ALB China Law Awards 2006
Finalists
Real Estate & Construction
Deal of the Year
This award recognises a deal involving outstanding work in advising
a vendor, purchaser, financier or arranger on the sale or purchase,
financing or refinancing, lease or other arrangement involving a major
commercial property in the China region. It also recognises outstanding
work in advising a developer, sponsor, financier or project manager
on a major construction project
FINALISTS
Shanghai World Financial
Centre
Firms: Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Fangda Partners;
Jun He Law Offices; Oh-Ebashiand LPC & Partners
Banks: Morgan Stanley; China Construction Bank, Industrial
and Commercial Bank of China; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Shanghai Square Project
Firms: Jones Day; Zhong Lun PRC Lawyers; Fried Frank Harris
Shriver & Jacobson; Coudert Brothers; Jun He Law Offices; Deacons;
Maples and Calder
Banks: Credit Suisse First Boston
Accountants: KPMG
Shanghai Links Project
Firms: AllBright Law Office; King & Wood; Shanghai United
Law Firm; Richard Wang & Co; Llinks Law Office; Fangda Partners;
Shenda Law Firm; Zhong Lun PRC Lawyers; Beijing Gong He Law Firm; O'Melveny
& Myers; Salans; White & Case; Johnson Stokes & Master;
DLA Piper; Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
Banks: HSBC; Zero 2 IPO; New York Life; Deutsche Bank
Accountants: Deloittes; KPMG; Shulun Pan Certified
Public Accountants; PwC; Ernst & Young
DPIL commercial properties
acquisition
Firms: Mallesons Stephen Jaques; Jun He Law Offices; Appleby
Spurling Hunter; Baker & McKenzie; Llinks Law Office; Iu Lai &
Li; Noel Gilbert; Jingtian & Gongcheng
Banks: Macquarie Securities Limited
Accountants: PwC
Energy & Resources Deal of
the Year
The energy and resources market is in boom mode in the China region
and there are plenty of deals being done in these sectors. This category
recognises a major energy (such as electricity, water, solar, wind)
or resources (such as iron ore, steel, gold, tungsten) deal involving
a China party
FINALISTS
Hunan Valin – Mittal
Steel
Firms: Shearman & Sterling; Baker & McKenzie; Hunan
Qiyuan Law Firm
CNPC – PetroKazakhstan
Firms: Osler Hoskin & Harcourt; LeBoeuf Lamb Greene &
MacRae; Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison; Davies Ward Phillips
& Vineberg
Shentou I Power Plant
Firms: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Haiwen & Partners
InterGen
Firms: Clifford Chance; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Banks: Barclays Bank; Royal Bank of Scotland
Infrastructure Deal of the Year
This award recognises work in representing a consortium, financier,
sponsor, equity investor, government body or other party on a major
project to build, finance, design, operate and maintain infrastructure,
such as toll roads, railways, ports, airports, electricity, gas and
telecommunications
FINALISTS
Changzhou – CGE water
project
Firms: Allen & Overy; King & Wood
Suzhou Industrial Park water
project
Firms: Johnson Stokes & Master; Huan Tai Law Office
Hutchison Port – Dalian
Ore Terminals
Firms: Jun He Law Offices; Fada Law Firm
Hangzhou Qige wastewater
treatment plant
Firms: Junyi Law Office
IT/Telco Deal of the Year
This category recognises a transaction that took the market by storm,
involving a client whose core business was in either the technology
or telecommunications sectors. The IT/Telco sectors are fast-paced and
evolving rapidly, with the nominated transactions characterised by strict
commercial deadlines set with extremely tight timeframes
FINALISTS
Alibaba – Yahoo!
