SIPAC Announces Leadership Changes

Robert Lewis, Chairman and co-founder of the Sino International Professional Advisory Council (SIPAC), recently announced the following changes to the SIPAC core management team:

• Mr. Lewis continues in his role as Chairman, where he will lead the integration of the SIPAC platform into the broader SIPAC-docQbot-NextGen Lawyers ecosystem and continue to promote the development of enhanced engagement between the Sino-Global legal communities
• Liming YANG, previously the China CEO for SIPAC, has now been promoted to global CEO, as leadership of SIPAC moves into mainland China in line with the original vision for the platform
• Sara YU, continues in her role as SVP and Head of Global Content, where she will work with SIPAC members as well as leading global and domestic legal publishers to create unique curated international content for the China legal services market
• Lin XU joins SIPAC as Senior IT Consultant, and he will drive the development of the SIPAC back-office engine to accelerate and enhance international engagement and cooperation to ensure that SIPAC is always on the cutting edge of law and technology

This core management team will be supported by the recently announced new members of the SIPAC Advisory Board:

• Patrick Dransfield, non-executive director and senior advisor, who will draw on his more than three decades in the Asia-MENA legal markets to help guide the further development of SIPAC’s Sino-Global professional community
• Philippe Snel, senior advisor, who will advise SIPAC on Sino-international professional services innovations, drawing on his extensive legal practice experience, including 20 years in China, after having practiced in a leading Brussels law firm where he had been a partner

These changes follow the recent departure of former SIPAC CEO and head of international sales, Jonathan Bell.

SIPAC Chairman Robert Lewis commented:

“With these leadership changes, SIPAC is now in a stronger position than ever to more fully implement the SIPAC vision.  I am particularly pleased to have Liming and Sara assume greater roles in SIPAC.  They are the future of the SIPAC platform and the overall integrated ecosystem, which we have been building together for the last several years.  SIPAC now forms the core pillar of this ecosystem, and under their leadership, the complementary elements of the overall platform will now be able to flourish even more, for the benefit of the entire Sino-Global legal community. 

We are also excited to have Lin XU join us as Senior IT Consultant and, as previously announced, for Patrick and Philippe to join us as senior advisors.  I look forward to be able to announce in coming days the many new innovations we have in the pipeline.  The future of SIPAC is truly bright!

Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the invaluable contributions which Jonathan made in his time at SIPAC.  We all wish him well in his new endeavors.”

About the SIPAC management team members:

Chairman Robert Lewis:

Mr. Lewis is also co-founder of SIPAC partner docQbot, the first bilingual automated contract know-how platform in China, and co-founder of the leading overseas investment information and consulting platform – the China Going Global Think-tank (CGGT).  He is currently also Senior International Consultant with Chance Bridge Law Firm in Beijing and Shanghai. His publications include The Dawn of a New Era for FDI in China: A Practical Guide to China’s New Foreign Investment Law and The Rules of the Game of Global M&A: Why so Many Chinese Outbound Investments Fail, among others.

CEO Liming YANG:

Liming is a visionary leader in the legal technology space, currently serving as the CEO of SIPAC. His strategic vision and expertise have been instrumental in driving SIPAC’s growth in the world’s largest legal market and spearheading its international expansion.

A former lawyer at a prestigious “Red Circle” Chinese law firm, Liming seamlessly transitioned into pioneering legal tech innovation. As one of China’s first automated template authors, he recognized technology’s potential to streamline legal processes.

Under Liming’s leadership, SIPAC orchestrated the highly successful inaugural Sino-International Law Forum in November 2023. This premier event brought together hundreds of senior in-house and compliance experts from top Chinese companies, leading cross-border lawyers from over 50 countries, and nearly 100 lawyers from China’s elite firms. The forum facilitated invaluable in-person networking and knowledge-sharing among global legal professionals.

With his unique blend of legal expertise, tech-driven mindset, and visionary leadership, Liming is propelling SIPAC to the forefront of legal industry transformation in China and worldwide.

SVP Sara YU:

Sara is a leader in China in respect of the development of international-standard bilingual legal know-how content.  In addition to more than 10 years practice experience in top Chinese law firms working on inbound and outbound cross-border transactions, she is also a founding team member of SIPAC partner docQbot, where she was principally responsible for managing the production of the full range of docQbot’s comprehensive suite of bilingual legal know-how content, consisting of thousands of variations of the most common cross-border trade and investment transaction agreement templates, together with hundreds of drafting notes, sample clauses and other related resources.

In her role at SIPAC, Sara works with our SIPAC members and friends around the world to create customized localization guides and other content for each jurisdiction to be integrated into the overall ecosystem.  She also leads our cooperation with other leading international and domestic content providers and platforms in order to create curated international content specifically tailored to the unique requirements of China’s leading cross-border lawyers.

Senior IT Consultant Lin XU:

Lin XU has nearly two decades of experience in technology development, having worked in Hexun.com, China’s largest financial intel online portal.  In addition to his role in SIPAC, he also serves as CTO for SIPAC’s partner platform, docQbot, where he has led the development of a full suite of tech-supported legal know-how tools as well as the localization and adaptation of world-leading legal AI tools.  At SIPAC, XU Lin will drive the development of the SIPAC back-office engine to accelerate and enhance international engagement and cooperation to ensure that SIPAC is always on the cutting edge of law and technology.

For background information on SIPAC Advisory Board members, please see the separate press releases regarding their appointments:

• SIPAC 思百库 | Patrick Dransfield Joins the Sino International Professional Advisory Council (SIPAC) as Senior Advisor | (sipac-network.com)
• SIPAC 思百库 | Philippe Snel Joins the Sino International Professional Advisory Council (SIPAC) as Senior Advisor | (sipac-network.com)

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