Ron Cai: Corporate lawyer with a vision

Discussing law cases with his father at an early age led to a career at top of corporate world

It was the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) along with a thwarted dream to be an aircraft engineer that landed Ron Cai in the legal profession.

Cai, a corporate lawyer with more than 25 years' experience assisting clients in US-China business projects, took a circuitous route to the profession.

Son of a 1950s prosecutor in China, Cai had the law in his bloodline.

"My father took many positions in Procuratorate and had never been trained in professional law school," Cai recalled. "In my early school years in Xiamen, the more I discussed law cases with my father, the more I became interested in law and eager to receive a systematic academic training in law.

"Besides, I witnessed the dramatic changes of the Chinese legal system before and after the 'cultural revolution' (1966-1976) and well knew the importance of law to China," Cai said.

Cai, however, was not bound to the law. That path was taken only after he gave up his original career dream of being an aircraft engineer, due to color blindness and myopia.

At age 16, Cai said he finished second among all the liberal arts high school students in the national college entrance exam in China in 1980. He enrolled at the Xiamen University School of Law.

His journey also included study at Columbia Law School in New York, where he received an LLM in 1987.

Cai, who said he had the top TOEFL score in South and East China, originally applied for all the Ivy League law schools. However, only Columbia University waived the application fee for the financially strapped candidate.

In 1986, Cai said he became the only Chinese graduate student accepted to Columbia Law

"The school aims to culture the next generation of leaders," he said. "Being with Ivy League students, I found many of them have a spirit to contribute to the country. So the law school at Columbia University taught me the importance of ambition and ideals:

The first will provide a spiritual pillar for you when you do not succeed; when you are successful, the latter one will motivate you to contribute to the country," Cai said.

A year before he got a JD from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, in 1990 with honors, Cai had already received an offer from a leading firm on Wall Street. "But I really hoped to link my law career with China," he said.

After Deng Xiaoping set in motion the transformation of China's economy when he announced a new "open door" policy in December 1978, whenever Cai had returned to Xiamen, he felt the change in the air and the rich opportunities in the Chinese market.

"So I decided to set my base in Hong Kong, where I could focus on US-China business issues," Cai said. From 1994 to 1998, Cai worked for Graham & James in Hong Kong.

In 2000, Cai took the head position at Davis Wright Tremaine's office in Shanghai. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is a multinational law firm with more than 500 lawyers serving clients in the US and worldwide. The Shanghai office, established in 1994, was the first American law firm in Shanghai.

Cai concentrated on foreign investment into China, working with multinational companies. He also serves as a mediator for the US-China Business Mediation Center, which consists of 24 dispute-resolution experts - 12 from the United States and 12 from China.

Cai served as chairman of the legal committee for the American Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai, between 2008 and 2010, and as a board member for the China Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. He is co-president of the Columbia University Alumni Association in Shanghai and speaks and writes frequently on US-Chinese business issues.

He is familiar with industries including e-commerce, high-tech, media and entertainment, retail and distribution, healthcare, renewable energy, transportation, heavy machinery and infrastructure projects. He also represents Chinese companies in their business transactions and litigation in the US.

His clients include the Bank of China, Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services, Brioche Doree China, China Central Television, China Development Bank, China Railway Construction Corp, China South Locomotive Corp, Eaton, General Electric, Getty Images, Goodyear, Manitowoc, Marriott International, Microsoft, Neuhaus, Nike, Paccar, Pudong Development Bank, Starbucks, Tesco, Tom Tom, Tyson Foods and Umbro.

"I feel so lucky that I have witnessed the most important historical moment in US-China business, including the take-off of China's machinery-manufacturing industry, computer and other industries; top American corporations like GM and Ford entering China; China's entering the WTO in 2003; and services such as Starbucks entering China," Cai said.

"In recent years, I have seen China's rising Internet wave, and more and more Chinese companies starting to invest in the United States."

In May, Cai took a business trip on the US West Coast. He saw a burst of Chinese students, immigrants and investment to the US.

"When I know we will have another new direct flight connecting Shanghai and Seattle, I know Seattle will be the next hot market with a lot of business opportunities connecting the United States and China," Cai said.

lindadeng@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/26/2015 page11)