05 Feb 2026
UGGC Avocats strengthens its China team with three new partners
"UGGC Avocats welcomes Anne Severin, Hua Zhong and Sylvie Savoie to its China team on 1 Feb 2026 to reinforce corporate, M&A, foreign investment, compliance, commercial and competition practices."
Anne Severin joins UGGC Avocats to strengthen the firm’s corporate law, M&A and financing practice in Shanghai. She is specialised in Chinese foreign investment law and Chinese corporate law and has more than thirty years’ experience advising French and European companies on direct investment and mergers & acquisitions in the Shanghai area. She also handles complex corporate law matters. Ms. Severin has served on the Bureau of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, has been a French Foreign Trade Advisor since 2009 and is elected to the Paris Committee of the CCEF. She regularly addresses delegations from institutions such as IHEDN, ESSEC and École Polytechnique and has been invited by the Consulate General of France in Shanghai to brief high French authorities. In 2019 she won the French Chamber of Commerce’s Businesswomen in China prize and was the first foreign lawyer awarded the Magnolia Medal by the Shanghai Municipality.
Hua Zhong joins UGGC Avocats in Shanghai as a partner specialised in corporate law, international investment and compliance. She holds a doctorate in law and has more than ten years’ experience within international legal structures, advising clients on cross-border operations between China, Europe and Africa for establishment, acquisition and overseas development. She holds the professional certification of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and has significant experience within the legal and compliance department of ICBC Europe Paris Branch. Working for several years in Shanghai, she brings detailed knowledge of Chinese and European legal, economic and cultural environments and is trilingual in Chinese, French and English.
Sylvie Savoie joins UGGC Avocats as local partner for China, specialising in corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, commercial law and competition law. With more than thirty-five years’ experience, she advises foreign companies on establishment projects and provides ongoing legal support in China on matters including contract law, labour law, commercial law and tax. Ms. Savoie has developed recognised expertise in structuring establishment projects, drafting and negotiating contractual agreements, coordinating operational teams and facilitating relations through her bilingualism in Chinese. She is a French Foreign Trade Advisor for China and was made a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite in June 2023.