Han Kun Law Offices is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in corporate and M&A, investment funds and private equity. The firm has also earned a reputation in capital markets for its performance in representing both domestic and international clients from various emerging industries. Its aviation finance team, on the other hand, is experienced in advising both Chinese and foreign lessors as well as Chinese and foreign banks in their leasing and finance of commercial aircraft and business jets to Chinese airlines. Based in the firm’s Beijing and Shenzhen office, partner Chaoying (Charles) Li is experienced in public and private financings, M&A, incorporation and corporate restructuring, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property protection. Real estate lawyer Rong Fang and disputes lawyer Yang You both joined the firm from King & Wood Mallesons in 2020.
Client feedback
“Their services are excellent. They are highly efficient, professional and marvellous.” – Aviation
“Knowledgeable, speedy and flexible.” – Corporate and M&A
“Attentive with professional knowledge and practicality.” – Dispute resolution
“The partners I have worked with are obviously leaders in their field. They communicate well and are responsive.” – Dispute resolution
“Dedicated and professional. Provides pragmatic advice with sound legal knowledge.” – Dispute resolution
“I had a good feeling about working with Han Kun Law Offices. They have practical experience in various jurisdictions, which helps to produce enforceable claim construction and sufficient disclosure of patents meeting requirements. They demonstrated high level of performance and experience of administrative work, especially for safely and smoothly transferring patent rights. Their litigation team and prosecution team worked closely, which is good because they are also getting enforcement experience to complement their prosecution practice. Whenever I have a question, I just get in touch and they will give practical and helpful answers in a timely manner. To sum up, Han Kun Law Offices is unique among all the law firms I have worked with.” – Intellectual property
“Outstanding level of service. Extremely responsive with excellent business judgment.” – Investment funds
“Well-structured team who is responsive, experienced, resourceful and responsible.” – Private equity
“Detail-oriented and efficient. Understands local practices. Reasonable fees with a good network within various industries.” – Real estate
Xianglin Chen
“Good legal knowledge. Attentive to client's needs. Organised and punctual.”
“Chen is a brilliant lawyer. He is trustworthy, dynamic and has great relationships with his team and clients.”
Dafei Chen
“Superb client counselling skills showcased with very clear communication.”
Yi Ding
“Ding is fantastic and outstanding. He can point out the key issues and find the solutions very quickly.”
Shiwen (Stephen) Dong
“Dong is very hands-on with an excellent knowledge base. He manages team resources well in meeting deadlines. Also charges reasonably.”
Rong Fang
“Experienced, responsive and innovative.”
Wei (Will) Huang
“Provides a tailor-made service and responds with impressive efficiency.”
Lili Wu
“Client-oriented, professional, responsive and charges reasonably.”
Yaxing Zhang
“Dedicated and professional, owning the problem as if it were his own, and providing pragmatic advice backed by sound knowledge of the law as well as the legal and political landscape.”
Min Zhu
“Knowledgeable and efficient.”
“Professional and easy-going.”
Work highlights
Represented over 20 lessors in the bankruptcy reorganisation of the HNA entities. This is the largest bankruptcy reorganisation of a PRC airline group in history.
Represented ABC Financial Leasing in the purchase of three Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Tibet Financial Leasing.
Represented ICBC Leasing in its operating leasing of dozens of new Boeing and Airbus aircraft to China Southern.
Key clients
China Eastern Airlines, BOCOMM Leasing, China Exim Bank
Founded in 1999 with branch offices in 20 cities across China, full-service law firm AllBright Law Offices is known for its expertise in capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and tax. Senior partner Fangzhou (Ark) Bao is experienced in providing legal services to companies regarding corporate restructurings and IPOs in both domestic and overseas stock exchanges.
Client feedback
“Tries to truly understand the facts and underlying business interest. Very to-the-point advice that is both correct, understandable and pragmatic.” – Corporate and M&A
Carl Li
“Pragmatic advisor with strong communication skills in English, backed by a strong team.” – Corporate and M&A
Sheng Zhang
“Sheng Zhang, senior partner of AllBright Law Offices and his team provided finance and leasing/forfeiting related legal advice and acted as financing risk advisor and attorney for our company in a number of finance and leasing/forfeiting litigation cases over the past several years. They won all those cases for us. Zhang brings many years of legal experience and recognised expertise, particularly in the finance and leasing/forfeiting area. They offer an up-to-date and thorough understanding of the country's regulatory requirements for financing companies like us. Their aperiodic interpretations, professional risk assessment and analysis greatly facilitated in broadening our vision. They also helped updating our leasing/forfeiting contracts template in respect of the updated government policy and laws, which greatly enhanced our competent position in the finance and leasing industry.”
Work highlights
Acted for Donghao Lansheng Group on its 2020 first phase medium-term notes projects. The proceeds raised from this issuance will be mainly used for the subsidiary's participation in major asset restructuring business.
