Grace Parke Fremlin

Partner

• gfremlin@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Washington Office

Grace Parke Fremlin is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where she is a member of the International Department and a member of the Intellectual Property and Corporate, Securities and Finance practice groups.

Ms. Fremlin is an authority in cross-border international contracts, foreign direct investments, and private company mergers and acquisitions. Her practice focuses on Chinese and other Asian subsidiaries, joint ventures, branches and representative offices, cross-border technology transfers, licensing arrangements and advice on China IP enforcement, international dispute settlement, litigation, and arbitration. 

She advises clients on sourcing arrangements, supply contracts, purchase and sale agreements, commercial loans, project finance, commercial real estate purchases and developments, employment and labor agreements and financing arrangements, all in the cross-border context between the United States and Asia.

Ms. Fremlin establishes offshore corporate ownership structures for investments in China and Asia. Ms. Fremlin's cross-border Asian experience comes from having served Asia's Fortune 1000 companies and foreign governments in the United States and major US companies and US government entities with their investments and operations in Asia.

As lead counsel on investments, acquisitions, and commercial transactions, Ms. Fremlin possesses keen ability to identify, articulate, and focus on strategic and critical legal and business issues, and offers clients thoughtful and workable solutions.  

Ms. Fremlin speaks Korean and has studied Japanese and Mandarin.

Representative Matters

A few examples of her projects include:

• Managing global supply chains and negotiating US-China supply contracts with Chinese suppliers, purchasing agents, and contract manufacturers;
• Restructuring equity JVs in China from direct US parent company ownership to indirect offshore holding company ownership;
• Establishing international procurement offices in China via sourcing subsidiaries and representative offices;
• Forming manufacturing wholly foreign owned enterprises (WFOEs) and JVs in China, including a WFOE with registered capital of US $150 million immediately after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989;
• Listing a public offering of securities on the NYSE for a US company with contract manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen, China;
• Leading the purchase of a Sino-Australian agribusiness JV in the Shanghai region by a US company;
• Overseeing China IP enforcement and licensing;
• Handling the purchase of a large multi-state restaurant chain in the United States by a Japanese publicly listed company;
• Arranging the financing, construction, operation and sale of a US $100 million mixed use office and retail real estate development project by a Japanese publicly listed company;
• Representing Korean Government entities on international investment and trade issues;
• Representing a US Government entity on overseas operations in Korea and dealing with States of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and other treaty issues;
• Negotiating a Korean joint venture for a US portable fuel cell company;
• Favorably resolving a Korean government procurement investigation of a major US supplier; and
• Overseeing arbitration and litigation for Asian multinationals.

News, Seminars & Events

• Grace Fremlin Joins International Transactions Practice

Publications & Speaking Engagements

• Careful Contracts Reduce Risk
  January 2008, China Business Review
• Doing Business in the Global Economy, January 31, 2008, Surfaces 2008
• Grace Fremlin Speaks at Legal, Tax and Financial Strategies for Doing Business in China Conference, December 13, 2007
• China IP Protection and Enforcement, CLE for State Bar of AZ, February 2007
• Doing Business in China, June 2006, CLE Course for DC Bar
• US-China Cross-Border Business, February 24, 2006
• Doing Business in China, June 2005, CLE Course, DC Bar

More Speaking Engagements »

Professional Affiliations

• Asia Society of Washington, DC, Advisory Board, 2003-present
• Asia Task Force, US Chamber of Commerce, 2003-2005
• US-China Business Council, 2005-present
• US-Korea Business Council, 2003-present
• Japan-America Society of Washington, DC, 2003-2005
• Korean Chamber of Commerce of New York, 2000-2005
• The Korea Society, New York, 1999-2005
• The Economist Conferences, Hong Kong, 1997-1999
• American Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong, 1997-1999
• National Association of Realtors, CIPS Faculty Member, 1994-1996
• Women's Bar Association Foundation of DC, Board of Directors, 1993-1996
• International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), USA Board of Directors, 1992-1996
• Women's Bar Association of DC, International Law Forum, Co-Chair, 1992-1996