Legal Awards 2021: Interview with Fang Liu
We hear from Lawyer Monthly's Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year.
What major challenges have you faced during your career in the legal sector? How have you overcome them?
In 2009, after ten years of legal practice in China, I went to the US to pursue a Juris Doctor degree. The language barrier and the cultural differences were the major challenges to me then. To overcome these challenges, I read thousands of legal opinions, recorded all the class lectures and listened the recordings sentence by sentence after the class. Intensive study and hard work had become a part of my life.
With all those efforts, I received JD, magna cum laude (top 1%, 2 out of 438) with 19 book awards and won the President’s Achievement Award from the law school.
Which of your achievements are you especially proud of?
I am very fortunate to have received the best legal educations both in China and in the United States, as well as having had the opportunity to intern with Honourable Justice Stephen Markman at the Michigan Supreme Court, practice at big law firms both in China and the US and co-author the book IP Strategy For Business with Prof. Robert Merges, one the most famous IP experts in the world.
I am also very honoured to be a Senior Research Fellow at UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) and to have met so many great people in my life.
What motivates you to achieve excellence in your work?
We each have only one life. I hope that I can live my life to its full potential. My goal is to become an outstanding transnational lawyer and a valuable member of society. I hope that my knowledge and skills can benefit society and promote our legal system.
How do you measure your success?
By whether or not I am valuable to society, and the greatness of that value.
What does this award mean to you?
I am very grateful and honoured to win this award. I hope that more people could know me and Tian Tai Law Firm – one of the largest and greatest law firms in China.
Do you have any major plans for 2022 and beyond?
I would like to have Tiantai Law Firm ally with more firms all over the world.
About Fang Liu
Fang Liu is an attorney licensed both in the People’s Republic of China and the United States (New York, California, Michigan and Washington DC). She is in charge of the firm’s international business. Her practice focuses on corporate law, cross-border M&A and international business transactions.
Fang Liu has represented numerous Chinese clients in both business and academic fields. She helped TusStar Holding to set up incubators in the United States, assisted BAIC and Camel Group in setting up their US R&D centres and advised Minth Group, Shengrui Transmission, Qingdao FengGuang Precision Machinery Co., Gusheng Biological Technology Group and dozens of other Chinese companies on their investments, M&A deals, business transactions and operations in the Unites States. She has also represented Chinese clients on various international litigation and arbitration matters.
Her US clients have varied greatly as well, ranging from Ford Motor to JPMorgan Chase Bank, Cottage Inn, Dawson Tire & Wheel, BWI Group, Nelson Fastener and Tarter Industries, among others. Ms Liu’s practice areas cover commercial litigation, transnational lending, international franchising, technology licensing and foreign direct investment.
Fang (Helen) Liu
Email: liufang@tiantailaw.com
