China Practice
The McKenna Long & Aldridge (MLA) China practice group provides Chinese companies with practical solutions for doing business in the U.S., Europe and North America. Ours is a full-service law firm, helping companies do business in areas that are subject to U.S. Government regulation, including pesticides, chemicals, food and drug, medical devices, international trade/antidumping, corporate transactions, securities, mergers and acquisitions, international arbitration and court litigation in the U.S., and intellectual property. Our Washington office is located a few blocks from the White House, our European office is located in the heart of Brussels, the seat of European legal and regulatory power, and we have three offices along the Pacific Rim coast of California. We enjoy close working relationships with Chinese law firms and consultants.
Our History
MLA traces its beginnings to the 1930s, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's former Attorney General opened a new law practice in Washington, DC. Under the firm's renowned partner Gilbert Cuneo, the firm built the original and largest government contracts law practice in the nation. Now with a full-scale international practice, the firm represents large Fortune 500, multinational and Chinese companies.
International Scope
MLApractices law throughout the world, in North America, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Our international reach is shared across the various practices in which we serve our clients, including international customs or commercial transactions, regula tory and governmental law, corporate and finance, environmental, intellectual property, litigation and immigration.
People Make the Difference
Our legal staff includes personnel with membership in the National Bar of China, fluency in Chinese, and experience working in the Chinese corporate world. Our firm and its consulting affiliates include numerous high-ranking officials in the U.S. government and business world, including former senators and congressmen; diplomats; advisors to presidents, governors and legislators; Fortune 500 general counsel; and a former president of the American Bar Association. Our firm was selected to chair the planning group for the 2004 G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, attended by President George W. Bush and other heads of state. Our clients expect and get results.
Corporate Transactions, Securities and Mergers & Acquisitions
From a corporate and transactional law perspective, our firm focuses on the general corporate representation of both publicly and privately held companies, specializing in joint ventures, strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions for companies around the world. While we have many years' experience in serving as lead counsel for corporate transactions of all types and sizes, in particular we have extensive experience with complex, international acquisition transactions. We bring Chinese and U.S. companies together to form business partnerships.
Our Corporate Finance and Securities lawyers assist our clients in all aspects of capital structuring and financing. We provide advice on public offerings, private placements, shareholder rights, anti-takeover measures, board issues, securities disputes, limited partnership syndications, investment and growth strategies and credit transactions. We currently represent investment banks, capital providers, publicly held companies and privately held businesses. Our attorneys prepare and file NYSE and NASDAQ and listing applications, prepare prospectus and other offering materials, and prepare and negotiate necessary restrictions of securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.
International Trade/Antidumping
Our international practitioners provide counseling and representation with respect to all U.S. customs laws, ranging from tariff classifications, valuation issues, duty drawback and country of origin issues, to tariff preferences, foreign trade zones, and penalties and environmental and food/ drug issues. McKenna Long & Aldridge also represents clients in antidumping and countervailing duty cases, escape clause actions and import infringement claims for patents, trademarks and copyrights (such as 337 cases).
The firm's trade policy practitioners also work at the front end of international commercial issues by attempting to resolve foreign market issues at the highest levels of government. We provide strategic advice on bilateral and multilateral trade and investment issues and assistance in trade negotiations aimed at opening international markets to trade.
We counsel individuals, businesses and universities on a range of export regulation matters, including compliance with the Export Administration Act, the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assets Control Regulations. Our lawyers regularly work with officials in the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Commerce responsible for export control invoking prior disclosure procedures. We also provide counseling and representation regarding embargoes before the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
International Arbitration
Our attorneys provide a wide range of international dispute resolution services, such as assistance with claims formation, representation before U.S. and foreign regulatory agencies and international commercial arbitration. At the early stages of dispute resolution, we counsel regarding claims formation, negotiation strategies and documentation. When litigation is necessary in foreign national courts, we provide value- added management with clients' local counsel.
