Lester Ross > WilmerHale > Beijing, China > Lawyer Profile

Lester Ross

Work Department

Antitrust and Competition; Asia; China Transactions; Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force; Cross-Border Transactions; Energy, Environment and Natural Resources; Environmental Enforcement and Litigation; International Trade, Investment and Market Access; Life Sciences

Position

Partner-in-Charge of WilmerHale’s Beijing Office

Career

As former Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, former General Counsel and current Chair of the Policy Committee and of the Insurance Forum of the American Chamber of Commerce – People’s Republic of China (AmCham), Les Ross is a longstanding leader of the American business and legal communities in China and in frequent contact with government officials and other stakeholders.

Mr. Ross concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions and regulatory matters and has experience in a broad range of industries. He has represented both foreign and local companies and has particular experience advising foreign companies on competition law and regulatory compliance in China.

Practice
Mr. Ross represents foreign companies in their strategic expansion in China through direct investments and mergers and acquisitions in industries ranging alphabetically from agriculture to water services. He also has extensive experience representing foreign banks and corporations, including Chinese entities, in their strategic expansion in the United States, particularly focusing on M&A and regulatory clearances and compliance. He has also represented clients in trade, dispute resolution and regulatory matters in China.

Publications
Mr. Ross is the author of Environmental Policy in China (Indiana University Press 1988) and co-author of Environmental Law and Policy in the People’s Republic of China (Greenwood Press 1987). He has contributed chapters to Business Law in China (ICC 2009); The Limits of the Rule of Law in China (University of Washington Press 2000), Managing the Chinese Environment (Oxford University Press 2000), China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects (Council on Foreign Relations Press 1999), Taiwan and International Trade and Investment (Oxford University Press 1994), Doing Business in China (Juris Publishing binder), Government Policies and the Misuses of Forest Resources (Cambridge University Press 1988), Policy Implementation in China (University of California Press 1987) and other books on Chinese law and business. He has written articles in such periodicals as The China Quarterly, University of British Columbia Law Review, Antitrust, China Law & Practice, International Financial Law Review, International Trade Law and Regulation, International Tax & Business Lawyer, Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, East Asian Executive Reports, Environment and Comparative Political Studies.

Professional Activities
As former Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, former General Counsel and current Chair of the Policy Committee and of the Insurance Forum of the American Chamber of Commerce – People’s Republic of China (AmCham), Les Ross is a longstanding leader of the American business and legal communities in China and in frequent contact with government officials and other stakeholders.

Fluent in Mandarin, Mr. Ross has been a visiting scholar at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences in Beijing and studied Chinese at Taiwan National University. He has conducted field work in China under the sponsorship of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China of the National Academy of Sciences.

Languages

English, Chinese (Mandarin)

Memberships

Massachusetts

New York

Education

JD, Harvard Law School, 1990

PhD, Political Science, University of Michigan, 1980

MA, University of Michigan, 1972