Firms: Debevoise & Plimpton; Transasia Law Firm; Maples
and Calder; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; Haiwen & Partners;
Conyers Dill & Pearman; Deacons; Morrison & Foerster
Banks: Seraphin Capital; Banc of America Securities;
Softbank
Microsoft – SAIL
Firms: AllBright Law Offices; Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton &
Garrison
SZ Domain – Tencent
Firms: Jun He Law Office; King & Wood
NGTS LAN Project
Firms: AllBright Law Offices
China Netcom – Telefonica
Firms: Clifford Chance; Simmons & Simmons; Paul Weiss Rifkind
Wharton & Garrison
Project Finance Deal of the Year
The winning project finance and infrastructure deal will stand out for
its innovation, complexity, structure and coordination. Deals eligible
for nomination in this category are project financings across a range
of industry sectors including energy, infrastructure, transport, telecommunications
and resources. This award also recognises work in representing a consortium,
financier, sponsor, equity investor, government body or other party
on a major project to build, finance, design, operate and maintain infrastructure
FINALISTS
Laibin B Project
Firms: Herbert Smith; Haiwen & Partners; Linklaters; Summit
Law Office
Banks: BNP Paribas; ICBC
Minmetal – Codelco
Firms: Sullivan & Cromwell; Haiwen & Partners; Cleary
Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Banks: China Construction Bank
Beijing MTRC Project
Firms: Herbert Smith; Jun He Law Offices; King & Wood
Accountants: Dayue Consulting Co., Ltd
GE SeaCo SRL
Firms: Linklaters; King & Wood; Lex Caribbean
Banks: Export-Import Bank of China; Citibank
Shanghai World Financial
Centre
Firms: Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Fangda Partners;
Jun He Law Offices; Oh-Ebashiand LPC & Partners
Banks: Morgan Stanley; China Construction Bank, Industrial
and Commercial Bank of China; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Debt Market Deal of the Year
The debt market in China was very active for US-style high-yield offerings
in 2005. This was due in part to PRC companies being unable to borrow
money from PRC banks – as a result of the Government’s push
to slow down the economy – and therefore looking offshore to raise
funds
FINALISTS
XinAo Gas Holdings
Firms: Linklaters; Clifford Chance; Maples and Calder; Woo
Kwan Lee & Lo
Banks: Deutsche Bank
Mandra Forestry Holdings
Limited
Firms: Davis Polk & Wardwell; Slaughter and May; Commerce
& Finance Law Offices; Conyers Dill & Pearman; Milbank Tweed
Hadley & McCloy; Morrison & Foerster; Walkers; Jingtian &
Goncheng; Linklaters
Banks: Morgan Stanley
Accountants: BDO McCabe Lo & Company
ADB/IFC – RMB bond
issue
Firms: Clifford Chance; Jun He Law Offices; Haiwen & Partners
Banks: China International Capital Corporation; CITIC
Securities
Hopson Development
Firms: Linklaters; Shearman & Sterling; Conyers Dill &
Pearman
Banks: Credit Suisse First Boston; Morgan Stanley
Chinese Future Corporation
Firms: Davis Polk & Wardwell; Slaughter and May; Commerce
& Finance Law Offices; Herbert Smith; Jin Mao PRC Lawyers; Conyers
Dill & Pearman
Banks: Morgan Stanley & Co. International Limited
Accountants: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPA Ltd
Equity Market Deal of the Year
The deal that takes out the award in this category will be a major equity
market transaction in the China region – for example an initial
public offering, a stock exchange listing or a capital raising or other
issuance
FINALISTS
CCB IPO
Firms: Herbert Smith; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom;
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy; Commerce & Finance Law Offices;
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Haiwen &
Partners
Banks: Morgan Stanley; CSFB; CICC; CCB International
Capital Limited
Accountants: KPMG
China Shenhua IPO
Firms: Herbert Smith; Sullivan & Cromwell; King & Wood;
Baker & McKenzie; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Haiwen & Partners
Banks: Merrill Lynch, Deutsche bank, CICC
Accountants: KPMG
BoCom IPO
Firms: Linklaters; Sullivan & Cromwell; King & Wood;
Slaughter and May; Shearman & Sterling; Jun He Law Offices
Banks: Goldman Sachs, HSBC
Dongfeng Motors IPO
Firms: Herbert Smith; Haiwen & Partners; Slaughter and
May; Debevoise & Plimpton; Commerce & Finance Law Offices
Banks: China International Capital Corporation; Deutsche
Bank; Merrill Lynch
GZI REIT
Firms: Baker & McKenzie; Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker;
Z&T Law Firm; Allen & Overy; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer;
King & Wood; Simmons & Simmons
Banks: Citigroup; DBS; HSBC
Accountants: PwC
M&A Deal of the Year
This award recognises the leading merger or acquisition deal of 2005
taking into account the deal value, complexity, number of parties involved
and the deal’s significance to the market
FINALISTS
Beijing Yanhua privatisation
Firms: Linklaters; Herbert Smith; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher
& Flom; Haiwen & Partners; Deheng Law Offices; Coudert Brothers;
Commerce & Finance Law Offices; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Banks: Morgan Stanley; CICC; Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers
Accountants: KPMG
Sinochem reverse takeover
Firms: Herbert Smith; Allen & Overy; Preston Gates &
Ellis; Tianyuan Law Firm; Conyers Dill & Pearman
Banks: Cazenove Asia Limited; Goldman Sachs; Somerley
Limited
Accountants: PwC; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
CCB – Bank of America
Firms: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; King & Wood;
Deacons; Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy; Commerce & Finance Law
Offices; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Banks: Morgan Stanley; CICC
Accountants: KPMG
Lenovo – IBM
Firms: Linklaters; Allen & Gledhill; Clifford Chance; Cravath
