Dennis Unkovic

Dennis Unkovic
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Born	(1948-03-28) 28 March 1948
Occupation	Attorney Author
Nationality	United States

Dennis Unkovic (born March 28, 1948) is an international attorney, business advisor, and author. He is a partner with Pittsburgh-based Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP.

Unkovic is the author of seven books and more than 165 articles, and he is a contributor to five other books. His most recent book, Understanding Asia: Winning Strategies of Business Success (American Bar Association), was published in 2011. In 2015, Unkovic was named chairman of Meritas, a global alliance of business law firms.

Career

Unkovic is a partner at Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP, a Pittsburgh-based law firm.

Unkovic primarily works in three areas. First, he handles mergers, divestitures, joint ventures, strategic alliances, acquisitions and technology licensing relationships with both domestic and international companies. Second, he works with intellectual property law in matters of technology innovation and transfer. Finally, Unkovic works closely with corporations, financial institutions, not-for-profit entities and trade associations in managing their operations both in the United States and abroad.

Unkovic has written seven books and more than 165 articles. Several of his published works have been translated into the Japanese and Chinese languages. He is also a noted speaker for government, business and academic officials on international relationships and other high profile issues. He is often interviewed by the media, including CNBC, Chinese Central Television, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Pittsburgh Business Times for his views on international business and trade.

Background and Education

Unkovic earned his B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia before receiving his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Prior to joining Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP, Unkovic served as legislative director to former United States Senate Minority Leader Hugh D. Scott in Washington D.C. and as assistant counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights.

Themes in His Writing

International Economic Relations and Foreign Direct Investment

Unkovic is a strong proponent of the positive effects of international economies investing in one another, and notes that the opportunity for doing business in many Asian countries is ripe, warning that "Those who are patiently waiting for Asia to become more settled or more predictable before venturing there to see business or investment opportunities should not wait too long. Those who delay will find themselves missing out on the greatest economic expansion in history."

A recurring theme in Unkovic's writing is the increasing clash between multinational corporations and governments around the world. In an article published by IndustryWeek in December 2010, he observed, "Economic forecasting has fragmented into nationalist thinking at the same time that business planning unifies around the global strategies of a few big players. These two trends work against each other like clashing tectonic plates. The result may appear to be random - threats of tariff wars, armed skirmishes to control single-resource countries, ethnic minorities which control resources asserting their independence - but they are not. On one level or another, many of the economic and political eruptions we will see over the next two decades will result from the interaction of these 'economic tectonics'"

International Business Culture in Asian Countries

Unkovic is an authority on the appropriate business customs that American business people should understand before beginning to negotiate in Asian countries. In his most recent book, Understanding Asia: Winning Strategies for Business Success, Unkovic describes the complexities of the cultural and economic backgrounds of twenty-two Asian countries, from China to Japan to Cambodia, that hold the potential for strong business opportunities. The book asserts one of Unkovic's major themes in his writing, that "there are no Asians," because there is no generalized "Asian" culture. Instead, business persons should pay careful attention to the specific customs and business practices that are unique to each country.

In an article for International Law News, he takes the same approach for investors looking for opportunities in India. “India presents diverse and rewarding opportunities for foreign direct investment,” he explains. “Before entering this booming market, it is important to understand the country’s procedures, laws and regulations in order to operate successfully.”

Sustainable Energy

Unkovic has also looked at the prospects for renewable energy resources in his writings. In 2011 he edited the book On the Horizon – Renewable Energy in Asia: A Practical Guide, which examines the prospects for renewable energy in twelve countries in Asia. Unkovic states in the book’s introduction, “…the current global energy mix, which is primarily carbon-based, is untenable in the long run. China, India and other nations need to find alternate ways to fulfill their energy demands. The only real answer – and our best chance to bring balance back to the environment – is to turn toward alternative sources of energy, which can at least in part replace existing coal and oil sources.”

Unkovic is an advocate of solar energy, particularly in China, and the business opportunity it presents for American solar technology and manufacturing firms, although "generating electricity from the sun is only half of the Chinese solar equation. The other half is getting it onto the transmission grid. The opportunities to sell equipment and expertise to the Chinese government and Chinese companies will continue to grow, as will the opportunities to gain contracts or enter into joint ventures to build electrical transmission stations for the Chinese national grid."

