Negotiating Legality: Chinese Companies in the U.S. Legal System

In Negotiating Legality, author Ji Li examines how Chinese multinational companies, such as TikTok, are navigating the challenges of the U.S. legal system amidst intensifying U.S.-China geopolitical tensions. This book introduces a dual institutional framework to analyze these companies’ adaptation strategies, drawing on extensive interviews and multi-year survey data. It explores how Chinese firms build in-house legal capacities, collaborate with U.S. legal professionals, and manage litigation in American courts. In this talk, Li will share highlights from his new book, and offer invaluable insights into China’s global rise and its profound influence on the legal systems of developed nations like the United States.

This event is co-sponsored by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues, the Georgetown China Law Society, and the Center for Transnational Business and the Law.

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Ji Li is the John S. and Marilyn Long Professor of U.S.-China Business and Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Professor Li’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of U.S.-China relations and law, particularly the adaptation of Chinese multinational companies to U.S. legal and regulatory systems, the impact of the U.S.-China geopolitical rivalry on transnational legal actors, and the interactions between China and the international legal order. He is the author of two books on these topics: Clash of Capitalisms (CUP, 2018) and Negotiating Legality: Chinese Companies in the U.S. Legal System (CUP, 2024).

James Feinerman (opening remarks) is the James and Catherine Denny Chair in Democratic Capitalism, James M. Morita Professor of Asian Legal Studies, and the faculty director for the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. Professor Feinerman will offer opening remarks.

Mark Jia (moderator) is an associate professor at Georgetown Law and a faculty scholar with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.