Nick Chan, MH, JP, a partner based in the Hong Kong office, is experienced in guiding clients in projects in around two dozen countries in Asia Pacific. Nick serves clients utilizing his computer science background with in-house experience at two Fortune 100 technology companies where he had regional responsibilities. His core legal disciplines include corporate and commercial, cross-border and international M&A, private equity and venture capital work, intellectual property, competition laws, data privacy, cybersecurity, law drafting, regulatory advocacy, disputes resolution, regulatory and compliance with a focus on artificial intelligence, advertising and media, anticorruption, big data, smart data, cloud services, content acquisition and licensing, data center services, e-commerce, education, defense against COVID-19, franchising and licensing, fund formation and investments, PaaS, SaaS, biotech, RegTech, LegalTech, autonomous vehicles, FinTech, life sciences, LifeTech, energy, aviation, spaceTech, smart retail, smart government and many other industries.
His clients include universities, governments, sovereign funds, private equity firms, venture capital firms, startups, entrepreneurs and multinational corporations. He has acted in many multibillion-dollar M&A projects, cross-border and multinational inbound and outbound investments, prevent and resolve investor state disputes, PE/VC and IP licensing projects that help commercialize technology that impacts on everyday life. Nick has worked on the liberalization of telecommunications markets in many jurisdictions, including market entry and exit, joint ventures, multibillion-dollar technology projects, submarine cable projects, data center projects and spectrum allocation projects, as well as drafting of competition guidelines, IP and commercialization policies.
Nick devotes a lot of time to advancing the Rule of Law, innovation, technology, education and the broader community, serving in various roles over the past two decades, such as elected National People’s Congress member of the People’s Republic of China, where he participates in drafting laws and formulating policies for the country, member of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, vice chairman of the eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre and vice chairman of the Law Society Belt and Road Committee.
The Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau has appointed Nick on a government board in a pro bono personal capacity to help vet and approve organ transplant surgeries in Hong Kong. In addition, Nick serves as the honorary legal adviser to the AAPEG Hong Kong Baptist University, MILESAA Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Aviation Industry Association (HKAIA), Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing, Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association (HKISPA), Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF), International Federation of Creativity and Technology (IFOCAT) Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association (MCMIA) and Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Devices Industries Association (HKMHDIA).
Nick frequently appears in print, as well as on radio and television programs, and is a columnist with a weekly column in a leading newspaper to help share legally related information with the public. He has spoken at international conferences in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taipei, Malaysia, Moscow, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the US. He led a panel of business leaders and experts in discussing opportunities and challenges for the financing and operations of data centers at an international data center conference. Nick has also guest lectured on competition laws and opportunities before executives of the dominant fixed-line operator in China at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Nick’s articles have been published in China Law & Practice and Hong Kong Lawyer, the official journal of The Law Society of Hong Kong. He regularly contributes to World Bank studies and has a legal column in SingTao, one of the leading Chinese language newspapers.
Nick has guest lectured at business schools and Peking University. In addition, in 2022, he will be Visiting Fellow to teach Law, Business and Technology at City University’s LLM program. He has addressed a wide range of subjects, including implications of an amendment to the Copyright Ordinance to the creative industry, the introduction of competition laws in Greater China, e-commerce and m-commerce, triple-play in China, antispam laws, e-marketing opportunities, and the practical and legal aspects of China’s revised labor laws, National Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law.