Swaine & Moore; Covington & Burling; Conyers Dill & Pearman
Banks: BNP Paribas
BOC – RBS
Firms: Linklaters; Fangda Partners; Dundas & Wilson; Sullivan
& Cromwell; Herbert Smith; Jun He Law Offices; Shearman & Sterling;
Baker & McKenzie; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; Milbank
Tweed Hadley & McCloy; Weil Gotshal & Manges
Banks: Merrill Lynch
Investment Bank Team of the Year
The winning investment bank team will have played a significant role
in achieving completion of a number of major transactions in the China
region throughout the course of 2005. The team will have demonstrated
excellent skills in coordinating deals, working cooperatively with external
legal advisers and helping to achieve outcomes that represent outstanding
results for businesses
FINALISTS
CSFB
Deutsche Bank
Goldman Sachs
Morgan Stanley
UBS
China Dealmaker of the Year
This individual has been the outstanding rainmaker at a domestic firm
in the China legal services industry over 2005
FINALISTS
Xiao Wei – Jun He
Law Offices
John Huang – AllBright Law Offices
Ma Chen – Haiwen & Partners
Yang Xiaolei – King & Wood
Liu Gang – Commerce & Finance Law Offices
Jonathan Zhou – Fangda Partners
International Dealmaker of the
Year
This individual has been the outstanding rainmaker at an international
firm in the China legal services industry over 2005
FINALISTS
Zili Shao – Linklaters
Teresa Ko – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Howard Chao – O’Melveny & Myers
Jeanette Chan – Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Lee Edwards – Shearman & Sterling
Anthony Root – Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy
Carmen Chang – Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Chun Wei – Sullivan & Cromwell
China Deal of the Year
Each of the nominated deals for ‘China Deal of the Year’
is a ‘first’ of some description. On the back of a buoyant
economy, the constant deal flow kept lawyers on their toes – with
the final list of nominees providing a shining example of a mature and
sophisticated industry
FINALISTS
To be announced on the evening
Banking Firm of the Year
Many firms have recently followed the lead shown by their banking clients
in combining their banking and projects practices. This category recognises
those firms that operate at the sophisticated and complex end of banking,
structured finance and project finance transactions
FINALISTS
Commerce & Finance Law
Offices
Global Law Office
Haiwen & Partners
Jingtian & Gongcheng
Jun He Law Offices
Junyi Law Office
King & Wood
Llinks Law Office
Pudong Law Office
Dispute Resolution Firm of the
Year
China enjoys a growing reputation for being a world-class forum for
dispute resolution in Asia. An ever-improving and efficient court system
is matched by its arbitration commission, CIETAC, having the heaviest
caseload in the world – with the impartiality of its awards lauded
FINALISTS
AllBright Law Offices
Beijing Kang Da Law Firm
Jun He Law Offices
King & Wood
Richard Wang & Co
Zhong Lun PRC Lawyers
Insolvency & Restructuring
Firm of the Year
This award recognises those firms that have assisted companies in restructuring
their affairs and getting themselves back on their feet
FINALISTS
Commerce & Finance Law
Offices
Haiwen & Partners
Jingtian & Gongcheng
Jun He Law Offices
King & Wood
Insurance Firm of the Year
Be it acting for professional indemnity insurers, handling insurance
loss adjustments, personal injury cases, problems with insurance contracts,
or simply litigating in the area, these are the firms that clients like
to instruct. While some are strong on the contentious side, or have
a particular bent to their practice, others offer broader practices
covering a range of commercial, regulatory, and personal injury issues
FINALISTS
AllBright Law Offices
Beijing Kang Da Law Firm
Grandall Legal Group
King & Wood
Shanghai KaiRong Law Firm
Wang Jing & Co
IP Firm of the Year
With the increasing sophistication of intellectual property laws in
China, this once niche area of law is now the terrain of general practices,
while the traditional boutique leaders use their IP client bases to
broaden into other areas. With such convergence, these short-listed
firms possess enviable books of IP clients and are now going head to
head for some of the same clients
FINALISTS
An Tian Zhang & Partners
CCPIT Patent & Trademark Law Office
King & Wood
Liu Shen & Associates
Managing Partner of the Year
Another individual award, this is sure to incite some debate. Careful
and considered management by each of our finalists ensured that their
respective firms finished the calendar year 2005 in a stronger position
than when they started it
FINALISTS
Gao Yang – Fangda
Partners
Wang Junfeng – King & Wood
Yongtao Zhang – Grandall Legal Group
Zhang Xuebing – Zhong Lun PRC Lawyers
Weibo Jiang – Haiwen & Partners
Offshore Firm of the Year
Although the recent SAFE regulations caused concern, the flurry of deal
activity sees lawyers at offshore firms in bullish mood. Our list of
finalist firms have a strong record on Hong Kong Main Board and GEM
listings for PRC companies, as well as listings in other jurisdictions
FINALISTS
Appleby Spurling Hunter
Conyers Dill & Pearman
Maples and Calder
Walkers
Shipping Firm of the Year
The downturn in the global shipping industry in the past few years has
undoubtedly affected practices in China. Although our short-listed firms
have deployed alternate strategies to cope with this – from the
maintenance of small operations to keep fees down, to diversifying into
other related areas – shipping and maritime law remains at the
core of their practice
FINALISTS
Global law Office
Hai Tong & Partners
H&Y Law Firm
Richard Wang & Co
Rolmax Law Office
SG & Co
Sloma & Co
Wang Jing & Co
Tax & Trusts Firm of the Year
Established tax practices can be found at a number of PRC firms although
mostly to handle tax aspects of corporate and financial transactions.
