Tsar & Tsai Law Firm is a leading Taiwan-based law firm that provides services to local and foreign clients on all aspects of commercial transactions, and on domestic and international dispute resolution and litigation. The Firm was founded in 1965 by Ruchin Tsar ( -1993) and Paul C. Tsai( -2013), and has since grown to its present size of over 70 professionals, including lawyers, trademark agents, and patent attorneys and engineers. Tsar & Tsai has long been known as one of the most prestigious law firms in Taiwan.
Tsar & Tsai has always maintained a diverse, international character. The majority of attorneys received legal education and training both domestically and overseas in the United States, Japan and other major countries. The firm’s clientele includes many multinational enterprises and local listed companies. A distinct capability of the firm is that it can deliver direct services in fluent English and Japanese.
Attorneys of Tsar & Tsai actively participate in local legal education, teaching at law schools and frequently contributing to professional and academic publications. The firm is very conscientious of its social responsibilities and regularly performs works on pro bono basis.
Tsar & Tsai’s practices include the following areas:
Foreign Investment
The Firm has a long history of advising multinational clients on all aspects of foreign investment in Taiwan (and more recently on outward investment into foreign countries), including tax and foreign exchange control issues. With the client’s business objectives in sight, the Firm provides advice on joint ventures and on the formation of branches, subsidiaries, and other ways of establishing an ROC presence, such as liaison and representative offices, as well as on franchising, trademark licensing, and technology transfers. The Firm also prepares all pertinent documentation, and provides explanations and guidance on the government’s approval process. The Firm actively represents clients before administrative agencies and also has considerable experience in advising on matters relating to procurement by the ROC government from foreign contractors.
Banking and Finance
The Firm is experienced in representing large banks and other financial institutions, both Taiwanese and foreign. Attorneys in the Firm negotiate and draft loan and security documents, drawing from their familiarity with various financing structures. The Firm also reviews proposed credit and security documents on behalf of foreign clients for validity and enforceability under ROC law. The Firm also provides advice with respect to legal issues in enforcement proceedings, including work-out arrangements, re-financing, collection of debts, bankruptcy, and priority issues.
Insurance
The Firm is experienced in handling legal matters related to insurance. Over the past decades, the Firm has prepared and filed numerous successful applications with the ROC Ministry of Finance (now the ROC Financial Supervisory Commission) for admission of foreign insurance companies into Taiwan and establishment of branch, subsidiary or joint venture insurance companies, as well as focusing on strategic entry alternatives. The Firm is also experienced in advising, structuring and assisting insurance companies in their application for and implementation of business and/or policies transfer. The Firm advises on insurance agency, brokerage and adjustors operations in Taiwan, bancassurance, innovative insurance policies and products, claims litigation, investment of funds, and reinsurance.
Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions
The Firm is actively engaged in providing legal advice pertaining to ROC corporate law and M&A related laws. Its practice includes incorporations, joint ventures, reorganizations, dissolutions, mergers and acquisitions, and tax planning relating to such transactions.
Securities and Capital Market
The Firm advises on all matters related to the issuance and trading of securities and the regulation of securities firms, including public offerings and listing requirements, regulations governing the Taiwan Stock Exchange and OTC, regulation of underwriters, brokers and traders, mutual funds, insider trading and tender offers, creation of new financial instruments (such as GDR, TDR, convertible bond, etc.), and margin lending. The Firm has expertise in both domestic and cross-border aspects of the foregoing.
Construction and Government Procurement
The Firm has vast experience in advising clients on legal matters related to construction and government procurement projects. The clients in this area are mainly international contractors undertaking major infrastructure projects in Taiwan as well as ROC government agencies, such as the rapid transit system projects, power plant projects, incinerator projects and the high speed rail project. Our services range from advising clients in preparing a tender and negotiating commercial terms and conditions of the contract, to helping the client prepare a claim and eventually settle the dispute through either negotiation, arbitration or litigation.
Intellectual Property
The Firm has considerable experience and expertise on all matters related to trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other types of intellectual property, including the protection of trade secrets. The Firm has a very well-staffed intellectual property department with patent and trademark experts who assist clients in prosecuting trademark and patent-related applications. The Firm has vast experience in assisting its clients to take anti-counterfeiting measures, prosecute infringement claims, and defend against infringement allegations. The firm actively participates in efforts to effect changes in the law for increased protection of intellectual property and enforcement measures.
Tax
The Firm’s tax attorneys are experienced in all aspects of tax-related issues, providing services to domestic and international corporate and individual clients on tax-sensitive issues from tax audits to appeals and litigation. The Firm has maintained an international reputation for its experience in international tax in relation to business transactions in Taiwan.
Admiralty
The Firm handles the legal aspects of ship sales, ship financing, charterparties, cargo claims and bills of lading, arrests of vessels, freight forwarding, mortgage foreclosures, maritime liens, general average, salvage, collisions, marine insurance, and personal injury.
Litigation, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
The Firm is highly experienced in litigation on all types of matters before the District Courts, the High Court, and the Supreme Court of the Republic of China, and the Firm is well-known for its quality of service and the results it obtains in handling cases. Attorneys in the Firm are also experienced in representing clients in hearings before government agencies and the ROC Administrative Court, and have participated in both international and domestic commercial arbitrations such as the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and arbitrations administered under the ROC Arbitration Law. The Firm often resolves complicated questions on conflicts of laws, and is familiar with enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards in Taiwan.
In addition to representing clients in local and international litigation and arbitration , the firm provides litigation support services to litigants and/or their foreign legal counsel. Such litigation support services extend to all phases of litigation or arbitration, including discovery, trial, service of process and enforcement proceedings. Examples of such services include assisting in or conducting document search, collection, and review; preparing witnesses for depositions; conducting or defending depositions; conducting corporate internal investigations; interviewing witnesses; translating Chinese documents, and assisting in preparations for trial.
Employment and Labor Relations
Employers in certain industries in the ROC must conform their operations with ROC labor statutes and regulations. The Firm advises employers on compliance with these rapidly developing laws, and assists employers in negotiating and drafting employee contracts and company regulations. Attorneys in the Firm handle disputes and claims in the areas of severance pay, pensions, welfare funds, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, occupational hazards, and labor insurance.
Fair Trade Law and Consumer Protection
The Fair Trade Law and Consumer Protection Law have been in force in Taiwan for decades. The Firm has accumulated first-rate capability and experience in handling and advising on cases in these areas, including combination/merger applications or filings, issues concerning monopolies, concerted actions, and conflicts between intellectual property rights and the Fair Trade Law, etc. The Firm also has a reputation for its experience and quality of service in handling disputes in said areas both before government agencies and courts.
Telecommunications / Information Technology
The Firm has considerable experience in structuring deals and advising on matters related to telecommunications and information technology, including matters concerning cable laws, satellite laws and direct broadcasting, cellular phones and information technology services, licenses and bids.
Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts
The Firm provides sophisticated and customized, domestic and offshore, estate planning services to meet our individual clients’ goals and needs. Through its experienced and specialized lawyers and tax experts in the estate-related laws and tax laws area, the Firm has vast experience in advising clients on all aspects of estate planning, inheritance and tax-related issues (domestic and offshore), and is experienced in assisting clients in drafting necessary documents related to wills and trusts. In addition, the Firm is also experienced in handling complicated estate and inheritance-related disputes and litigation.
Other Areas
ROC law is developing in many new areas, such as pollution control, immigration, and relations with mainland China. The Firm keeps abreast of all these developments, and in many instances at the behest of clients, engages in efforts to influence the formulation of new law or changes in existing law.
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