Awards

• The 2011 Three Rivers Award - Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, for raising more than half a million dollars in relief funds for tsunami victims
• Golden Quill Award (May 2010)

Works

Books

• Understanding Asia: Winning Strategies for Business Success - 2011 American Bar Association (Chicago, Illinois)
• The Art of Investing in America: Secrets to Success - 2009 Metallurgical Industry Press (Beijing, China)
• Deal With It…A Duquesne Club Retrospective on the Work of Tim Menees - 2008
• Beyond The Japanese Style Management: The Last Survival Strategies in the 20th Century - 1995 Diamond, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan)
• Revisioning Japan: Inside the American Mind - 1990 Diamond, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan)
• The Trade Secrets Handbook: Strategies and Techniques for Safeguarding Corporate Information - 1985 Prentice-Hall, Inc. (subsequently translated and published in Chinese, Japanese and Serbo-Croatian)
• International Opportunities and the Export Trading Company Act of 1982 - 1984 Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

Contributions

• Editor, On the Horizon - Renewable Energy in Asia: A Practical Guide, 2011, Meritas, Inc.
• Editor,Successful Strategies for Doing Business in Asia - 2007, Meritas, Inc.: revised and updated second edition published 2010; third edition published in 2013.
• Contributing author,Licensing Best Practices: Strategic, Territorial, and Technology Issue - 2006, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Contributing author,The LESI Guide to Licensing Best Practices - – 2002, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Featured Publications

• IndustryWeek
• Forbes, Japan
• The Japan Times
• Shukan Diamond (Japanese weekly business news magazine)
• Malaysia Current Law Journal
• The Nikkei Weekly
• This Is Yomiuri
• Shanghai Daily
• Pittsburgh Business Times
• The CEO Magazine
• Nihon Keizai Shimbun
• Licensing Best Practices: The LESI Guide to Strategic Issues and Contemporary Realities
• Corporate Legal Times
• Dispute Resolution Journal
• IP Litigator
• International Law News
• ACC Docket
• The Legal Intelligencer (Intellectual Property Section)
• Executive Counsel
• Legal Environment for Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
• Strategies (The Journal of Legal Marketing)
• Understanding Japan: Business, Culture, Technology
• Dynamic Business
• U.S. Business Litigation
• Forbes, Japan
• Commerce in Germany
• Finance & Treasury
• International Trade Committee Newsletter
• Transnational Joint Ventures
• International and Comparative Law Newsletter
• Direct Investments/U.S.A.
• Trends Magazine
• BNA’s Corporate Counsel Weekly
• Association Management(publication of the American Society of Association Executives)
• IPBA Journal
• Corporate Counsel’s International Advisor, printed in International Quarterly
• TEQ (journal published by the Technology Council)
• Trustee (magazine of American Hospital Association)
• Portfolio – International Economic Perspectives
• Policy Perspectives on National Industrial Development
• Pittsburgh Quarterly
• Boardroom Reports
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• The Practical Lawyer
• Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Corporation, Banking and Business Law Newsletter
• The University of Pittsburgh School of Law Journal of Law & Commerce
• The Dickinson Lawyer
• Dickinson Law Review
• William & Mary Law Review
• Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies
• Financial Executives International

External links

Law Firm

• Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP

Publishing House

• Meritas
• Wiley
• Prentice Hall

Literary Publications

• The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
• Pittsburgh Quarterly
• Dynamic Business
• Diamond, Inc.
• Japan Times

Educational institutions

• Pitt Law
• University of Virginia

Video Clips

• New Normal for global growth, Interview on CNBC
• Doing Business in Beijing, Interview on CNBC
• Interview with Chinese Central Television (CCTV2) on YouTube
• Interview with Scott Cohn on CNBC
• Malaysia Missing Airplane, Interview on KDKA
• Is China a threat to U.S. Energy Security, Interview on CNBC
• China Growth Slowest in Five Years, Interview on KQV-AM
• Four Big Challenges for China — and One Giant Opportunity on KDKA-TV