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Daniel F. Roules
Partner
Dan Roules has 30 years of experience in international transactions in Asia, Europe and the United States and has been living and working in China for nearly 25 years. Dan manages our office in Shanghai and is the firm’s China managing partner. He has served as lead counsel on numerous cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructurings in China (including Taiwan) and throughout the Asia Pacific region, and counsels on corporate finance, corporate governance, US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and PRC anti-bribery issues, as well as the full range of operational issues for manufacturing companies in China.
Prior to moving to Shanghai, Dan spent four years in the firm’s Beijing office and three years with the firm in Taipei, where he counselled manufacturing, technology and venture companies on a wide range of matters both there and in mainland China.
During the 1990s, Dan worked for the firm in several emerging markets, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, advising multinational companies on acquisitions, joint ventures and commercial matters, and counselling multilateral financing organizations and government agencies on privatization and foreign investment matters.
- Developing entertainment and gift policies for use by US publicly-traded companies in China for use with government offices and executives of state-owned enterprises.
- Advising a US consumer goods company on its response to an inquiry into alleged price-fixing activities in China.
- Counseling a US fast food restaurant and delivery company with respect to data privacy issues under PRC law.
- Coordinating internal investigations at multinational automotive sector company based in China into various acts of wrongful conduct including vendor price-rigging.
- Advising a leading global producer of consumer goods on price-fixing issues.
- Representing a US IT company in responding to nationwide complaints by customers and legal counsel in China on alleged product defect and demands for recall.
- Designing a comprehensive IP protection strategy for a US automotive components manufacturer and counseled on implementation with a particular focus on the protection of know-how and trade secrets in China, as well as data protection and state security issues.
- Routinely counsels on PRC pre-merger filing and competition issues in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures in China.
- In connection with the firm’s work as lead global counsel to ITOCHU Corporation in its US$1.68 billion acquisition of the Asia fresh fruit and global packaged foods businesses of Dole Food Company, coordinated local counsel in more than 15 countries throughout the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East, including the investigation of real estate and foreign ownership matters, compliance, health, safety and environmental issues, competition, foreign exchange, regulatory and employment matters.
- Representing a world-recognized developer of beauty products, technology driven skin care, makeup and perfumes on data privacy/data protection issues in China.
- Advising and analyzing the compliance issues for the software product of a leading UK consulting company for marketing analysis to be launched in China, including advising on PRC regulatory issues related to map data and data privacy.
- Counseling Western clients on the data privacy implications of China's Cyber Security Law, both as adopted and as implemented.
Education
- University of Iowa, J.D., cum laude, 1986
- University of Iowa, B.A., magna cum laude, 1983
Admissions
- Ohio, 1986
Languages
- English
- Mandarin
- Recognized in China Business Law Journal’s “A-List of China’s Elite 100 Lawyers” for 2019
- Recognized as one of the Client Choice Top 20 Lawyers in China by Asian Legal Business Magazine for 2015 and 2016