Evan Y. Chuck

Evan Chuck is a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office and is a member of the firm’s International Trade and Corporate Groups. He leads the firm’s Asia practice and is also a director of the firm’s China office in Shanghai.

Evan has more than 25 years of international trade and cross-border transactional experience. He has been a strategic advisor to Fortune 500 companies in structuring market entry, global supply chain and e-commerce strategies across the Asia-Pacific region. He has in-depth experience in China with cross-border acquisitions/dispositions, government regulatory compliance, and investigations. He advises major multinational companies on navigating the potential conflicts between and among U.S., E.U., and newly emerging Chinese law, including the Anti-foreign Sanctions Law, the PRC “Blocking Statute”, the PRC Export Control Law, Unreliable Entity List, the PRC Cybersecurity Law, and the PRC Data Security Law. He has also been representing a select group of large, multinational Chinese companies with complex U.S. transactional, tax, and regulatory issues. Evan works closely with the firm’s government affairs group and consulting group, Crowell & Moring International, to align global geo-political policy and strategy with cross-border legal advice.

Evan is a member of Crowell & Moring’s Coronavirus Working Group. He is advising multinational companies on the rapidly changing government orders in the U.S., E.U., U.K., Middle East and Asia impacting operations and supply chains. He is guiding clients procuring personal protective equipment (PPE) from China and other parts of Asia, particularly with respect to changing export control rules and the impact of applicable US trade, health and safety laws and regulations.

His experience includes representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies in their expansion, operations, and disposition across Asia – including China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and India. He has experience in a broad range of technology and data intensive industries, including aerospace and aviation, electric vehicle (EV) and automotive, medical devices, semiconductors, power generation, software/cloud computing, "internet of things" (iOT), wood and paper products, industrial water infrastructure, health care/pharmacy benefits management, advertising and public relations, video game development, and architecture/engineering design services. Evan has also represented well known U.S. and European luxury and sports-related brands growing in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in their e-commerce strategies targeted at Chinese consumers. His experience includes representation of companies in the cosmetics, apparel/accessories, food & beverage, hospitality, and luxury department store segments expanding into China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

He began his career as an international trade lawyer in Washington D.C., representing U.S.-based companies in major unfair trade disputes. He continues to advise U.S.-based companies with complex supply chains in the ongoing Section 301 trade dispute between the U.S. and China. On behalf of the U.S. lumber industry, Evan helped file a constitutional challenge to the bi-national dispute resolution mechanism of the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement which ultimately led to a settlement between the two countries. Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, he served as the chair of a global firm’s International Trade group for seven years and also served as the managing partner of that firm’s Shanghai office for seven years.

Representative Matters

• Represented a publicly-traded, NYSE listed multinational company in the competitive bid of Chinese assets in connection with the $230 million global disposition of its performance and lifestyle footwear business.
• Represent multinational companies in developing “China plus rest of world” strategies focusing on the impact of increasing Chinese and U.S. regulation of technology that impact both manufacturing-intensive supply chains as well as businesses that rely on China and Asia as technology development centers for other parts of their worldwide business.
• Represented a NASDAQ listed multinational company in an investigation of possible fraud, corruption and violations of foreign exchange and sanctions laws in China as part of a global investigation in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia.
  
• Represents the private equity owner in the re-launch of its iconic toy store brand in China, with flagship stores planned in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as 30 smaller stores and shops in 200 department stores across China.
• Advised a consortium of Chinese companies acquiring a stake in the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.
• Represented an American chain of luxury department stores in its investment into a Hong Kong company with a discount "flash" e-commerce website in China for the purpose of developing luxury e-commerce and retail business in the People's Republic of China.
• Advised an international cosmetics company on PRC regulatory requirements, particularly with respect to China's food and drug regulations, product labeling rules, and China Customs regulations impacting duty-free sales in designated airports.
• Represented a global pet accessory store in the restructuring of its Chinese and Hong Kong operations in connection with the sale of the interests of its primary private equity shareholder to a private equity firm.
• Handled the disposition of Chinese assets for an American worldwide manufacturing company in a recent multijurisdictional sale of its mining business to another American manufacturing company for more than $1 billion dollars.
• Advised a U.S. publicly traded pharmaceutical benefits management company in establishing operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China in order to participate in China’s $124 billion health care stimulus program.
• Represented a manufacturer of GPS-enabled cell phones in its expansion and licensing of certain state-controlled technology as part of its entry into the domestic Chinese market.
• Represented a Hong Kong-based private equity fund in an investment in a tripartite joint venture and parallel offshore fund focusing on real estate and infrastructure investments in greater China.
• Represented an Indonesian Chinese company as an investor in a Taiwanese-sponsored limited partnership focusing on infrastructure investments in greater China.
• Represented a U.S. entertainment company in development of a flagship retail megastore in Shanghai.
• Advises an Italian luxury goods manufacturer on streamlining its supply chain and labeling issues in China.
• Advises a German footwear company on its anti-counterfeiting strategy in Asia.
• Representing a multinational construction equipment manufacturer in the development and build-out of a new manufacturing facility near Shanghai.
• Negotiated design and construction contracts on behalf of a collections-based educational and research institution with the design and construction of one of the largest Chinese classical gardens to be built outside of China.
• Represented a major U.S. entertainment company on cross-border issues relating to its bid to develop and operate a billion dollar integrated resort in Southeast Asia.
• Advised the management team in the buyout of a distributor of Indonesian tires by one of China’s largest tire manufacturers.
• Designs and implements a cost-savings program for a U.S. industrial construction materials manufacturer involving the transfer of U.S. manufacturing operations to a maquiladora factory in Mexico.
• Structured offshore entities and operations of a U.S. semiconductor equipment manufacturer to take advantage of low cost labor and financial incentives in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Affiliations