律师在外商投资中可以提供哪些法律服务？

律师在外商投资中可以提供哪些法律服务？

     外国投资者来中国投资之前，除了分析商业风险，还要考虑如何避免法律风险。虽然外国投资者在其所在国也聘有律师，但由于这些律师不熟悉中国法律，因此需要聘请当地的律师为其提供专业的法律服务。

     根据我们的经验，我们认为外国投资者非常有必要在投资过程中寻求专业的法律意见作为决策依据之一。根据客户的需要，我们可以提供从前期调查、注册成立公司到清算的一系列法律服务，具体如下：

     一、选择企业形式

     外商投资企业的三种形式是中外合资经营企业、中外合作经营企业及外资企业。中外合资企业是较为普遍的一种形式。外方具有技术、资金、管理及销售经验，而中方熟悉当地环境，具有场地厂房、生产人员、已有的销售网络、良好的公共关系等等。双方可以优势互补，但由于文化观念的差异，双方在合作过程中容易产生磨擦，甚至会出现僵局。如果外国投资者希望独立控制企业，那么外资企业是另一种可选择的形式，可省去许多合作上的磨擦。但目前一些行业尚不允许设立外资企业，且外资企业可能对中国的实情不太熟悉。因此选择何种企业形式需经过深思熟虑，在这方面律师可以帮助客户从法律角度论证设立何种形式的企业对该客户最适宜。

      二、前期调查

     如果外商决定成立合资企业，那么根据我们的经验，一个好的合作伙伴是投资成功的关键。我们建议外国投资者在与中方合作之前做一个详细的前期调查。我们可以接受客户的委托，调查意向中的国内合作者的情况，包括企业形式、注册资本、股东、董事、法定代表人、土地房产、员工、资信、涉讼情况等等，以便对国内合作者有一尽可能详细的了解。如果可能的话，我们可以帮助外国投资者了解国内合作者是否存在同业竞争的情况。 

     三、 设立程序

     律师可代表客户与国内合作者谈判，起草合作意向书、合同、章程及其他法律文本，协助起草可行性研究报告。虽然目前国内有合同、章程的范文，但我们认为这些范文均过于程式化，每一企业应根据自身特点在组织结构、权力职责、议事程序等方面详细规定，尽可能预计到所有可能出现的情况，以免今后出现纠纷时无法可依。

     四、 企业设立后的法律服务

     合资企业成立后，经营活动通过合同实现。制订各类合同范文可使管理规范化。为防止和避免今后出现争议，事先在合同中作详细约定有助于保护各方利益，对于外商投资企业而言，如何保护自身合法利益，防止合同中存在一些不公平、不合理的条款，对合同的审查尤显重要。如劳动合同、购销合同、技术转让合同、商标许可使用合同、场地租赁合同等，均需要律师的审查。另外董事会程序的合法性、文书的规范性等也需要律师的意见。我们作为日本某全球知名跨国公司的常年法律顾问，经常为其审查各类合同，以符合中国的法律并维护其合法利益。

     五、 股权转让

     如果合作双方在管理中出现较大分歧，通过协商也无法解决，那么一方便会选择以股权转让的形式退出。此时律师可代表客户进行谈判，主要是确定能为双方都接受的合理的转让价格。然后还为客户起草符合我国法律规定的股权转让法律文本。我们曾为台湾某合资公司的台湾股东受让中方股权、由合资企业转为外资企业提供全程法律服务。

     六、 提前解散清算

     如果企业出现严重亏损，或无法达到设立目的，或股东之间分歧较大，无法再继续合作经营，经董事会决议并经审批部门批准可提前解散企业。律师可以根据我国《外商独资企业清算办法》作为企业清算委员会聘请的专业人士为其提供法律意见，并起草各种法律文件。我们曾为法国某跨国公司在某市设立的中外合资经营企业的提前解散清算提供法律咨询意见，起草所有清算中涉及的各类法律文书。如果合作双方因僵局无法达成董事会决议，外国投资者则可聘请律师提起要求提前解除合营或合作合同的诉讼或仲裁。目前我们正代理一家香港公司处理其与国内投资者在合作中出现的僵局问题。

The Legal Services Related to Foreign Investment

Before they come to invest in China, foreign investors are not only concerned with the commercial risks but also the legal risks involved in the investment. Generally speaking, foreign investors have their own lawyers in their country. But because they are not familiar with Chinese law, it is necessary for foreign investors to appoint local lawyers and seek professional opinions for their projects in China.

