Press Release

Han Kun is pleased to welcome to the firm Mr. Weiheng Jia and Mr. Cody Chen, who will be primarily based in the firm's Shanghai office. They have extensive experience in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate compliance, and other specialized areas. The additions will further strengthen Han Kun's overall capabilities in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Mr. Weiheng Jia

Mr. Jia has focused on cross-border M&A, regulatory compliance, as well as labor and employment, and has over 20 years of practice in China and the United States. With about seven years of legal education in Japan and over four years of practice in the U.S., he is one of the few lawyers in China who can truly practice law in Chinese, Japanese and English. Blessed by his unique multicultural background and strong trilingual language skills, Mr. Jia has extensive experience in representing multinational corporations based in the U.S., U.K., Japan, and the EU nations, among many other jurisdictions, as well as PRC state-owned enterprises and private companies.

Mr. Jia has represented corporate clients on numerous deals involving M&A, formation and dissolution of joint ventures, and disposal of assets or business lines. Among these representations, more than half involved PRC state-owned enterprises, including some as national-level strategic projects. Mr. Jia has substantial experience in advising on regulatory and compliance matters covering a variety of issues, including anti-bribery and business ethics, anti-monopoly/unfair competition, as well as data security and protection. Mr. Jia is one of the few Independent Compliance Monitors in China recognized by the multilateral banks, including World Bank Group and Asia Development Bank. He has assisted over a dozen of Chinese companies to meet the compliance criteria of multilateral banks and successfully had them released from multilateral bank sanctions.

Mr. Jia is licensed to practice law in China, New York State, and before a U.S. federal court of appeals. Prior to joining Han Kun, Mr. Jia was the National Leader of Deloitte Legal Greater China and the National Managing Partner of Qin Li Law Firm, a member of the Deloitte Legal global network. While practicing as a partner at top tier U.S.-based international law firm Squire Patton Boggs, he also served as the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Shanghai Environment Group, a PRC state-owned China stock exchange-listed enterprise group, as well as the China senior legal counsel and compliance officer for General Electric's C&I Group.

In addition, Mr. Jia serves as a member of the Competition Law Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association. He was also recognized among CBLJ's "A-List of China's Elite 100 Lawyers for 2021" and among Notable Practitioners of 2021-2023 by the International Financial Law Review.


Mr. Cody Chen

Cody's primary practice areas include foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, employment, regulatory compliance, anti-corruption. He advises Chinese and International companies on various legal matters, projects, and business transactions in China.

Following the regional industry reforms and global supply chain adjustments, Cody has also advised a number of clients on dealing with China divestment projects. In the meantime, he has also advised Chinese clients on their overseas investments and cross-border restructuring. Cody's extensive advisory experience covers a broad range of industries and sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure, information technology, chemicals, life sciences, logistics, TMT, clean energy, real estate, and education.

Cody also focuses heavily on real property and construction matters. His experience covers the full life cycle of industrial property, including land acquisition, investment agreements with the local government or industrial park, planning advice, construction work, property due diligence, property disposition and acquisition, industrial facility relocation, government expropriation, and land reserve matters.

Cody is a member of the PRC Bar. Cody began his legal practice in a major PRC firm in Chongqing and then worked over a decade in the Shanghai office of an international law firm, where he headed the China real estate and construction practice. Prior to joining Han Kun, Cody worked as a partner in Shanghai Qinli Law Firm, member of the Deloitte Legal global network.