When commercial disputes involve people or companies in different countries, the participants may also work in different languages. Language skills can help make sense of the business circumstances underlying a disagreement even when the legal proceedings take place in an American court.
Angus Ni, a New York-based attorney and co-founder of Morrow Ni LLP, is fluent in Mandarin and represents Chinese individuals and businesses in U.S. litigation. At the firm, which operates under the Moni Law brand, Angus Ni’s Mandarin-speaking client work forms part of a broader commercial and securities litigation practice.
When Chinese Legal Decisions Reach U.S. Courts
Commercial disputes can move between legal systems at different stages. A dispute might first produce a judgment from a Chinese court or an award from an arbitration tribunal, then give rise to proceedings in the United States concerning recognition or enforcement. At that later stage, the American court is considering the effect of an earlier decision rather than necessarily hearing the original dispute anew.
U.S. and Chinese courts operate under their own procedural frameworks. In U.S. federal civil litigation, parties may obtain documents and sworn witness testimony through discovery. Chinese civil procedure also requires parties to provide evidence, but provides for courts to investigate and collect material in specified circumstances. These differences concern the handling of evidence; they do not, by themselves, determine which party has the stronger claim or how a particular case will be decided.
Language adds a separate practical dimension. Commercial negotiations, contracts and correspondence may be in Mandarin even where a related claim is brought in an English-speaking U.S. court. Documents, witness accounts and transaction records developed in one country may become relevant in the other, subject to the rules of the court handling the proceedings. The language of the underlying records and the procedure used to present them are therefore separate considerations.
Chinese Businesses in U.S. Securities Litigation
Some companies based in China raise capital by listing securities on American exchanges. Their main business operations may take place outside the United States, while their shares are bought and sold by investors in a U.S. market. As a result, questions about the company’s public disclosures can become the subject of proceedings in American courts.
Companies with securities listed in the United States have reporting and disclosure obligations, although the precise requirements depend in part on how an issuer is classified. Public filings provide information about financial performance, business operations and material risks. Those statements give investors a basis for evaluating the company and can also become relevant if a securities dispute arises.
Shareholder litigation may involve allegations that a company made materially inaccurate statements or omitted information that investors should have received. A case might concern financial results, business transactions or statements about the company’s operations. The court evaluates such allegations under the applicable securities laws, with the particular statements and evidence at the center of the dispute.
For a China-based business, the commercial events behind those statements may have occurred overseas. A disclosure made to U.S. investors may describe transactions or records originally documented in Mandarin. Unlike an application to recognize a foreign judgment, a securities lawsuit concerns alleged conduct and disclosures rather than the enforcement of an earlier decision.
Angus Ni’s Experience Before Morrow Ni LLP
Before co-founding Morrow Ni LLP, Angus Ni earned a B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Toronto and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School. His subsequent career included positions at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. Those roles covered international dispute resolution and U.S. securities litigation, two areas that also appear in his later professional practice.
At Debevoise & Plimpton, Angus Ni participated in proceedings before International Chamber of Commerce and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunals. The two forums hear different kinds of international disputes, including commercial claims and certain investment disputes involving states. He also worked on large-scale corporate investigations spanning several countries. His assignments therefore included formal arbitration proceedings and investigations involving corporate activity across jurisdictions.
Angus Ni later prosecuted securities class actions at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP on behalf of hedge funds and pension funds. Those cases involved U.S.-listed companies across different industries and jurisdictions, together with domestic and international discovery. The institutional investors he represented were pursuing claims against public companies, rather than responding to shareholder allegations. His education and earlier litigation work provide the legal background to his current representation of Chinese clients, alongside his documented fluency in Mandarin.
Angus Ni’s Work at Morrow Ni LLP
At Morrow Ni LLP, Angus Ni’s securities litigation work includes defending a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer in a securities class action in New York federal court and a Chinese agricultural supplies manufacturer in a shareholder lawsuit in Nevada. Both were companies listed on American exchanges. The cases illustrate how his practice represents China-based businesses in U.S. court proceedings, rather than simply advising them about disputes that might arise.
Angus Ni also advises China-based companies listed in the United States about securities litigation exposure. That work differs from defending a lawsuit already filed: litigation-risk advice concerns a company’s potential or existing exposure, while representation in court responds to allegations in a particular proceeding. The firm therefore handles both advisory and contested litigation work for publicly listed businesses whose commercial activities have connections to China and the United States.
The firm’s Angus Ni lawyer profile outlines his commercial and transnational litigation background. Morrow Ni LLP’s work also includes U.S. proceedings involving judgments from courts in China and Hong Kong and awards issued by Chinese arbitration institutions. It has represented parties seeking recognition or enforcement of overseas decisions and parties contesting those requests in California, Washington and New York.
Angus Ni has also participated in activities involving the Asian American Bar Association of New York and the Chinese American Lawyers Forum. In September 2026, he spoke at a legal careers panel at NYU School of Law about career development and cross-border litigation practice in New York. His professional engagement with the city’s Chinese-American legal community offers another context for his Mandarin fluency and his work with Chinese clients in American courts.
About Angus Ni
Angus Ni is a New York-based attorney and co-founder of Morrow Ni LLP, operating under the Moni Law brand. With more than a decade of legal experience, he handles commercial litigation, securities disputes and transnational matters involving individuals and businesses. Fluent in Mandarin, he earned a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Toronto. The firm’s profile of Angus Ni provides further information about his professional work and background.