To ensure effectiveness of investment and avoid any trap, we offer to foreign investors a series of legal services to protect their legal rights and interests.

Form of Ventures

The category of foreign invested enterprises includes equity joint venture, cooperative joint venture and wholly foreign owned enterprise. The equity joint venture is the most commonly used vehicle of investment. Foreign investors have the strengths in capital, technology, management and sales experience, while Chinese partners have the advantages in land use right, employees, sales network and good public relationship. Either side may take advantage of the strengths of the other party. However due to the difference in culture and value, disputes in management and control of power may arise during the cooperation. In some cases two parties may even go into deadlock. For foreign investors who desire to maintain sole control of the enterprise, wholly owned enterprise (WOFE) is a better option. It must be noted that in reality WOFE is not allowed for in some sectors and foreign investors may encounter problems arising out of unfamiliarity with the Chinese situations. In a word, foreign investors shall be fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each form of ventures. To achieve this, we may, according to Chinese law and based on our experience, give our legal opinions to foreign clients on selection of the form.

Due Diligence

If the foreign investors decide to set up a joint venture, we find, from our experience, that a suitable partner is one of the most critical factors which may affect the success of the venture. We strongly suggest that foreign investors undertake a through due diligence of the potential partner. We may take up instructions to do the investigation of Chinese partner and obtain detailed information in respect of the form of enterprise, registered capital, shareholders, directors, legal representatives, land and factory, employees, creditworthiness and lawsuits involved. If possible we may help foreign investors ascertain whether the potential partner is conducting any competition activities.

Setting Up

To set up a FIE, a lot of paper work shall be done as required by Chinese law. We may assist foreign investors in drafting feasibility reports, contracts, articles of association and other legal documents. Although there is some sample documents available, we find them too brief and general and we suggest that detailed clauses shall be incorporated into the contact and articles of association with respect to organization structure, duties and responsibilities of each organ, voting procedure and remedies available. Foreign investors shall make full use of the freedom of contract so as to prevent the awkward situation, i.e. there is no provision to be applicable when some real disputes arise.

Normal Operation

 After the venture is established, commercial activities are carried out in the form of contractual arrangements. Sample contracts can standardize management and make enterprises more efficient. To avoid disputes and protect interests of enterprises, we suggest our client to prepare contracts of all kind in the normal business operation, such as employment contract, sales of goods contract, technology transfer agreement, trade mark licensing agreement and lease agreement. Then we will review each of these contracts and make the clauses more favorable to our clients. In addition we may also be instructed by our clients to participate in their board meetings to ensure legality of procedures and resolutions. One of our clients is a well-known Japanese multi-national company, which attaches more importance to review of contracts by lawyers.

Transfer of Shares

In the event of deadlock between the parties and failure to reach agreement through negotiations, one of the escape routes for foreign investors is to transfer its shares in the enterprise. In this case, we may act for our clients to negotiate with the other party, most importantly to help decide a reasonable price of transfer of shares, which can be accepted by both parties. Another work is to draft the agreement in accordance with Chinese law on the transfer of shares related to foreign invested enterprises. We have successfully assisted a Taiwai Company in a share transfer matter in relation to a joint venture company in Zhejiang Province.

Early Termination

If a FIE suffers a great loss, or can not achieve its goal specified in the contract, or experiences a deadlock, and it is impossible to continue the business, the board of directors shall make a unanimous resolution in respect of the early termination of contract and apply for approval to the original approval authority. During the liquidation, the liquidation committee may seek lawyers’ opinions or may appoint lawyers as members of the liquidation committee. We have acted for a French company in an early termination and liquidation of a joint venture enterprise. We gave our legal opinions and drafted all the documents required in the liquidation procedure. If two sides can not call a meeting or reach a unanimous resolution on the early termination due to serious deadlock, foreign investors may instruct lawyers to bring a case to court or submit the dispute to the arbitration commission applying for early termination of the contract. At present we are acting for a Hong Kong company to resolve the deadlock with a Chinese partner.