Associate Partner
Howard Chen
Education：
Special Auditor, Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, Japan
LL.M. (Financial and Economic Law), National Chengchi University
LL.B., National Chengchi University
Admission
Taiwan
Languages
Mandarin Chinese / Japanese / English
Past & Current Positions
Appier Inc., Legal Associate Manager (July 2024 – May 2026)
Senior Associate / Associate, Stellex Law Firm (May 2019 – July 2024)
Trainee Attorney, LCS & Partners (August 2017 – December 2017)
Professional Admissions
TPIPAS Personal Information Manager
Certified Trust Professional
Experience
Mr. Chen’s primary practice areas encompass corporate law, the Securities and Exchange Act, the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act, Trust Law and other financial regulations, as well as the Personal Data Protection Act. Serving as a trusted advisor to Japanese corporate clients, he guides their day-to-day business operations by providing strategic counsel and drafting commercial agreements across diverse sectors, including real estate development, government procurement, consumer protection, and general civil disputes.
Within the corporate law, securities regulations, and M&A sector, Mr. Chen assists Japanese enterprises with inbound investments in Taiwan, managing company formations, liquidations, and the preparation of articles of incorporation. He consistently reviews corporate proposals and serves as legal counsel at board and shareholders’ meetings for listed and OTC companies. In his transactional practice, Mr. Chen regularly conducts legal due diligence for domestic and international clients, structuring agreements for joint ventures, share purchases, and share exchanges. He also offers strategic guidance on M&A deal structures and procedures. Having represented dissenting shareholders in share appraisal proceedings under the Commercial Case Adjudication Act, Mr. Chen delivers highly practical support to clients navigating complex M&A and capital market matters.
Regarding trust law and financial regulations, Mr. Chen provides dedicated legal advisory services to financial institutions concerning their trust operations. His expertise includes advising on the cross-border transfer of credit facilities for foreign banks and issuing legal opinions on the regulatory risks associated with related-party transactions within the financial industry. In the realm of real estate trusts, he has managed legal disputes arising from pre-sale property agreements and represented a prominent Japanese client in arbitration over a real estate development trust. Drawing on this experience, Mr. Chen offers effective compliance counsel and dispute resolution services for a wide range of financial matters.
In the fields of data privacy and the digital economy, Mr. Chen is a certified TPIPAS Personal Data Management Professional. He supports corporate clients by advising on operational data privacy issues, conducting corporate training sessions on the Personal Data Protection Act, and reviewing privacy policies alongside other legal documents related to personal data protection. Leveraging his prior experience at a multinational digital advertising and marketing technology company, Mr. Chen possesses a solid understanding of sectors such as digital advertising, AI marketing, and SaaS. He has an in-depth understanding of the legal challenges prevalent in the digital economy, including data privacy concerns in AI model training and copyright disputes arising from AI tools, enabling him to deliver tailored legal services to tech-driven enterprises.
Publications
- An Overview of the Legal Framework for Real Estate Securitization: A Comparison with the Japanese Legal System, Changhua Bar Association Newsletter, Issue 67 (July 2019).
- Cash-Out Mergers and the Protection of Minority Shareholders’ Rights: A Brief Commentary on Constitutional Court Interpretation No. 770 (Co-authored), The Financial Law Review, Vol. 2, No. 2 (June 2019).
- The Protection of Minority Shareholders in Cash-Out Mergers: A Comparative Perspective from Japanese Law, Master’s Thesis, College of Law, National Chengchi University (March 2018).