Episode #45 with guest John B. Quinn, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

John B. Quinn is the founder and chairman of the nearly four-decade old Los Angeles law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. The firm has been voted the world’s "most-feared law firm" ten times by independent research provider BTI Consulting, which surveyed over 300 key legal decision-makers at the world’s largest organizations.

In fact, in BTI’s annual survey - when respondents were asked the law firm that they least wanted to face as opposing counsel – Quinn Emanuel is consistently ranked number one as the world’s most feared litigation law firm.

Since 1986, John and his partners have built the largest law firms in the world devoted solely to business litigation and arbitration – which The Wall Street Journal called a “global litigation powerhouse.” In that time, Quinn Emanuel has grown to 35 offices in 12 countries on four continents, with over 1100 lawyers, generating more than $2 billion in revenue annually. In recent years, the firm has recovered over $80 billion for plaintiffs.

John also has ties to Hollywood, where, for 33 years, he served as General Counsel to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars.

An avid mountain climber, Ironman triathlete and father of five, he is also the host of the popular podcast "Law, disrupted" - www.law-disrupted.fm.

In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, he chats with host, Ajay Shamdasani, about how he found his way into the legal profession, his representation of the Bank of China, Alibaba, AliPay, and Ant Financial – juggernauts on the mainland Chinese banking and fintech / digital payments scene – as well as his belief in Singapore's importance as a dispute resolution centre for the Asia-Pacific. He also comments on how Hong Kong stacks up against the Lion City in that regard.

The conversation also covers the business rationale for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart’s focus on purely litigation and for not to representing the world’s largest money centre banks, notwithstanding the deep pockets for premium legal services that the world’s biggest financial institutions possess. It is an approach that has won the firm many plaudits amongst the plaintiffs’ bar writ large.

John also shares his candid thoughts on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) concerns at a time when such considerations in corporate operations and investing are under attack – often from prominent figures in the business world. He also comments on what can be done on the level of policy and legal reform to lure more foreign direct investment to the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The discussion concludes with John commenting on his commitment to the arts and philanthropy and the importance of giving back to society when one attains a certain level of success – such as his longstanding service to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, opening the Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles.

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.

In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, Ron Yu and Donald Day chat with host Ajay Shamdasani on the potentially pernicious consequences of non-technically trained lawyers - specifically, those without degrees or substantial experience in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) - offering advice in situations where technology is either implicated or at the core of the matter. The law can be unforgiving to those that are ignorant of its often arcane ways and ultimately, it is clients that pay for what lawyers either do not know or assume, the guests share.

In an age of AI, machine learning and large language models (LLMs) – they do not go as far as to say lawyers need to learn how to code, but counsel need to understand the practical legal, business, financial and reputational implications of such technologies for their clients.

Technology can, at times, change the rules of the game, Ron and Donald stress. Yet, they also point out that sometimes lawyers suggest contractual terms that are legally feasible but based on current technology, impractical – such as the Bitcoin 10-second consensus period: a performance requirement that is not possible to do. As our guests explain, if there are terms in a contract that are unworkable, it could lead to a lawyer killing a deal either out of ignorance of the underlying technology or a lack of commercial acumen.

The discussion moves onto how rare it is to find those that are technically trained and also licensed, practicing lawyers. Clearly, the more technical a subject, the less likely an average dispute resolution practitioner at the typical multinational, Anglo-American law firm is going to be up to the task. Our guests acknowledge that leaves clients a very narrow field of specialists to choose from if they want to be represented by lawyers who both understand both the law and the underlying technology involved.

Lawyers often view technology through the lens of the legal and regulatory compliance implications, with less focus on the implementation of a particular technology. How it will work, and how and where best to use it is an afterthought. As for cybersecurity, it is regarded as an IT issue, they say. If a lawyer overlooks the cybersecurity issues, Yu said, then they are glossing over important technical details which can harm a client.

The conversation concludes on the point that when it comes to 'tech lawyers', it certainly seems that, generally speaking in APAC, those practitioners that market themselves well have the biggest platforms and the loudest voices and are, therefore, regarded as authorities in their respective fields.

Clearly. there are times where there is no substitute for the right kind of technical background. For example, as Donald Day recalls, patent litigators not infrequently have to deal with solicitors who don’t understand the tech and those solicitors soon become a hindrance.

Both guests underscore the lingering perception that it is not ideal to engage in IP-related litigation in Hong Kong because of the lack of talent; even if a specialist carefully explains something to a solicitor, the latter will invariably get it wrong or simply not understand the subject matter.

Ronald Yu is the director and co-founder at MakeBell Limited. He is also a visiting fellow at the City University of Hong Kong's (CityU's) School of Law and a part-time law lecturer at Peking University.

Donald Day is the chief operating officer of FinTech start-up firm VDX, which is building a digital asset eco-system for institutional investors.

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.

Episode 43 with guest Jon Solorzano, Vinson & Elkins

Jon Solorzano is a Los Angeles-based attorney who serves as counsel and co-head of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) task force at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins. Prior to this role, he served as senior director for legal and corporate development at the Clorox Company.

Beyond ESG, Jon is also a highly sought-after thought leader with significant expertise in related fields such as M&A, corporate governance, securities regulation, corporate and business development, consumer products, technology, human capital management, business financial strategy, and international matters for both high-growth start-ups and established Fortune 500 companies.

Few topics are as vexatious and polarizing in contemporary times as the acronym ESG. Legendary investors such as Warren Buffet and his second-in-command, the late Charlie Munger, along with other prominent corporate and finance figures, argue that ESG should not be a consideration in investment decisions.

Against this backdrop, Jon discusses with Regulatory Ramblings host Ajay Shamdasani why ESG matters to investors, companies, and society, alongside corporate social responsibility (CSR) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). He stresses that while these concepts and movements are related and overlap to some degree, they are not necessarily the same thing. Indeed, Jon notes that those who coined the term ESG might have garnered more support for their cause had they emphasized (G)overnance rather than (E)nvironmental, as even skeptics of global warming can appreciate the importance of well-governed companies and how that affects share prices.

Jon also shares insights into his upbringing, background, and path into the legal profession, as well as how, as a transactional lawyer, he ended up leading his firm’s ESG practice.

While acknowledging the concerns of ESG detractors and naysayers, Jon predicts that 10-15 years from now, the nature of the debate and discussion will be very different. By then, few will even question the importance of ESG to the world’s well-being, he says, as millennials and Zoomers take over the reins of society in developed countries.

A telling sign that Jon's predictions are accurate is that for younger investors, ESG definitely matters as a yardstick in gauging what constitutes a socially conscious and sustainable investment.

The conversation concludes by examining the extent to which ESG mandates intersect with financial regulation, and why banking and financial institutions globally need to take ESG as seriously as their regulatory compliance and risk management requirements.

NOTE: All related links are in the #RegulatoryRamblings page at: https://www.hkufintech.com/regulatoryramblings

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.