Northern China’s crippling bout of hazardous air pollution has certainly put the environment in focus. But can environmental public interest litigation, enabled by the latest Civil Procedure Law amendment, alleviate the problem, asks Liu Zhen

In conversation with Simon Leung, Head of Legal, Hong Kong Television Network Ltd

Kang Le, General Counsel at China Life Investment Holding Company Ltd, an alternative investment company, chats with Liu Zhen on the innovative approaches she employs in leading her young team. She believes respect is the result of performance, and places emphasis on lawyers being better organised and client oriented.

As Chinese companies listed in the U.S. have increasingly become the subject of accounting scandals, Washington has pressured Beijing to provide U.S. regulators access to the audit records of U.S.-listed Chinese companies. China’s refusal to do so has led to a regulatory standoff. Kanishk Verghese examines the ongoing dispute, and discusses its ramifications for Chinese-U.S. business and legal work in the region.

China’s struggling shipping industry should receive a little bit of encouragement from recent forecasts that it is likely to reclaim the title of the world’s largest shipbuilder by value this year, even if that it largely thanks to the even worse recession in neighbour and rival Korea.

The words China and intellectual property are often found together, but not always for the best reasons. Although protection and enforcement of IP rights has improved significantly over the past years, it is still one of the main concerns for both foreign and local companies in the country.

It has been half a decade since the U.S. housing bubble burst, triggering one of the worst economic crises the modern world has seen. The financial sector, which bore the brunt of the consequences, is feeling the squeeze of new and more watertight regulations.

After decades of in-house experience, Lu Renjiang, Deputy Director General of the Department of Policies and Law at the China Huadian (CGD) Group, one of China’s “Big Five” state-owned power generators, still believes in the sanctity of the law. He hopes that one day, reforms will help the practice of in-house counsel of SOEs as much as that of external lawyers.

In conversation with Dr. Akhil Prasad, Head of Legal, Oversight & Company Secretary, Fidelity Worldwide Investment, India

The Chinese aviation market is experiencing positive growth and offers exciting possibilities for specialist lawyers, with much of the work coming from a surprising area. Phil Taylor investigates the opportunities and challenges within this high-flying market.