Mike Margolis Named as One of China Business Law Journal’s “A-List Visionaries” for 2023–2024
Blank Rome is pleased to announce that China’s leading legal industry publication, the China Business Law Journal (“CBLJ”), has named partner Mike Margolis, chair of the firm’s Asia Practice and Shanghai office, to the CBLJ’s prestigious “A-List” in the “Visionaries” category for 2023–24.
A-List Visionaries are described as “…seasoned lawyers who hold key management positions in their firms and prominent public positions,” and contribute to the overall advancement of China’s legal sector. The honorees include founders, managing partners, and leading partners of certain practice areas who “…face difficulties that far exceed the common legal realm, including but not limited to plotting a course for their law firm’s future growth, enabling it to stand out amid increasingly fierce competition.”
The CBLJ invited Chinese and global in-house counsel, executives, and partners from Chinese and international law firms, and outside legal experts, to nominate attorneys for this honor. Attorneys were not allowed to nominate themselves or colleagues practicing at the same firm. After receiving thousands of nominations, the publication sent invitations to nominated attorneys to submit further personal declarations before selecting the final Visionaries.
According to the CBLJ, Mike has “…received unanimous praise from more than a dozen lawyers for his role in bridging the gap between U.S. and Chinese companies investing in each other’s countries.”
Wang Zili, the project manager at Great Wall Motor, told the CBLJ that Mike’s U.S. legal advice is “a confidence booster for more Chinese companies doing business in the U.S., while also providing a pathway for U.S. companies to invest in China.” He also noted that Mike’s facilitation of business exchanges between both countries is particularly valuable in today’s business climate.
To learn more about the CBLJ’s A-List 2023–24: Visionaries, please click here.
Mike’s honoree profile, as published in the CBLJ, is copied in full below.
Mike Margolis
Asia Practice Chair, Blank Rome
Shanghai/Los Angeles
Practice areas
Corporate dealings in US law; Dispute resolution; Trade sanctions; Compliance
Introduction
Cross-border friendship is priceless in challenging times.
Mike Margolis has been helping Chinese businesses and investors succeed in the U.S. – and deal with the global effect of US laws – for over 20 years. As Chambers Global noted, Margolis “heads the Blank Rome LLP group dedicated to representing Chinese companies” (2015).
His work falls into three broad categories: (1) representing the Chinese side in all kinds of litigation, arbitration or other dispute-resolution proceedings in the U.S. or with U.S. adversaries; (2) advising Chinese companies regarding U.S. trade sanctions, export controls and other compliance issues; and (3) representing Chinese companies and investors in their commercial dealings with U.S. assets and counterparties (IP, M&A, financing, insurance, trade, contracts, etc.)
Margolis’ clients include household names such as Bank of China, Gemdale, ICBC, JD.com, Great Wall Motor, Tencent and ZTE. Chambers Global reported that Margolis “draws acclaim for his broad litigation expertise” (2015). In the US, he is recognized in Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers ranked him among the “Top 100 Super Lawyers in Southern California” (2014).
Margolis’ Juris Doctor degree is from the Cornell University School of Law, where he was a note editor of the Cornell Law Review. His parents were university professors – father in philosophy; mother in theatre – which helps explain both why he graduated from high school at age 15 and why he became a U.S. trial lawyer.
Margolis was appointed as an arbitrator for the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Commission in 2018 and served as a distinguished professor at the Lawyers Institute of the East China University of Political Science and Law in 2020. He recently ended a long engagement on the board of the Asia Society (Southern California) and currently sits on the board of the World Trade Center (Los Angeles).
Margolis travels frequently between China and the US, but Shanghai is his home. His friendships with clients and colleagues grew deeply when he stayed in Shanghai through the lockdowns in 2020 and 2022. His clients call him Lawyer Ma and like to say “马到成功”.