Leading organizations often turn to Sidley and our Government Strategies team for assistance with resolving the many government, policy and political challenges inherent in conducting business on a fast-changing global landscape. Our team helps clients with a wide array of policy needs. We advise numerous companies in a range of industries on policy trends in the United States and serve as their eyes and ears in Washington, ensuring that emerging legislative and agency developments relevant to their interests are understood well before bills pass or rules are written. We also advise clients on how to respond effectively to Congressional investigations.
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Government Strategies
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- In-Depth
- Asia Pacific
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Our services, which leverage our substantial subject matter knowledge, as well as our extensive experience in the formation of law and public policy, extend well beyond those of traditional law firms or lobbying firms. Sidley possesses the best tools of both worlds to advance our clients’ objectives: the substantive and traditional legal counseling and advocacy of an elite law firm and the influential lobby firm’s ability to navigate the political and procedural landscape in which policy is made. Our unique insider’s perspective, informed by prior service across Congress and government agencies, enables us to implement strategies that serve our clients’ business interests and to advocate successfully on their behalf.
Congressional Investigations – We advise clients on how to respond effectively to Congressional inquiries. We prepare and represent witnesses in connection with Congressional testimony, interact with the investigating committee and help to manage the legal, policy, political or public relations considerations.
Legislative Lobbying – We are dedicated to ensuring that our clients’ positions are well understood by the key members of Congress who will have a major role in deciding the fate of any bill that may affect their businesses. To that end, we monitor issues, lobby on our clients’ behalf and include them in relevant existing coalitions that address their particular issues. We also help them create alliances of stakeholders with common interests. We take advantage of every possible opportunity to campaign for our clients’ positions and achieve a positive outcome.
Regulatory Policy Guidance and Formulation – Our experience in and institutional knowledge of the federal agencies enables our team to intervene on behalf of our clients at the agency policymaker level. We bring to the attention of agency administrators suggestions for outcomes that simultaneously meet the regulatory needs of the agency and the business goals of our clients. We possess an insider’s view of the political trends that influence policy development, and we advise our clients on the potential outcomes of legislative debates and agency decisions. Our approach may involve coordination with members of Congress serving on committees with jurisdiction over specific federal agencies or other private sector stakeholders with whom we share common concerns.
Issue Monitoring/Due Diligence – We vigilantly monitor developments in relevant areas of legislative and administration policy and ensure that our clients are aware not only of policy changes as they occur, but also the trends in thinking among policy makers that precede policy changes.
Our Team
The Government Strategies group is composed of professionals who are intimately familiar with how policy is made. A number of our professionals have played major roles in the drafting, enactment and regulatory implementation of landmark laws from senior-level positions in the Executive Branch, Congress and regulatory and administrative agencies. Several are also alumni of Congressional investigative committee staffs who have participated in many Congressional investigations, including Executive Branch veterans who have dealt with Congress on behalf of the White House and other federal agencies. We also have lawyers who hold the highest levels of security clearance. This rare mix of leadership and experience translates to an unusually high level of value for our clients.
Examples of our experience with P.R.C. governmental agencies include the following:
- We are proud to have acted as international counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Finance since the P.R.C. Government entered the international debt capital markets in 1994. Recently, we represented the P.R.C. Ministry of Finance in connection with the debut public offering and institutional placement in Hong Kong by the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China of Renminbi-denominated bonds in an aggregate principal amount of RMB6 billion. This transaction was named Debt Market Deal of the Year and China Deal of the Year by Asian Legal Business’ Hong Kong and China Law Awards, respectively, in 2010.
- We acted as counsel to China Life Insurance Company Limited in connection with the securities fraud class actions brought against it before the Southern District Court of New York. Sidley also won, on behalf of the client, the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ complaint by Judge Griesa of the same Court in September 2008.
- We acted as counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Foreign Affairs in two high-profile litigations before the Southern District Court of New York brought by U.S. plaintiffs in connection with defunct bonds issued by the previous Chinese government in 1913.
