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, 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
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;
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;
Domestic and overseas listing of educational institutions, including pre-listing compliance audits, reorganization, issuance of legal opinions and legal reviews, and listing applications and regulatory responses in respect to prospectus and other listing documents;
Sino-foreign cooperative education programmes, including applications for the establishment of various Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions and the setting up of their structures, demonstrating and designing a model for Sino-foreign cooperative education and various international schools’ access to China’s education market, policy analysis, and the drafting of material legal documents and foreign exchange control involved in the process;
Intellectual property protection for educational content and products, including software copyright, authors’ rights, patents and trademarks;
Dispute settlement in relation to any person engaged in the education business, including disputes over administrative penalties, disputes over the right to organize, disputes over joint school management 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, the company can fully understand the intentions of its 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.
With reference to the administrative departments of education systems and public welfare, 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. The company is also experienced in dealing with administrative departments, assessing the performance of administrative service functions, and other relevant administrative legal risk prevention and dispute resolution matters.
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 on the relevant programs in respect to cooperation between schools and various entities, including jointly running a school with an enterprise, and interschool communications, as well as controlling the legal risks involved; it also assists schools in handling personal and property safety accidents.
Recent Representative Cases
As one of JunHe’s most important business teams, the education law team have been involved in several classic cases through active exploration and innovation.
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 opinion regarding compliance with classification management. We also offer diversified policy consulting services to clients in connection with their classification management and compliance needs.
We have advised numerous higher 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 Dingling 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.
Sino-Foreign Cooperative 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), as well as assisting 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 identifying 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 to enter a strategic cooperation arrangement with Magdalen College School.
Demonstration and Consulting Services in the Education Industry
JunHe demonstrated various legal issues for an educational bureau in connection with the introduction of high quality international educational sources. The team assisted the client in analyzing and determining 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 legal feasibility of its establishment of vocational education institutions, including selecting the business model of running schools, analyzing the feasibility of public institutions with state-owned assets establishing schools and also designing the governance structure.
Dispute Resolution for Educational Institutions
JunHe 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.