Only Co-Effort and Lehman Lee & Xu could be said to house reasonably
sized commercial tax practices
FINALISTS
Co-Effort Law Firm
Lehman Lee & Xu
International Firm of the Year
With experience counting for so much in this category, each of our 10
finalists for ‘International Firm of the Year’ is a long
term China player. Recent times has seen them move more and more of
their ‘China’ resources on to the mainland, as WTO takes
effect, so that they now offer clients sizable teams of ‘China
hands’ who can advise across a range of ‘China’ transactions
FINALISTS
Baker & McKenzie
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Herbert Smith
Jones Day
Linklaters
Lovells
O’Melveny & Myers
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Shearman & Sterling
Beijing Firm of the Year
Traditionally housing China’s strongest and most established firms,
the Beijing legal market is now one of the most competitive markets
in the world
FINALISTS
Commerce & Finance Law
Offices
Haiwen & Partners
Jingtian & Gongcheng
Jun He Law Offices
King & Wood
Zhong Lun PRC Lawyers
Shanghai Firm of the Year
Shanghai is the fastest growing legal centre in the world. The law firm
landscape is constantly evolving and the better firms are making great
strides in other centres, such as Beijing
FINALISTS
AllBright Law Offices
Fangda Partners
Llinks Law Office
Pudong Law Office
Hong Kong Firm of the Year
While recent regulation changes have permitted greater access to the
Mainland for Hong Kong firms, the SAR’s two heavyweights remain
the major players north of the border
FINALISTS
Deacons
Johnson Stokes & Master
Guangdong Firm of the Year
Our list of finalists from Guangdong Province are either headquartered
in Guangzhou or based in Shenzhen. Peers and clients, both domestic
and international, say they are successfully building formidable reputations
across a range of industries
FINALISTS
C&I Partners
GFE Law Office
Guangda Law Firm
Guangxin Lawyers
Henry & Co
Jing Tian Law Firm
Trust Law Firm
Wang Jing & Co
China Firm of the Year
Our finalists in this category have developed excellent reputations
among the international community for the quality of their advice and
all round strength. Incorporating partnership structures more and more
comparable to their international counterparts, these firms are consistently
invited for major deals and IPOs by merchant banks and underwriters,
and are starting to present a considerable challenge to the internationals
when on their home turf
FINALISTS
To be announced on the evening
Banking & Financial Services
In-House Team of the Year
Entities eligible for this category include commercial banks, fund managers,
insurance companies and securities houses, among others. While our list
of finalists perhaps have more experience dealing with non-performing
loans than transactional matters, they come heavily recommended by private
practitioners
FINALISTS
China Construction Bank
China International Capital Corporation
Bank of China
Shenzhen Development Bank
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
MNC In-House Team of the Year
Multinational corporations have been steadily expanding their in-house
capability in recent years. But the recent surge in deal activity means
that they are outsourcing more work than ever before. Our list of finalists
have enjoyed a busy year
FINALISTS
General Motors
Microsoft
Motorola
Nokia
Hutchison
Shell
Siemens
Star TV
Temasek
SOE In-House Team of the Year
While many state-owned enterprises do not yet house fully unified law
departments, nor legally trained department heads, they are evolving
quickly. Our list of finalists are the most highly recommended by private
practitioners
FINALISTS
Shanghai Stock Exchange
Sinochem
Sinopec
China Netcom
PetroChina
Baosteel
China Railway Engineering & Construction
In-House Team of the Year
The winning China in-house team will have demonstrated excellent skills
in coordinating major transactions for its employer
FINALISTS
To be announced on the evening
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to
contact Linda Randall, at Tel: (852 ) 2815 5988 or email: linda@kmimail.com