Peter C. Pang: Helping Businesses Gain Access to the Chinese Market

When Being Right Matters®, clients engage IPO Pang Xingpu Law Firm as the firm delivers practical results, on point on time, on budget, with no excuses. It is this dedication to client service and its relentless pursuit of value for the client that formed the foundation upon which the firm was founded nearly 40 years ago by Peter C. Pang, founder, Chairman, and Managing Partner. With more than 40 years as a practicing attorney in the U.S and China, Mr. Peter C. Pang now leads a team of lawyers, legal assistants and expert consultants with offices in Shanghai, China and a correspondence office in Washington DC. He practices exclusively cross-border transactions, with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, foreign direct investments, franchise law, intellectual property law, corporate governance and compliance, employee law, and dispute resolution. Mr. Pang has written numerous blogs and articles on Chinese law and legal issues. He is also a frequent speaker at bar organizations and civic associations.

Before starting his private practice, Mr. Pang was an in-house corporate and intellectual property counsel at Shell Oil Company where he focused on protecting the Shell family of marks. He also had the opportunity to work and live for several years in Houston, Texas. When the opportunity arose, he jumped at the chance to serve as M&A attorney for Hershey Foods, which afforded him the opportunity to immerse in multi-billion dollar acquisitions and work and live in the heart of the Amish Country in Hershey, PA. Thereafter, Mr. Pang was recruited to serve as Vice President and General Counsel for Dole Packaged Foods in San Francisco, California where he worked on the Company’s transition from Hawaii to the Philippines and Thailand, while maintaining corporate offices in San Francisco. He managed a team of lawyers and legal assistants and worked directly under the President of the Company as a member of the senior management at Dole. When the world of M&A hit Dole with all its restructuring, Mr. Pang felt it was time to move on and was appointed Chief Corporate Counsel for Nissan North America, in Torrance, CA where he oversaw the introduction of the Infiniti brand and served as the chief attorney servicing Nissan Motor Ltd, the Japanese parent and its North American operation. It was a massive job and one he excelled in and enjoyed immensely, but also oversaw many challenges, from both the business and the legal perspective, particularly at a time when Nissan was struggling with its own brand identity and economics, having just converted from the Datsun brand to Nissan. Then, well, Los Angeles is Los Angeles. It is what it is. A great city with great promise, until the riots came to town in 1991. A terrible consequence of inequities written in the annals of the history books.

After 3 years at Nissan and all the challenges, Mr. Pang had a bigger calling. This time, it came from his father who suggested that he return to China to seek his “fortune” which in the early 1990’s, was just the beginning of China’s bustling climb as a world economic power. Mr. Pang Sr. was well connected with the Chinese government and suggested his influence might be helpful to Mr. Pang’s re-entry into the Chinese market after so many years overseas. Mr. Pang felt the timing and opportunity was right and picked up his “bags” and moved first back to Hong Kong and then to Guangzhou, China where he set up the predecessor of this current firm. With help from his father and his government “connections”, Mr. Pang opened one of the first legal and consulting firms dedicated to assisting foreign companies to do business in China, the right way. In Guangzhou, the firm flourished assisting clients with their entry issues into China and eventually, the office moved to its current location in Shanghai in early 2000. In the early 1990’s, everything was game. China was growing and eager to expand her factory production might. Consumer demand and consumption started to grow as disposable income ballooned from the growing trade with the rest of the world, and within a decade, this disposable income translated into a tsunami of buying and insatiable consumption for luxury goods.

Four decades later, the firm patriarch is still working the ropes. Asked why with all his successes? The answer is always answered with a big grin: “I love what I do”. Mr. Pang works 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 24 hours sometimes when traveling helping international clients to gain access to the Chinese market and Chinese businesses to expand their wings and footprint throughout North America and Europe. With a national and international perspective on the legal and business environment of both the East and the West, Mr. Pang understands the business, cultural and legal differences between the east and west, and ways to bridge the gap. This unique understanding and insight has enabled him to help international clients to effectively, efficiently and successfully navigate through the Chinese bureaucratic and regulatory red-tape. For his Chinese clients to realize their outbound ambitions, the years Mr. Pang spent working and living abroad in North America, traveling and working in Europe and other locations came in handy as he advises them how to partner in the most effective way.

Early Life

During his early life, Mr. Peter C. Pang grew up in Hong Kong, Singapore and Guangzhou where he learned from his parents the value of education and the importance of integrity. He also learned that courage and honor to the family come in many forms, but the best way to bring honor and demonstrate courage is to stay committed to one’s goals regardless of uncertainty and to never renege one’s integrity no matter how hard it might be as the greatest honor one can bring to his family is integrity without compromise. Armed with these two principles of which he steadfastly subscribes to 40 years later, Mr. Peter C. Pang , went overseas for education and never regretted his decision. His parents were educators, who taught him the value of knowledge and to use that knowledge for the betterment of mankind. After leaving China, Mr. Peter C. Pang higher education at schools that included University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in Biochemistry. Later he attended Santa Clara Law School where he received his JD, the University of Houston for his Masters of Law in International Economic Law, Duke University for his executive business education, Hong Kong University, and Tsinghua University for further studies in Law and Economics.

