Day 6 of the 10th IBA London Finance and Capital Markets Virtual Tax Conference

David Liu

Mr. Liu is an international partner of Duan & Duan. His practice is focused on M&A transactions and commercial matters affecting cross-border investment. Mr. Liu has over 20 years' professional experience in Greater China. Prior to joining Duan & Duan in December 2019, he was a partner of FuJae Partners for 4 years, a partner of JunHe LLP for over 8 years, the managing partner of the Shanghai office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP for over 2 years, and a senior lawyer at the Shanghai office of Sidley Austin LLP for five and a half years.

Mr. Liu has extensive expertise in corporate and commercial matters. His mergers and acquisitions work has involved Chinese State-owned, privately-owned and foreign-invested companies. He has undertaken numerous transactions relating to direct investment, acquisitions, reorganizations, tax and customs in the PRC. Mr. Liu has coordinated a number of large-scale multi-jurisdictional and cross-border transactions, and counseled foreign companies on the establishment of Sino-foreign joint ventures, wholly foreign owned enterprises, and PRC representative offices. Mr. Liu also represents clients in international arbitration proceedings before arbitration institutions such as Shanghai International Arbitration Centre, and advised clients on cross-border technology, trademark and software licensing. Throughout his career, Mr. Liu has represented corporate clients of all sizes across diverse industries, including IT, high-tech, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, health and fitness, chemicals, logistics, commodities trading, precious metals, and automotives.

Rankings

• In 2016, Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific ranked him as an outstanding lawyer in corporate, M&A and taxation for China.
• In 2017, AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers ranked Mr. Liu as the Market Leading Lawyer in the area of Corporate, M&A and Tax.
• Chambers & Partners ranked him as a Band-1 leading attorney in the area of tax in China for 2018.
• Chambers & Partners ranked him as a pre-eminent practitioner in the area of taxation in China for 2019.

Phil West

Phil West, Steptoe's chair, is a trusted adviser to major multinationals, high-net-worth individuals, and governments on international tax issues, and is widely regarded as one of the premier international tax lawyers in the United States. He often achieves exceptional results for clients in complex and high-profile tax controversies; legislative, regulatory, ruling, and competent authority proceedings; and other matters. He advises clients on both technical questions and issues of broad policy significance, including those relating to tax planning, tax treaties, foreign tax credits, transfer pricing, territoriality, BEAT, GILTI, FDII, tax withholding and reporting, and the tax aspects of cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, investment funds, and financings. He also has served as an expert witness in major tax controversies involving taxpayers around the world. Drawing on three decades of private sector and public service experience, including as the Treasury Department's International Tax Counsel, the senior international tax law and policy official in the US government during those years, Mr. West often assumes responsibility for relationships with taxing authorities that have become needlessly adversarial.

In his capacity as a Treasury Department official, Mr. West played a central role in virtually every policy, legislative, and regulatory development in the international tax area. He led tax treaty negotiations, discussions, and ratification efforts involving countries throughout the world, and played a major role in the US work at the OECD. He has practical experience with many foreign tax systems and good relationships with tax officials and private practitioners around the world. He is regularly called on to advise clients and government officials alike with respect to sensitive and complex tax matters, and has testified before Congress several times on international tax matters. Chambers, The Legal 500, and other rankings consistently place him in the top tier of international tax practitioners.