On 12 December 2024, the esteemed Legal 500 China Awards 2024 gala was held with great fanfare at the Rosewood Beijing. The event was a constellation of legal gurus, with partners from renowned law firms and corporate general counsels across the globe convening to celebrate the occasion. Llinks managing partner Mr. Christophe Han and Llinks partner Dr. David Pan were among the distinguished guests in attendance.
During the ceremony, The Legal 500 unveiled the winners of this year's awards. Llinks was distinguished for its exceptional expertise, stellar performance, and outstanding market reputation in the realm of data protection, securing the "Data Protection Law Firm (PRC Firm) of the Year" accolade. Dr. David Pan was also honoured with the "Data Protection Lawyer (PRC Firm) of the Year" award.
David Pan, Partner
A graduate of Harvard Law School and Shanghai Jiao Tong University's KoGuan Law School, where he obtained his Master of Laws and Doctor of Juris Science, Dr. Pan holds legal qualifications in both China and New York State.
With two decades of legal practice in China and the U.S., he is deeply familiar with the business cultures and legal frameworks of both nations. Dr. Pan has worked at prominent Chinese law firms and served as General Counsel for a leading multinational corporation. His clientele includes domestic and international investors and institutions, handling complex transactions in M&A, joint ventures, FDI, strategic alliances, cross-border deals, technology licensing, and franchising, across a variety of sectors such as automotive, investment, energy, healthcare, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, manufacturing, culture and sports, retail, consumer goods, and real estate.
Dr. Pan is adept at providing pragmatic anti-bribery, anti-monopoly, and anti-unfair competition compliance legal services for businesses operating internationally, drawing on his profound understanding of business operations.
Beyond traditional compliance, Dr. Pan has been advising on legal issues related to overseas server setup, data logging, personal information collection and usage, data integrity, and centralised data processing. His extensive experience in data privacy has led him to establish or refine compliance systems for over a hundred companies in sectors like automotive, tourism, e-commerce, internet, retail, education, services, finance, healthcare, large-scale manufacturing, and sports and entertainment, covering the full spectrum of data collection, storage, usage, transfer, and destruction. He also offers services in cybersecurity, digital transformation, data asset transactions, and big data compliance.
Dr. Pan has been recognised as a leading lawyer in China in the fields of corporate, compliance, anti-trust and competition law, and cybersecurity data by prestigious rating institutions including ALB, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, LEGALBAND, Who's Who Legal, The Asian Lawyer, asialaw Profiles, China Business Law Journal, and Legal Guru Club.
In addition to his legal practice, Dr. Pan serves as a guest professor/adjunct instructor at institutions such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Law and Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, the Director of the Data Compliance and Cybersecurity Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association, an appraisal expert at the Shanghai United Property Exchange, and a third-party evaluation expert for the compliance non-prosecution pilot project in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, among other social roles.
The Legal 500 China Awards are designed to recognise the outstanding contributions of law firms, individual lawyers, and in-house legal advisors and teams to China's rapidly evolving and complex legal market over the past year. The selection process is based on The Legal 500's leading independent annual research, encompassing world-class comprehensive Chinese law firms, boutique firms, and foreign law firms that collaborate closely with Chinese parties. These law firms leverage their unique strengths in their respective projects. The review team, leveraging their deep understanding of jurisdictions and various practice areas, selected the final award winners.
