About us

eCounsel group

A boutique firm with unparalleled expertise in business and technology. We have good command of industrial ecology and legal practice, and have undertaken highly regarded cases. Because the small business scope, we pay more emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency, and choose clients with deliberation. The managing partner not only has extensive experiences in various legal issues more over than 20 years, but invests and manages several technology companies. In addition, he always checks each case rigorously. Clients’ business objectives are our primary focus. To achieve the same in the most cost-effective fashion trumps all seemingly sophisticated legal discussions.

The Trump Effect

2016 - 11 - 28

trump-on-stage

Markets worry about president-elect’s trade policy would be bad for Apple. Trump has publicly stated that he would force Apple to move its manufacturing back to U.S.

川普上台，市場普遍擔心新任美國總統的貿易政策將對蘋果不利，因為他曾公開表示：上任後將逼蘋果將產品生產搬回美國。川普效應對蘋果的影響，此篇作者的分析非常淺顯易懂，值得一讀，摘要如下：

1. 川普想讓蘋果回流美國製造及組裝
2. 川普請蘋果創造美國工人就業機會
3. 川普想對中國進口貨物課反傾銷稅
4. 川普想對企業調降海外盈餘匯回稅

(1)與(2)都不可能。各代iPhone從產品設計到最後之組裝所需之「應變」靈活度極高，目前尚非機器人能取代，之前Mac在美國的自動化產線也早已告停。

縱然搬回美國製造在財務上所大幅增加的人工成本（不論是否轉嫁消費者）尚不致於讓Apple進入負毛利，美國依舊找不出任何一個地方能生出那麼大量的skilled labor來建廠。

(3) 會帶來兩種效應，一是逼使iPhone搬去印度組裝（Foxconn在那兒佈局甚早，郭董是早就預測到了川普會上嗎?），二是中國對美企進行報復（各國企早已開始的「去IOE」(IBM, Oracle, EMC) 已經讓這些老牌B2B的IT廠很慘了，這下再燒到B2C的庫克，他想，萬一日後iPhone在中國被禁售…..）

(4) 確有可能。但是想用它來當誘因，拱Apple執行(1)(2)，一樣機會渺茫。

新聞來源：
Apple: The Trump Effect

圖片來源:
Gage Skidmore @ Flickr CC BY SA 2.0

Apple, Donald Trump, Foxconn, Global Perspectives

Part-timers' Rights

2016-11-27

US unemployment rate is looking good. It rose to 10% in 2008 but has been at around 5% over the past two years. 美國的就業數據表面看來不差。失業率，08年金融海嘯後曾飆上10%，但最近這兩年都落在5%左右。然而，因為失業數據裡不包括「對人生絕望不再求職的」、「打零工的」、「每月工資無法滿足食衣住行的」那些人，而他們也正是希拉蕊口中低教育程度、低工作技能、既可悲又沒尊嚴的”Deplorables”。看不見自己的未來，於是大家就送給了川普四年「讓美國再次偉大」的未來。計時工必然賺很少嗎？美國餐飲業普遍的現象，小費（通例是收銀機帳單金額的10%以上），是顧客在付帳時隨自己開心給的。如果不算速食業，那種坐下來好好吃頓飯、有服務員去桌邊幫你點菜的餐廳，在大城市裡，平均每餐加上非酒精飲料和甜點，一個人吃到US$40（不提中餐晚餐價格差異、也更不提開上一兩瓶葡萄酒動輒餐費翻倍）以上根本不算件事。服務到讓客人開心，小費給15%同樣也不算件事。以平均每桌二人、五名服務員伺候二十桌、每天每桌從中餐到晚餐總共做了三輪來計算，那家餐廳當天的小費會收到： 20 * 3 * 2 * $40 * 15%…

Trump-Tsai call Complicates U.S-China Dynamics

2016-12-05

It happened two days ago but we haven’t written any comments because most of the mass media, U.S media included, haven’t figured out why Trump took the call, breaking all precedents, and tweeted about it. 事情發生了兩天，我們都未評論；是因為包括美國在內的各大主流媒體，都還沒想明白川普不僅破例接了蔡總統的電話、更主動發了兩則推特的盤算，究竟是什麼。大家放上頭條忙著分析了半天，有講跟沒講一樣。以下為我們的看法：…

Searching Legal Database (Part 1 - Abstract Thinking)

2014-10-26

To be a well-rounded corporate lawyer, young lawyers need to excel at searching legal databases. But sometimes, even graduating from a first-tier law school doesn’t give you a head start at that. Why? Continue reading

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