The inception of IPO Pang

Mr. Peter C. Pang founded IPO Pang during the 1990s with keeping one mission in mind: assisting foreign enterprises to meander the complex intricate and often non-transparent legal bureaucracy of China. The goal is to assist multinationals to effectively trade with China, leveraging China as the manufacturing hub for their products and services. It is a journey that is fraught with challenges and land mines, and one fraught with delays and costs overruns, until now. Over the last 40 plus years, IPO Pang established an unblemished record of helping companies become profitable, efficient, and compliant notwithstanding the changing regulatory environment. When a dispute arises, IPO Pang stood as a formidable advocate for the foreign enterprise and lack no reluctance to go to court or eke out a win win settlement. As it is often said as a mainstay of the Firm philosophy, “We Do Not Sell Time, We Sell Solutions®”. Relentless dedication to service. Uncompromising attendance to detail. Unyielding representation of client interest when a client needs it the most. This is the basic foundation of IPO Pang’s philosophy and the secret to the firm’s success. Although service is the primary business of IPO Pang, the firm also knows service without delivering positive results is completely meaningless. Over the past three decades, IPO Pang has grown on the premise that it will succeed only if its clients succeed, and the firm has been successful for decades, which needless to say, there have been many happy clients. The firm views itself as a partner of its clients and the way its service fees are charged reflects a true sense of value conscientiousness and risk taking on the part of the firm. No pain. No gain.

Today, IPO Peter C. Pang practices in the area of M&A, franchising, corporate formation and structuring, Commercial contracts, litigation, intellectual property, employment and labor issues, patent and corporate compliance and audits. The firm treats every matter as if the client’s life is dependent on it. It marshals the law to its client’s advantage and advocates its client’s position zealously as if the case is its own.

Retaining Talent and Adopting New Technologies

Mr. Peter C. Pang believes, the most difficult challenge being a business leader in his firm or any firm for that matter is to recruit and maintain top talent. Good people, good employees, good service providers are the heart of any business organization. Only money cannot keep or help maintain top talents in an organization. What keeps talent in an organization is the respect that the leader gives every one of the employees. Respect comes in the form of engagement with employees on important matters, care shown to company talents when difficulties are encountered, and flexibility given all employees when work is not compromised. This is the competitive edge that will bring about dedicated and loyal employees.

To empower the team of dedicated employees, Mr. Peter C. Pang believes adoption of the latest technology in communication, data management and privacy, and artificial intelligence in drafting mundane work coupled with human intelligence garnered from years of experience. This is how the firm produces work effectively, efficiently and in a manner that delivers value to the client.

Motivating the Team at Work

According to Mr. Peter C. Pang, motivating a team is never easy. However, IPO Peter C. Pang has found that by being a good listener of employees’ ideas and problems, and by showing them the respect they deserve is one essential factor in motivating employees. Everyone wants to be heard, and being a good listener is a strong motivational tool that often leads to better productivity and employee satisfaction. By inviting the key service provider in the decisionmaking process, trust and responsibility are developed which leads to motivated and loyal employees. Building a team is not easy, but doing it one member at a time allows easier integration, better cooperation and generates more professional one-on-one interactions between team members which benefits not only new members but existing ones as well.

The Long Journey of a Business Leader

As a member of both the legal and business world, Mr. Peter C. Pang does not see himself as a business leader but a lifelong student. With a hope to continue this wonderful journey of a student for life even further, Mr. Pang works 18 hours a day 7 days a week. A journey he describes as exceedingly enjoyable. A journey he marks as a learning experience. And a journey he undeniably embrace as rewarding in both mind and soul.

Mr. Peter C. Pang believes one truly becomes a leader when he/she exhibit great vision, unfeather humbleness and high moral standards and integrity. It is always being a top human being as primary over business success. When approached that he suits the bill, Mr. Peter C. Pang rebuffs such notions and would rather point to great business leaders like Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, and Elon Musk. Since his early days as inhouse counsel, Mr. Pang has come a long way and after taking the entrepreneurial route. He found that one has to love what he/she does and when that happens, that journey becomes a space flight where he/she rises above the rest as his/her vision towards the planet becomes crystal clear.

Mr. Peter C. Pang’s journey isn’t over yet as there’s so much to learn, do, accomplish and aspire for. However, the little he has led to this date, the little he has pioneered, the little he has achieved gets magnified a million folds, according to Mr. Peter C. Pang, if what he has done made a small difference in making this world a better place to live and those whose lives he has touched he was able to give them a speck of inspiration, then he would accept the honor of being a Business Leader in his own right. But it is for them, not himself.

Preparing for a Better Future

When it comes to future planning, Mr. Peter C. Pang is dedicated to helping people be better parents, better students and better business people. Although IPO Pang’s trajectory is to increase its revenue by 30%, personnel by 10%, and employee attrition down to 0%, it is value and service delivered to client that is his primary target. The firm brings top-level legal advisory to the mid-market at a very competitive price. The firm stands unyielding to the industry behemoths realizing that being nimble and strategic has been the key to its success. Clients come to IPO Pang as its motto states “When Being Right Matters®” The firm has been successful because it sells solutions, not time. So, the trajectory is onward and upward and the firm does not see any barriers to achieve its target.