Education
Our Team
JunHe has a team of partners experienced in providing specialist legal services in the education sector, including several partners who have many years’ experience in each segment of the industry. JunHe’s education law team is an interdisciplinary cooperative group closely following up industry trends and respecting the regularities in industrial development, and all members of the team are legal professionals. They have vast experience in various sectors such as compliance, corporate and M&A, listing and bond issuance, both at home and abroad. They have experience in real estate, private equity/venture investment, intellectual property rights, taxes, and labor and dispute resolution.
Core Areas of Practice
Perennial legal advice for education businesses, including but not limited to: collecting and interpretating the latest educational legislation and regulations; drafting and revising legal documents for daycare, preschool, vocational, higher education, academic education, lifelong education and educational service entities, providing legal advice for routine operation and management, strategic planning, new business cooperation models; advice on industry information and other advisory services;
Consulting on compliance with the classification management of private schools, including legal risk assessment of a school before the selection of classification management, preparing legal plans on the selection of classification management and assisting in the implementation thereof, assisting schools in the establishment of modern school systems, alteration of organizers, legal settlements, deregistration and alteration of registration;
International education, including applications for the establishment and the setting up of Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions and Sino-foreign cooperative education programmes; demonstrating and designing models for international schools’ access to China’s education market, conducting policy analysis, and the contractual negotiation and drafting of material legal documents; expansion of business in China by foreign educational institutions and foreign exchange controls involved in the process;
Intellectual property protection for educational content and products, including the formulation and implementation of protection plans for copyright, software copyright, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets;
Merger and acquisitions of educational institutions, including the demonstration and design of transaction structures, due diligence, contractual negotiation, transfer of equity interests, tax planning and post-investment management;
Dispute settlement for disputes over administrative penalties, the right to organize, joint school management, educational services and labor disputes.
One-Stop service in the education industry
Due to JunHe’s in-depth understanding of the education industry and the specific needs of its customers, we can fully understand the intentions of our clients and make accurate legal judgments regarding their business plans. We are aware of the highly sensitive nature of the business needs of the different entities in the industry and can provide advice in many areas such as running a school at different age levels, current trends in the education industry, as well as all related legal issues.
There has been massive reform in the education sector recently, as well as the rapid development of the non-government funded education sector, and we are able to provide up to date investment and financing legal services. We have experience in areas such as establishing modern school systems, routine legal risk management assessment, M&A and restructuring, capital increase and share expansion, and share transfer and listing, both at home and abroad. We can provide legal services for non-profit public educational institutions, particularly in their restructuring to become profit-making private educational institutions and assist them in the handling of various disputes arising from the preparation and operation of private educational institutions. We can also participate in litigation and arbitration where necessary.
JunHe’s legal services include the prevention of economic and civil risks arising from industrial construction and management in education and public welfare undertakings and dispute settlement. We can assist administrative departments in legal risk prevention and dispute resolution with respect to the administrative powers and the performance of administrative service functions.
JunHe has assisted public schools in formulating internal management systems regarding relationships between schools and teachers, between teachers and students, as well as between schools and the administrative departments in charge of education. JunHe also provides legal feasibility studies in respect to cooperation between schools and other entities, including cooperative education with enterprises, and interschool communications, as well as controlling the legal risks involved; we also assists schools in handling personal and property safety accidents.
Recent Representative Cases
Classification Management and Compliance
JunHe’s classification management and compliance practice covers all areas of the education sector, from pre-school to higher education and from general to more vocational education. JunHe advises schools on their legal due diligence and issues legal opinions regarding compliance with classification management and assists schools with the successful completion of classification management selection. We also offer diversified policy consulting services to clients in connection with their classification management and compliance needs.
We have advised numerous education institutions in China on classification management issues. These include Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited, Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade, Shanghai International Studies University, Xianda College of Economics and Humanities, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies South China Business College, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics and Huashang College. Other educational institutions we have advised include Guangdong Peizheng College, Guangdong Polytechnic of Science and Technology, Guangzhou City Institute of Technology, Lingnan Institute of Technology, Lingnan Modern Technician College, Xiamen Huatian International Vocation Institute, China Huaxia Education Group Limited, Hunan Jinhai Education Group, Shangao Education Group and Nord Anglia Education Group. JunHe’s team is highly recognized for their practical approach and professional capabilities.
Investments and M&As
Assisted Hope Education Group with the acquisition of control over Dingli Corporation Ltd. (an A-share listed company)
Represented UMU in its Series B and B+ financings.
Advised Bright Scholar Education Group, Choya Education Group, KWG Group Holdings and Shengtai Group in connection with their mergers and acquisitions of various types of educational institutions.
International Education
JunHe has represented many foreign universities and colleges in their Sino-foreign cooperative education programmes with Chinese universities. In collaboration with a Chinese university, we assisted the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with the establishment of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), and assisted the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the establishment of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Foshan) (also in collaboration with a Chinese university). We assisted Dublin Business School, Ireland, and Kaplan Singapore in their collaboration with various Chinese educational institutions to launch Sino-foreign cooperative education programs.
JunHe has also assisted clients in introducing foreign schools to establish potential educational partnerships in China. For example, we represented Guangzhou Langu Education Investment Co., Ltd. in its collaboration with Ardingly College, a world leading education brand, in opening multiple high-end private international schools in China. We also represented Higher Ground education, one of world’s largest Montessori school networks, in founding its South China Headquarters in Guangzhou and expanding its presence into South China, Hong Kong and Macau.
JunHe assisted KWG Education Group in entering into a strategic cooperation arrangement with Magdalen College School, and assisted Mountain Education Group in entering into a strategic cooperation arrangement with Kingston Grammar School.
Demonstration and Consulting Services in the Education Industry
JunHe provided demonstrations of legal issues to an international educational bureau. The team assisted the client in analyzing and demonstrating the positioning of international educational resources in line with the economic development of the region where the client was located, and tailored the recommended standards and evaluation systems for the introduction of private international schools according to the client’s specific conditions.
JunHe advised a public institution affiliated with a Chinese ministry on the legality and feasibility of the establishment of its vocational education institutions, including selecting business models for running the schools, analyzing the feasibility of establishing private schools by public institutions with state-owned assets and also designing the governance structure.
Dispute Resolution for Educational Institutions
We are leading experts in representing education administrations in administrative hearings, administrative reconsiderations and administration actions;
JunHe also represented a client in a dispute over the property title of a kindergarten.
