Tips for Setting Up Your Firm in The New China
This week, Peter A. Neumann, who recently assisted the U.S. based firm Greenberg Traurig in setting up its new Shanghai office, provided some incite into establishing a business in China at a Georgia Tech conference. Neumann, who has been living and working in China since 1993, had both words of caution and encouragement for those hoping to expand their company to this economic powerhouse. Here are some of Neumann’s suggestions:
1. Keep abreast of China’s market regulations, which are modified frequently.
2. Take your time in deciding to enter the Chinese market. Have a developed and in-depth understanding of the risks involved. Keep in mind that procuring the proper licenses and approvals can often be a frustrating process.
3. While China has opened up drastically in the last decade, some laws do favor Chinese companies and firms over their foreign counterparts.
Overall, Neumann stressed the amazing changes he has seen during his time in China, emphasizing that “China wants to be a world player and benefit from the world economy.”
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Millionaire’s Amendment Goes Before the Supreme Court
This week the Supreme Court began hearing the oral argument for the case Davis v. Federal Election Commission, a case that may decide the constitutionality of the Millionaire’s Amendment included in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. This amendment, intended to level the playing field for races in which wealthy candidates make use of their own funds, loosens the restrictions on campaign financing for opponents to those who put $350,000 or more of their personal wealth towards their run for office.
The case was brought to the D.C. District Court by Jack Davis, who ran for a congressional district in New York in 2006. Davis alleged that the law violated the rights guaranteed in the “First Amendment by chilling the speech of self-financed candidates and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment by giving the opponents of self-financed candidates a competitive advantage.”(Fastcase subscribers click for full case) The district ruled in favor of the FEC, finding no inherent threat in the amendment.
Judging from the first day of oral arguments, however, the Supreme Court justices appear divided over the issue. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the Millionaire’s amendment seems to lower restrictions in the campaign process, further protecting both opponents rights under the First Amendment. Justice Scalia, however, took issue with the idea of leveling the playing field, stating:
“What if one candidate is more eloquent than the other one? You make him talk with pebbles in his mouth?”
Let us know your thoughts on this issue in our forum.
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Lawdable Quotes: Edmund Burke
People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
~ Edmund Burke
Lawdable Quotes: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.