International Intellectual Property
MLA provides an integrated Intellectual Property (IP) practice with a global perspective. Our group has comprehensive experience in the development, licensing, protection, exploitation and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
We combine full-time intellectual property lawyers with experts from related practice areas who are skilled in dealing with the special issues posed by intellectual property in related areas of law such as European competition law, life sciences, and product liability. Our multidisciplinary approach offers clients comprehensive solutions to a full range of intellectual property and technology issues.
Our patent lawyers have postgraduate degrees in all of the major technology areas. These attorneys have a wide variety of backgrounds, with industry experience in areas such as electrical engineering, software and computer science, chemistry and chemical engineering and mechanical engineering and physics.
Our IP practice is truly international in scope, with offices in Brussels, the heart of the EU, and multinational clients in Asia, Europe and North America. Whether working with our non-U.S. clients with their problems and challenges around the world or assisting our U.S. clients as they expand overseas, we offer extensive experience in dealing with governmental entities, international partners and investors around the world.
Pesticide and Chemicals Regulatory Practice
MLA has long been recognized as the oldest practice and leading authority in the field of pesticide regulation in the United States. Our U.S. pesticide practice dates back to the 1940s, before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created. We have represented numerous pesticide trade associations in some of the most important pesticide cases and regulatory developments of the last 60 years. For example, we represented the manufacturers of DDT and chlordane and heptachlor in the 1970s when EPA sought to cancel the pesticides. We have represented a dozen task forces of pesticide companies that have developed data to support registration of pesticide data. We represent clients before the Canadian pesticide regulator, PMRA, and regularly appear before European regulatory agencies. MLA also represents multinational and mid-sized pesticide companies on regulatory, business and product liability issues. The firm publishes a newsletter in Chinese on regulatory and legal developments of interest to Chinese pesticide companies.
Our firm counsels clients through complex regulations affecting all stages of chemical manufacture and use, including the EPA law, the Toxic Substances Control Act.
In California, we represent companies on compliance with Proposition 65. We regularly represent clients in EPA proceedings governing the limitation or ban on chemicals they may produce. We also guide both buyers and sellers through the labyrinth of environmental regulations that affect mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in the chemical industry. This process involves identifying liabilities through environmental audits, assessing those liabilities, performing environmental due diligence to ensure transfer of permits, and drafting and negotiating contract terms to address the allocation of risks and liabilities.
Food, Drug and Medical Devices Regulatory Practice
Products that are subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation include foods, drugs, cosmetics, devices, dietary supplements, traditional Chinese medicine and electronic products. Our Food and Drug practice assists clients in all aspects of product approvals, federal policy making, science advocacy, enforcement, litigation, and "elevation" of issues to higher regulatory, executive and congressional levels. This practice includes preparing for and managing FDA inspections; responding to FDA's Form 483, Establishment Inspection Reports and Warning Letters; and obtaining FDA clearance for importation of all products subject to FDA regulation. We have trained Chinese manufacturers in complying with the FDA's laws and regulations, including Good Manufacturing Practices, clinical investigations and product approvals, and have successfully represented a Chinese active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer in obtaining FDA permission to resume distribution to the U.S.
Our lawyers and consultants are former regulatory officials at the FDA and major corporations. We maintain ongoing relationships with FDA government officials in Washington. We represent Chinese, Asian, European and American clients and advise them on product regulation issues in North America and the EU.
MTD Ventures LLC
MLA's consulting affiliate, MTD Ventures LLC, provides commercial, regulatory and scientific support to Chinese companies. MTD Ventures LLC has the resources of over 20 professionals, including PhD chemists, toxicologists and marketing experts, who include former government officials. MTD consultants are strategically based in Washington DC, California, Canada and the EU.
We Want to Meet You
There is no substitute for personal meetings. Our lawyers travel to China frequently. We would be honored to meet you, explain who we are and how we can help you do business in the United States, Europe and North America. If you are coming to the United States, we would be pleased to assist you and your company in making arrangements to visit us in Washington, DC or any of our offices. Our people make the difference.