About
The firm: Bird & Bird is the go-to international law firm for companies working with disruptive technology. Whether traditional businesses leveraging cutting-edge technology or start-ups changing the status quo, the firm guides clients through all the regulatory, legal and commercial aspects of this fast-moving environment. It combines exceptional legal expertise with deep industry knowledge and refreshingly creative thinking, to help clients operating at the forefront of their industries to achieve their goals. Bird & Bird organises itself around its clients, with lawyers typically arranged in groups which focus on key industries and sectors. This structure drives the firm to develop and maintain high-level expertise in practice areas and geographic regions which serve the needs of its client base. It provides a broad advisory, transactional and contentious capability, with the sector and practice groups interacting to provide the best possible service to clients. Asia Pacific: the firm has been guiding clients in Asia Pacific for almost 30 years. Its offices in the region are located in key business centres in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. The team of over 200 highly qualified and multilingual lawyers and legal professionals combines exceptional expertise with deep industry knowledge and refreshingly creative thinking to help clients achieve their commercial goals. Through a series of strategic and dynamic co-operations with leading local firms in Malaysia, South Korea and Indonesia, it has an extended geographic footprint to assist clients with their requirements in these countries. China: the firm uses its extensive experience in China to help clients navigate the complexities of China’s business and regulatory environment. This includes advice on business structures, corporate establishment and finance, M&A, commercial arrangements, technology licensing and transfer, information technology and communications services and infrastructure, the protection and exploitation of intellectual property rights, dispute resolution and regulatory compliance. Further, through its formal association with Lawjay Partners, a PRC law firm, the firm can assist clients in contentious matters in mainland China by litigating in the Chinese courts. ### Staffing Figures - 0 Number of lawyers - 44 at this office
Practice areas
Lawyers in this office
Alison Wong
Partner · Intellectual Property
Calista Chiu
Associate · Technology
Diana Purdy
Partner · Employment
Elaine Yeung
Senior Managing Associate · Employment
Hank Leung
Partner · Intellectual Property
James Gong
Partner · Data Protection
Matthew Laight
Partner · Intellectual Property
Michelle Chan
I'm a technology, telecoms and media lawyer, providing strategic, corporate and commercial advice to major players in the Asia Pacific region. I am based in London and I am Of Counsel in our Corporate & Commercial team. With over 20 years' experience on my side, I work on commercial, corporate and regulatory matters in the technology, media and telecoms sectors across Asia. I also have considerable experience advising clients on data protection issues and non-contentious IP projects, including helping our clients with data protection investigations, in conjunction with Bird & Bird's investigation and dispute practice. In recent years, I've advised on projects covering disruptive technologies such as Big Data, IoT, online payments services and FinTech. In media, I have provided advice to leading European football clubs, digital media rights holders, channel providers (traditional and online) and game developers on a range of legal matters including online streaming, capital raising and regulation. I was seconded to the APAC headquarters of Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia) in Shanghai for a year. I am dual qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and Hong Kong. I am fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. · Technology
Nathalie Sit
I am an Associate in the Greater China Employment team based in Hong Kong. I advise and represent clients on both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. I have experience handling contentious employment matters and assisting clients in pursuing/defending claims in the Labour Tribunal and the High Court. Some of these claims include pregnancy, sex, and disability discrimination, breach of restrictive covenants, breach of the terms of employment contracts, constructive dismissal, wrongful and unlawful dismissal, as well as employee's embezzlement of monies. I have assisted in various investigations into employees' misconduct such as sexual harassment, assault, and bullying. On the advisory side, I regularly advise clients on proposed redundancies, manage staff departures, advise on restrictive covenants, draft and review employment contracts, employee handbooks and policies of companies. Prior to joining Bird & Bird, I handled, alongside employment matters, general commercial litigation and intellectual property disputes in another international law firm. This has enabled me to offer clients a unique perspective.
Pattie Walsh
Partner
Sophie Wang
I am a Senior Associate in Bird & Bird's employment team, based in Shanghai. I have over 10 years of experience handling the full range of employment matters. This includes advising on the establishment and implementation of company policies, recruitment and dismissal, redundancies, compensation and benefits, labour dispatch, cross-border employment and secondment, global mobility and immigration, negotiation of employment contracts and separation agreements, compliance investigations, employee transfer in M&As and restructurings, as well as employment due diligence projects. I have advised a large number of international companies across a range of industry sectors, including manufacturing, technology, automotive, optical, furniture, medical device, financial services, entertainment, retail and wholesale, and hospitality, on various employment cases. Prior to joining Bird & Bird, I worked in the employment team of another international law firm for seven years and before that I had been working as the in-house legal counsel for a Global 500 MNC. The combination of professional experience as an external lawyer and in-house counsel allows me to better understand clients' legal needs, providing practical legal solutions and advice which add value to their businesses. · Employment
Ted Chwu
Partner · Intellectual Property
Victor Tse
Partner · Intellectual Property
Wilfred Ng
Partner · TMT