Practice Areas
Labour, employment and employee benefits (China)
Practice Description
Mr. Lauffs is head of the Employment Law Group. The Group comprises a large team of dedicated full-time employment lawyers based in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Mr. Lauffs has been advising on employment law and related business issues in China since 1991. He regularly advises multinational employers on their strategic and complex employment and labour union matters, employment aspects of mergers & acquisitions, executive transfer, social insurance and on employment litigation/arbitration.
Publications
Mr. Lauffs is recognised as a leading employment lawyer by various industry and professional bodies. He was identified as Leading Individual by Asia Pacific Legal 500 2009/2010 and received the China Staff Labour Lawyer of the Year award four times. He is also regularly quoted by the business media on the impact of China's new labour laws. The Group was recognized as Tier 1 Law Firm for Employment in China by Asia Pacific Legal 500, Chambers Asia, PLC and China Law & Practice. The Firm’s employment global practice and its China employment practice are ranked No. 1 Employment Law Firm by PLC Which Lawyer? in its Global Employment Top Ten Firms.
Mr. Lauffs has written several books and numerous articles on PRC employment laws. In May 2008, he published Employment Law & Practice in China (Sweet & Maxwell) which provides a comprehensive analysis of China’s evolving employment laws, their application and impact on businesses.
Awards, Honours & Skills
Education & Bar Admittance
Mr. Lauffs is admitted to practice law in Germany and New York, and is registered as a foreign lawyer in Hong Kong. He received a law degree, a diploma in Mandarin Chinese (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in law on PRC labour law (magna cum laude) from Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn, Germany, as well as an LL.M. degree from Cornell University, New York. He studied Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University and Chinese law at Beijing University. He served as guest lecturer on Chinese law at Friedrich-Wilhelms-University and acted as a free-lance Chinese interpreter for the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs and other organisations in Germany and in China.
Languages
English, Mandarin and German.