Peter Corne

Some signature deals in which Peter has led as legal advisor include:

• Putting in place one of the largest clean development mechanism (CDM) projects up to that time under the Kyoto Protocol for a consortium of Japanese investors
• Acting for a large Chinese steel manufacturer in one of the largest ever energy efficiency CDM projects
• Securing the approval from the Chinese FDA of the establishment of a manufacturing facility by a leading pharmaceutical company from the US to produce intrusive diagnostic equipment
• Setting up the first foreign-invested company limited by shares under the PRC Company Law for India's leading company, then leading its restructuring in several rounds of share reorganizations
• Reorganizing a nationwide beverage business into a company limited by shares with multiple shareholders and branches
• Executing a number of delicate mergers for leading western multinationals including an unprecedented cross-jurisdictional merger between a company limited by shares in Beijing with a limited liability company in Shanghai
• Engineering a split and assets transfer of a major chemical facility in Shanghai, from a MNC petrochemical company in the process addressing government concerns in respect of wastewater treatment to secure multiple relevant approvals
• Helping an environmental company to execute the largest M&A project up to that time in the western regions of China
• Setting up a series of R&D collaboration projects with leading Chinese research institutes to develop and deploy strategic cleantech solutions in the coal to chemical industry to address China's environmental problems
• Drafting and negotiating one of the first true energy management contracts in the sphere of green buildings in China
• Acting for an Icelandic company in the setting up of a geothermal residential estate heating joint venture with Sinopec, and assisting in its restructuring and partial sale to another investor

Other Experience

Peter is a pioneer in the area of anti-trust in China and participated, in his role as long-term head of the Legal Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, in the drafting of and commentary upon China’s Anti-Trust Law and associated legislation.

Peter has developed a robust clean energy and sustainability practice in China and is well known within Shanghai’s cleantech community. Co-head of Dorsey & Whitney's global cleantech group, Peter is Shanghai Chair (and former chair) of the Environmental Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce in China.

Dispute Resolution is another area in which Peter has become heavily involved, as companies increasingly call upon Peter to use his experience to help them resolve their disputes. Peter is on the panel of the Shanghai International Arbitration Commission (SHIAC), and was presiding arbitrator over the first arbitration held within the Arbitration Court established by SHIAC within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Peter also had a hand in the drafting and the translation of SHIAC’s Arbitration Rules, the most forward-looking arbitration rules in China’s history. Peter is also on the panel of China’s first professional commercial mediation body, the Shanghai Commercial Mediation Centre (SCMC). Peter helped to resolve the first mediated dispute between two foreign companies in the FTZ in 2015. He has also been instrumental in helping SCMC become affiliated with the US-based world renowned dispute resolution institute, JAMS ADR.

He is, in addition, a noted authority on PRC administrative law and the foreign investment process, having authored a critically acclaimed book on the subject and numerous academic publications.