LEI LI advises clients on a broad range of regulatory, compliance, and government enforcement matters in China and international markets, with a particular concentration in the high-tech and life sciences industries, and is one of the most respected legal practitioners in China in his areas of practice.
In the life sciences field, Lei is the co-head of Sidley’s renowned China Life Sciences Practice, which has set the record of winning the “Band 1” ranking by Chambers in the “Life Science – Greater China Region” category 15 years in a row since it was launched (2010 to 2024). For over a decade, Lei has advised multinational and local Chinese pharmaceutical and medical device companies on all types of matters across the full spectrum of the industry and has handled some of the largest and most representative matters in the industry in China in the last decade.
Lei is a seasoned antitrust lawyer, and has practiced antitrust law in China since the passage of China’s antitrust law (i.e., the Anti-monopoly Law) in 2008. Lei has focused his antitrust practice on regulatory compliance, internal investigations and government investigations. Particularly, he has handled high-stake antitrust inquiries and investigations launched by the central and provincial antitrust authorities in China, primarily in the high-tech and life sciences industries.
Lei has extensive experience in all types of anti-corruption compliance and investigation matters in China. Representing both multinational companies and local Chinese companies, he has handled a large number of government anti-corruption inquiries and investigations under both Chinese laws and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He also has advised a large number of companies in setting up their anti-corruption compliance and internal control programs in China.
Prior to joining the firm, Lei worked at the central government of China (Ministry of Commerce, MOFCOM) for eight years (1998-2006) as a senior attorney handling inter-governmental trade and investment disputes and guiding Chinese companies’ response to complex cross-border litigation. Since joining the firm, Lei has continued this practice and advised a large number of Chinese companies in various types of regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters in the U.S. and EU, with a particular focus on international trade compliance and investigation matters. In the trade defense area, Lei and the Sidley team advised Chinese solar panel manufacturers in the decade-long anti-dumping and countervailing investigations initiated by the U.S. and EU governments, which was the largest trade defense investigation in the world’s history, in addition to several other major trade defense cases (most recently, the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation on electric vehicles from China). In the economic sanction and export control areas, Lei has been advising major Chinese high-tech companies in dealing with internal compliance and government approval matters in the U.S. and EU, as well as government investigations and enforcements. Lei has played an essential role in Sidley’s success in its globally renowned international trade practice in Asia Pacific, and for 12 years in a row, Lei and the Sidley team have been recognized by Chambers as a “Band-1” team in the “International Trade/WTO” category in Asia Pacific (2013 to 2024).
For each of these practice areas, Lei has received prominent rankings by leading bar publications, with some selected ones as follows.
- For his multidisciplinary life sciences work, Lei has been recognized by Chambers (every year since 2015) and Who’s Who Legal (every year since 2016) as a leading life sciences lawyer in China, and received the prominent “Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year” award by The Legal 500 in 2023. Chambers described him as “always thinks ahead of the curve on new, emerging legal issues in the industry and provides practical solutions to them.”
- For his anti-corruption compliance and investigation work, Lei has been recognized by Chambers as a leading lawyer in China in the “Corporate Investigations/Anti-Corruption” category (every year since 2019), and by The Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in China in the “Regulatory/Compliance’ category (2024), and was lauded as “solid” and a “good longstanding practitioner.”
- For his antitrust compliance work, major awards that he received include leading lawyer recognitions by Chambers, IFLR1000, and China Business Law Journal in their respective antitrust categories since 2014.
- For his international trade and cross-border complex commercial litigation work, Lei received the “International Firm of the Year for Trade” award by The American Lawyer/China Law & Practice (2015).
- Due to his prominent work in these areas, Lei has been recognized by several influential bar publications as a leading lawyer in China’s legal community, including winning the “China Client Choice Lawyer” award by Asian Legal Business for three years in a row (2018-2020), and receiving the recognitions as “China’s Elite Lawyers” (2022) and “Visionaries” (2023) by China Business Law Journal.
Lei joined Sidley’s New York office in 2007 and practiced in the regulatory law group for three years, and relocated to Sidley’s China office in 2010.
Lei graduated from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade Law School with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1998 with high distinction. He received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard Law School in 2007, where he was a F.Y. Chang Scholar.