US law firm Steptoe & Johnson announced the opening of its Beijing office in March. The office is Steptoe & Johnson’s first in Asia, although the firm has advised companies doing business in and from China on matters including international trade; market access; export control; antitrust; and compliance with US and European environmental, product safety and other regulations.
“Our real stock-in-trade is regulatory work,” Eric Emerson, the managing partner of the new Beijing office, told China Business Law Journal. “We are strong in litigation and have a good corporate practice, but the areas of expertise we are really known for are the various regulatory areas.”
The firm’s existing mandates include representing the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in dispute settlement proceedings before the World Trade Organization, and representing the interests of Chinese footwear producers in anti-dumping duty proceedings conducted by the European Commission.
The firm will also focus on outbound investment. “One of the main planks of our business plan is to assist Chinese companies, state-owned or otherwise, who are leaving China to export or invest abroad and are getting tangled up in US and European regulatory systems that are vastly different from the ones they see here in China,” said Emerson.
