Biography
With more than 30 years' experience advising clients worldwide from Silicon Valley and China (having relocated to Shanghai in 2005 to open the office of a leading Silicon Valley law firm), Don is well regarded and highly experienced in representing private and public companies on a broad spectrum of complex transactional mandates, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions, minority investments and other strategic business transactions. Don has extensive experience including advising TMT companies throughout their entire lifecycle from startup to mature public company (VC/PE financing, day to day corporate needs, M&A and capital markets transactions) as well as these companies' ecosystem, including VC/PE funds and investment banks.
Over the years, Don has developed a great depth of expertise across the technology and emerging growth industries and served as the primary counsel in numerous high-profile and cross-border transactions. His clients include Acorn, Alibaba, Alipay, Ant Financial Services, Autodesk, BCD Semiconductor, Bridge Pharmaceuticals, Cisco Systems, Cyte Therapeutics, FunPlus Games, Grab, Hanson Robotics, Kuaidi Dache, Newport Corporation, PharmaLegacy, Polycom, RealD, Saudi Aramco, SeaWorld, Sigma Designs, Smarter Micro, and SMIC.
Clients particularly value Don's thoughtfulness, incisiveness and highly exceptional responsiveness; his reliability and drive are at the highest level one can expect from a lawyer. (Chambers Greater China, 2026).
Don has represented venture capital and private equity funds, including Advanced Technology Ventures, Aramco Ventures, BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Chengwei Ventures, DFJ Dragon Ventures, Fidelity/Eight Roads, GGV, Global Founders Capital, GSR Ventures, IFC, JAFCO, KPCB China, Ping An, Sequoia Capital, Qiming Ventures, Rocket Internet and Softbank China Venture Capital, in connection with portfolio investments and other transactions as well as investment banks in connection with public offerings.
Don has been recognized as one of the top China-based private equity/venture capital lawyers by Chambers Asia-Pacific for 18 consecutive years (2009 through 2026). Don has also been recognized as a "Leading Individual" by Legal 500 2026 and was the winner of 'Private Equity Lawyers of the year' at Legal 500 China Awards 2023. He was also named one of the 'China Top 15 M&A Lawyers' by Asian Legal Business in 2019.
Don was active as a committee chair with The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai for over a decade and served as Chair of the Chamber's Ethics Council. He is currently Counsel to the Chamber's Board of Governors.
Education and Admissions
Education
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1993
B.A., Stanford University, 1989
Admissions
California
Representative experience
- Represented Saudi Aramco, Aramco Ventures Investments Limited and Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures Company (Wa'ed) in more than fifty (50) significant financing transactions involving Chinese and other Asian technology companies, as well as an investment in Zhen Partners Fund VII.
- Represented a China leading technology company in a US$400m investment transaction involving an affiliate of Vietnam’s one of the largest conglomerate private sector companies in Vietnam.
- Represented a China leading technology company in establishing a multi-hundred million USD cloud-service joint venture in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi state-owned telecommunication company and others.
- Represented a China leading technology company on more than 90 cross-border investment projects involving China, Vietnam, Singapore, the United States and the Middle East, and elsewhere around the world, totalling more than US$1bn in aggregate investment.
- Represented a leading China-based technology company in establishing a cloud-service joint venture in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi state-owned telecommunication company and others; the multibillion RMB sale of cloud services solutions, including related assets, to a leading China-based short-video company; and in its investment in a Singapore e-commerce company.
- Represented Ping An Global Voyager Fund in the US$30m Series E-2 financing of Snapsheet, the US$50m Series C+ financing of Laiye Limited, and the US$135m Series E financing of Visby Medical.
- Represented a Switzerland-headquartered video game developer, with operations in China, Singapore and Spain, in its over USD1 billion sale to a China listed company; its RMB50 million investment in a leading Chinese game studio; and its RMB10 million investment in a MCN company based in China.
- Represented Global Founders Capital (GFC)/Rocket Internet , a leading venture capital firm based in Berlin and active worldwide, on investments and other matters relating to more than 600 portfolio companies since January 2021, ranging from early-stage SAFE and equity investments to token deals to day-to-day corporate needs to later-stage financings and exits.
Recognition
- Leading Individual, Private Equity: Buyouts & Venture Capital Investment (International Firms) in Greater China
- Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Greater China, 2009-2026
- Leading Partner, Private Equity, China
- Legal 500 APAC and Legal 500 China, 2014-2026
- Private Equity Lawyer of the year
- Legal 500 China Awards, 2023
- China Top 15 M&A Lawyer
- Asian Legal Business, 2019