Already renowned as leader of international trade and competition advice, King & Wood remains vigilant to in further boosting its capabilities in this area. The firm has recently hired Liu Cheng, formerly a lead lawyer at DLA Piper’s international trade and competition practice, as counsel for its international trade group.

Liu’s main areas of practice include international trade, WTO law, antitrust, and corporate investments. Prior to joining DLA Piper’s Beijing office, he used to serve as in-house legal counsel at BASF China, where he was responsible for trade, investment, antitrust and commercial matters. Before his in-house stint at BASF, Liu practiced at King & Spalding’s Washington office and Beijing T&D Associates as consultant and associate respectively.

King & Wood has enjoyed growing reputation for its international trade and antitrust practice since before the country’s antitrust law came into force in August 2008. Led by partner Susan Ning, the firm has advised on the most high-profile deals the MOFCOM has reviewed.In October last year, Ning led the King & Wood international trade team in its advice to Pfizer’s US$68bn acquisition of Wyeth, of which MOFCOM gave conditional clearance on anti-monopoly grounds. The firm also regularly represents the PRC government in WTO cases

Liu Cheng’s departure from DLA Piper to King & Wood also follows the former’s recent loss of Rocky Lee to Cadwalader and the latter’s recent hire of Rupert Li from Clifford Chance.

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