Testimonials
What Michelle Chen did was successfully negotiate between an 800 year old university and a modern, fast developing city in China. This deal was unprecedented for the University. Without Michelle’s deep knowledge of China as well as Cambridge University, we simply would not have succeeded. I don’t know what we would have done without her.”
Professor Sir Mark Welland
University of Cambridge
Expertise
Dr. Michelle Chen is a dual China and UK qualified corporate lawyer with over 25 years combined experience in Asia and Europe. She has held numerous senior roles in both governmental and well-known private organizations.
Michelle has extensive experience in assisting UK and Chinese clients to navigate and bridge the gap arising from the differences in cross border legal, cultural, language and commercial practice challenges. This includes successfully completion of high profile, complicated inbound and outbound greenfield, M&A and joint venture projects, and tactfully resolving challenging regulatory and compliance issues for various clients.
Michelle advises a wide range of clients across different sectors including banking, telecom, construction, energy, sports and education.
Michelle Advises
- State-owned enterprises;
- Listed companies;
- Multinational private conglomerates.
Experience Highlights
Key experience highlights include advising:
- A prestige UK University’s first historical joint venture with a provincial government in China;
- An overseas investor in their first UK acquisition and joint venture science park project worth £200m and ongoing daily operation and compliance;
- An overseas investor with their restructuring of their UK investment projects including a project worth over £1.5b;
- An overseas investor in a corporate transaction worth £400m;
- An overseas investor with the restructuring of its UK investments in the sports sector;
- An overseas investor in their acquisition of the business unit of a world-famous DIY tool brand across 39 jurisdictions;
- Numerous Chinese state owned and private enterprises in various sectors to successfully set up their operation in the UK and provide on-going legal and compliance support;
- Numerous Chinese financial institutions in resolving regulatory and compliance issues;
- Various UK companies on their entries into China including the setting up of WFOEs and joint ventures; and on-going regulatory and compliance issues.
Career History
Previous Law Firms / In-House Roles
- Squire Patton Boggs – Partner
- Berwin Leighton Paisner – Of Counsel
- Eversheds – Senior Associate
- Hutchison Whampoa Limited – Group legal counsel
External Appointments
- Member of the consultation board for Practical Law – Thomson Reuters PLC China
- Adjunct professor of Peking University law school
- Research fellow of China Legal Research Centre (associated with the China University of Political Science and Law)
Professional Qualifications
- Qualified solicitor of England and Wales
- Qualified PRC lawyer
Education
- MA, University of Cambridge
- BA in Law (with honour), University of Cambridge
- LPC (with distinction), College of Law
- LLB in International law, Peking University
- Master in Intellectual Property Law, Peking University
- PhD in International law, Peking University