsel in overseeing a commercial leasing lawsuit with the amount in controversy of over $6 million in a Massachusetts state court by coordinating and facilitating communications between the client and its litigation counsel.

• Assisted the outside counsel for a joint venture formed by a Chinese company with a Massachusetts entity operating in the public transportation field on a high-stake labor and union matter. 

• Assisted a client in coordinating with her family law counsel for the divorce matter involving her ex-husband’s concealment of his equity worth multi-million dollars in an emerging Chinese company.