- We have acted as counsel to quasi-sovereign P.R.C. issuers such as China Development Bank and The Export-Import Bank of China in connection with their global bond offerings, including their Renminbi-denominated bond offerings in Hong Kong.
- We have acted as counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) as its amicus counsel with respect to an antitrust class action brought before the Eastern District Court of the United States against several Chinese manufacturing exporters of vitamin C. This is believed to be the first ever U.S. antitrust case faced by Chinese companies and the first time a U.S. law firm is representing the P.R.C. Central Government as amicus counsel.
- We acted as counsel to MOFCOM in a WTO dispute challenging restrictions on the importation of Chinese poultry products into the U.S. The engagement resulted in China succeeding in all of its claims before the WTO Panel against the U.S. and the U.S. not re-instituting the poultry import ban.
- We represented MOFCOM in a WTO dispute involving China – Rare Earths in defense of export restraints responding to claims made by the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
- We represented MOFCOM in a WTO dispute involving China – Raw Materials in defense of claims made by the U.S., the EU and Mexico concerning China’s export duty and quota measures, its quota administration regime, and its export licensing system. Sidley secured an important victory in this case by convincing the Appellate Body to annul one third of the panel report because the complainants violated China’s due process rights in making claims that were insufficiently clear.
- We represented a Chinese provincial government in connection with a commercial dispute and sovereign immunity before a U.S. federal court in California.
- We have worked closely with MOFCOM on other antitrust matters in China and maintained good working relationships with the members of its Anti-Monopoly Bureau.
- We maintain close dialogue with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).
- We have maintained close ties with the P.R.C. State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), the P.R.C. State Administration for Environmental Protection and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
- Some senior members of the China practice are P.R.C. government alumni. For example, managing partner of the Beijing and Shanghai offices, Mr. Li Lei has previously worked at MOFCOM for eight years. Mr. Huanting Timothy Li, a corporate finance partner in the Hong Kong office, also previously worked at the P.R.C. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including three years at the P.R.C. Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. Ms. Yang Chen, a life sciences senior counsel active in China, previously worked at the Legislation Bureau of the P.R.C. State Council.
Our Major Chinese Clients Include:
- Agile Property
- Alibaba Group
- Anton Oil
- Baidu
- China Construction Bank
- China Galaxy International Financial
- China Huarong Asset Management
- China Investment Corporation
- China Life Insurance
- China Merchants Bank
- China Oil & Gas
- China Resources
- Chongqing Rato Power
- CNOOC
- Country Garden
- EddingPharm
- Evergrande Real Estate
- Export-Import Bank of China
- Fosun International
- Geely Automobile
- Gome Electrical Appliances
- Guangzhou R&F Properties
- Huawei Technologies
- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
- LDK Solar
- Lonking
- New Horizon Capital
- Nine Dragons Paper
- P.R.C. Ministry of Commerce
- P.R.C. Ministry of Finance
- P.R.C. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Shimao Property
- Sinotruk
- SOHO China
- State Grid Corporation of China
- Talesun Solar
- Wanxiang
Our Major International Clients Include:
- AIG
- Akzo Nobel
- Astra Zeneca
- Avon Inc.
- Baird Capital
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Barclays
- Bayer
- Bayer CropScience
- CBRE
- Citi Ventures
- Credit Suisse
- Deutsche Bank
- GIC
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Goldman Sachs
- ING
- Intel
- Invista
- JPMorgan
- Macquarie
- MasterCard
- Medtronic
- MGM
- Morgan Stanley
- Novartis
- Pfizer
- Samsung
- Standard Chartered Bank
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- Tyson Foods
- UBS
Contacts
Areas of Focus
Related Capabilities
- Agribusiness and Food
- Banking and Financial Services
- Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
- Energy
- Environmental
- Financial Institutions
- Food, Drug and Medical Device
- Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy
- Global Life Sciences
- Healthcare
- Entertainment, Sports and Media
- Technology Sector
- Telecom and Internet Competition
- White Collar Defense and Investigations