Prior to private practice, Dr. Steven Yu served at Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Centre, the first Chinese World Trade Organization (WTO) service body, where he advised government agencies, enterprises and industry associations on trade compliance upon China’s WTO access.

Dr. Yu started his private practice in 2003, focusing on trade law, foreign investment law (including Chinese enterprises’ foreign investments and foreign investments in China), corporate and commercial. He leads the Firm’s team representing Chinese clients to safeguard their trade and investment interest in various jurisdictions; on the other hand, he assists foreign chambers and many international companies for their interest in front of Chinese authorities as well as courts.

Dr. Yu worked in Washington-based law firms for several years. Between December 2008 and June 2011, he worked in a Washington D.C. law firm as of counsel while he was a visiting researcher at Georgetown University Law School. Due to his expertise in international trade practice, Dr. Yu is regularly interviewed by primary media at home and abroad.

In 2013, Mr. Yu was named one of the “Chinese Foreign Leading Lawyers” by All China Bar; in 2015 and 2016, he was twice awarded “Client Choice Top 20” by Asia Law Business (ALB). Most recently, China Business Law Journal named him China’s elite A List lawyers. He is a senior law and policy adviser for Jiangsu MOFCOM, and also an adjunct professor for the outstanding law schools in China, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China University of Political Science and Law and Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. He is a writer or contributor to many publications on WTO and trade law and practices.
Mr. Yu works daily in Chinese and English.

Representative Cases

• Legal analysis on the WTO compliance of China’s measures concerning imported cosmetics from BSE countries (EU Chamber of Commerce);
• Legal services for take-over of a global 200 company (including due diligent investigation on the assets in China (A Thai invested wholly foreign owned enterprise, “WOFE”);
• To deal with a crisis of labor strike in Suzhou Industrial Park (A Thai invested WOFE);
• Litigation and other means to safeguard intellectual property rights for foreign companies, in front of government agencies and court;
• Day to day operation advice for market access and compliance in China (A US invested chemical company);
• Advice for commercial contract and IP protection in China (Sweden invested companies);
• Dispute resolution in the US (negotiation and court action) for a new energy company;
• Section 337 investigation concerning iron and alloy steel products (Representing Baosteel Group, which is undergoing);
• Legal advice and commercial consultation for establishment of an investment company in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone;
• Legal service for a FTZ company to set up a branch office out of the FTZ;
• Antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Multi-layered wood flooring by the US Department of Commerce (USDOC) (one of his mandatory client excluded from the antidumping duty);
• Antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on plywood by the USDOC (one of his mandatory client got zero, which was ended with negative injury determination in the final);
• Antidumping duty investigation by the USDOC on wooden bedroom furniture (One of his client got zero in the final determiation and thus being excluded from the antidumping duty orderr);
• Antidumping duty investigation and reviews on actviated carbon by the USDOC (representing seveal mandatory responsents in the past 10 years);
• Antidumping duty investigation on Grain-oriented Silicon Steel Originating from 6 countries including China by the European Union (EU) (His client Baosteel was assigned the lowest AD rate among all the subject countries);
• Antidumping Investigation on Leather Footwear from China by the EU (Helped an Adidas’s suppliers excluded over 95% of the subject products, and advised to form a coalition for Chinese Exporters to defend their interest collectively);
• Antidumping investigation by the EU on Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells from China (we represented several big producers and successfully reached price undertaking with the EU Commission).