Thomas Yih
General Counsel
Shanda Games Limited

Thomas Yih is the general counsel of Shanda Games Limited, a leading online game developer, operator and publisher in China. Prior to joining Shanda Games, Mr. Yih was the general counsel of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, a leading interactive entertainment media company in China, and has served as the senior counsel for a technology company listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mr. Yih holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Columbia University and a juris doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law.

Philip Gu
General Counsel, China
Danone

Philip Gu is the General Counsel of Danone China for 10 years. He has 10
years private practice before working as in-house counsel. He obtained his LLM degree and lecturing law in East China Institute of Politics & Law before his private practice.

Yuwen Hong
Legal Director
China Eastern Airlines

Joined China Eastern Airlines 12 years ago, Yuwen Hong is foreign affairs manager of legal department. He has been responsible for the divisions of contract management, litigation, and foreign affairs in the department. Yuwen has experience in mergers and acquisitions, aircraft transactions, antitrust, financial derivatives and other commercial business transactions.He also has experience in risk-management and litigation oversea. Yuwen received his LL.M. from Tulane University with straight A's.

Shigehiko Ishimoto
Partner
China & Asia Practice Team

Shigehiko Ishimoto is a partner in the China & Asia Practice team at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, and the former head representative of Beijing office. He has been involved in numerous transactions and cases which Chinese companies handled, including dispute resolution, M&A and contract negotiation. He was selected as one of the leading lawyers in Corparate/M&A:Investment in PRC by Chambers Asia since 2009. He is qualified to practice law in both Japan and New York. He is a graduate of New York University, School of Law (LL.M.) and earned his undergraduate degree (LL.B.) at The University of Tokyo. He is fluent in Japanese, English, and Chinese.

Yuto Matsumura
Partner
Corporate M&A Practice Team

Yuto Matsumura is a partner in the Corporate M&A Practice team at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto. His areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions in many different industries, corporate and securities laws, and international dispute resolution. In particular, he has extensive experience in cross border M&A transactions and international dispute resolution, including China. He was selected as one of the best lawyers in Japan for Corporate/M&A in Chambers Global and Asia 2010. From 2002 to 2003, he worked with the international law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. He is qualified to practice law in both Japan and New York. He is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law (LL.M.) and earned his undergraduate degree (LL.B.) at The University of Tokyo. He is fluent in Japanese, English, and French.

Dr. Isabelle I H Wan
Senior Partner & Leader
Employment Law Practice

The head of TransAsia's employment law practice, Dr. Wan has been working in China for over 20 years. She enjoys a pre-eminent reputation for her expertise in PRC employment law, and is regularly invited by the Chinese government to join legislative drafting sessions and comment on pending legislation. She is an adjunct professor at the Peking University and University of Northwest Politics law schools, and a regular guest lecturer at the Tsinghua University MBA Program. Dr. Wan also serves as a Director of the China Labor Law Studies Association and the China Social Security Law Research Institute as the only representative from Hong Kong.
Asia Law & Practice voted Dr. Wan as one of "Asia's Leading Lawyers" in 2002 and annually from 2004 to 2010. Under her leadership, the employment team has also earned TransAsia, among other accolades, the “Employment Law Firm of the Year 2010 - China" in Chambers and Partners' inaugural Asia Awards.

Stephen Yao
CEO, China
Thomson Reuters, Legal, China

Stephen Yao was born in Taiwan and accomplished his MBA degree in the USA. He then joined Deutsche Bank Taipei Branch in the area of credit/marketing for corporate banking. In 1985 he moved to be the marketing manager for the Cyanamid Taiwan Corporation (American Cyanamid’s subsidiary) which held leading position in Taiwan’s pharmaceutical, agricultural and special chemical markets by that time.

In 1988 Mr. Yao was recruited by Dow Jones Telerate as the general manager for Taiwan and further promoted in 1992 to Hong Kong to look after the northeast Asia region covering Hong Kong, PRC, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Korea. In this capacity he managed to establish 5 offices in the Mainland China and gained extensive experience from the growth of China’s financial market. The revenue for the northeast Asia region had increased multi-folds.

In 1998 he took up the position of Managing Director, Asia-Pacific for the Standard & Poor’s Fund Services based in Hong Kong. During this employment he accomplished an acquisition of a leading Japanese investment fund research company and expanded the business in Australia. He was frequently interviewed by the major financial media in the region such as CNBC, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Nikkei, etc.

Early 2000 ChinaTimes Group (the largest cross media group in Taiwan) invited Mr. Yao to be its Chief Strategy Officer for facilitating the group toward the digital/online era. After 3 years in Beijing for running a 50/50 joint venture between ChinaTimes and Tom.com (engaged in cross media CRM), he was asked to take up the top post for the ChinaTimes digital media platform consisting of four companies till now. Mr. Yao also serves as an executive director for the Taiwan Internet Association.

In 2008, Mr. Yao joined Thomson Reuters Legal as the Chief Executive Officer in China, be fully responsible for Thomson Reuters Legal development and growth in China, meanwhile, develop the overall strategy of Westlaw China online legal database in the global market.