Former GE China General Counsel Joins Covington

Former GE China General Counsel Joins Covington

May 8, 2023

SHANGHAI—Yanping Cao has joined Covington as a partner in Shanghai. She will also serve as managing partner of the office.

Through her most recent tenure as General Counsel at GE China and GE Healthcare China & APAC, as well as her prior experience at leading international law firms in the U.S. and China, Yanping has extensive expertise in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and other corporate transactions and counseling matters. She also gained extensive experience overseeing investigations and compliance matters with regulatory and enforcement agencies in both China and the U.S during her 13 years in-house at GE. She will advise multinational corporations, leading international financial institutions, and Chinese headquartered institutions in these areas.

“Based on our multi-disciplinary strengths, we have built a leading practice advising Western clients operating in China on the most complex issues they face there,” said Doug Gibson, Covington’s chair. “We have also developed strong relationships with a range of leading Chinese companies, representing them on their most significant matters in the U.S and EU. These strong outbound relationships reflect Chinese clients’ recognition of the firm’s practice strengths in the areas that can present their greatest legal and compliance risks as they build their businesses in the U.S. and Europe.”

 “Our leading China practice – focused on corporate, compliance investigation, data privacy, public policy, life sciences, and IP litigation – will greatly benefit from Yanping’s experience and expertise,” said Ruixue Ran, managing partner of Covington’s Beijing office.  “We are excited to have her join our growing China team.”

“I have long admired Covington because of its values of collaboration, collegiality, and excellence in all that it does,” said Yanping. “I look forward to working closely with my colleagues here in China, but also those in the United States, UK, and Europe, to expand the firm’s pipeline of work both inbound to, and outbound from, China.”

Yanping received an LL.B from the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is also a member of the California and New York bars.