Key clients
China CITIC Bank, Hengqin Financial Investment International Financial Leasing Company, Shanghai Aijian Trust
DeHeng Law Offices specialises in acquisition finance and project finance. Partner Xu (Jennifer) Zhang is experienced in cross-border financing, including syndicated lending, asset finance and sovereign loans. The firm has recently opened offices in Shi Jiazhuang, Nanchang, Yinchuang, Xiamen, Xi’an, Xixian New Area and Hong Kong. It now has 33 branch offices in PRC and eight branch offices in foreign countries. The firm’s capital markets team has hired Hua Li and Xuefei Shi as partners in 2020.
Client feedback
“The law firm has used their exceptional skills and expertise to help us complete the deal wonderfully.” – Competition/antitrust
Hongyuan Li
“Li is an expert lawyer in the field of infrastructure. He has a comprehensive working background in construction project management, bidding and tendering, government procurement and legal services. He has rich experience in providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure investment and construction operation and is good at resolving disputes over project contracts.”
“Li is particularly good at providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure projects. He is skilled in construction project management, bidding and procurement. He has solid legal skills and a kind attitude. Our whole team likes him.”
Work highlights
Acted for Export-Import Bank of China (Shanghai branch) and Bank of China (Shanghai branch) as the lead counsel on a syndicated acquisition loan to Highly International for the purpose of acquiring 60% equity of Marelli.
Headquartered in Beijing with branches in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Hangzhou, East & Concord Partners has expertise in banking and finance, and commercial arbitration. Managing partner Qi Zhou focuses on dispute resolution and is experienced in handling commercial litigation and arbitration cases. The firm hired a number of new partners in the past 12 months: dispute lawyers Jingjing Zhong, Yulong Wu and Ke Li, and other lawyers include Shi Yao, Chaowen Liu and Kai Zhan.
Client feedback
“The firm gives professional advice and is capable of identifying the real needs of the customer and providing realistic solutions including settlement.” – Dispute resolution
“East & Concord provides customers with practical solutions, and you can see that they make their best efforts to provide high quality legal services to their customers while the service fees stay very reasonable.” – Dispute resolution
Chaoyi Ji
“Ji's team is very efficient. They always put customers first and are very thorough in fact checking.”
“Timely responses with practical solutions.”
Work highlights
Acted for a state-owned joint-stock bank and its overseas subsidiary on the establishment of a syndicate bank group for the purpose of issuing syndicated loans to a domestic borrower.
Key clients
China Citic Bank, China Pacific Insurance Group, SPD Silicon Valley Bank
Top-tier firm Fangda Partners dominates the majority of ranking tables. The firm also moved up to the ‘Highly recommended’ tier in this year’s media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences rankings. The firm’s regulatory team provides one-stop compliance and government enforcement services, including corporate investigations, government enforcement, compliance advisory, and related contentious matters. A key partner to note in the team is Kate Yin, who is a recognised leader in complex government enforcement, internal investigation and regulatory compliance, especially for challenging cross-border matters. Weiguo Yang joined the firm as partner from Guantao Law Firm in November 2020. Another dispute partner, Melody Wang, departed to Allen & Overy in January 2021. Wei Fang, specialised in corporate and M&A and private equity, joined the firm as partner in March 2021.
Client feedback
“The lawyers of the firm have very good legal skills, insight in the industry, and good connection with the relevant authorities. The team is well structured. They work efficiently and are easy to communicate with.” – Capital markets
“Professional. Fangda Partners understands our requirements promptly and advises on such requirements professionally, especially its PRC team.” – Capital markets
“Excellent technical and knowledgeable legal advice, combined with commercial awareness, innovative thinking. Incredibly hard-working and responsive.” – Competition/antitrust
“Professional with high level of integrity. Provides prompt responses for time-sensitive matters.” – Competition/antitrust
“The firms did particularly well at hearings. Lawyers are very professional and detail minded. They performed well in construction related issues and IP disputes.” - Construction
“Professional, quick turnaround, good understanding of industry and company's business.” – Corporate and M&A
“Knowledgeable and responsive.” – Corporate and M&A
“Excellent qualifications, great commercial judgment and sound legal advice.” – Corporate and M&A
“Competent lawyers who give timely and clear advice. Simplify complex issues with concise and clear explanations.” – Dispute resolution
“They provide thorough analysis, good counsel, and are prompt in communicating.” – Intellectual property
“Fast responses. Comprehensive insights. Down-to-earth approach. Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.” – Real estate
“The firm knows the market participants well, including both investment funds and portfolio companies. It is easy to communicate with and produces high quality work for investment funds.” – Technology and telecommunications
Christine Chen
“Chen has in-depth experience in advising sophisticated international issuers on local law issues. As our trusted legal advisor, she provides practical and thoughtful solutions to complicated legal issues, which are immensely helpful to the successful execution of cutting-edge debt offering transactions.”
Frank Fan
“Deep industrial knowledge. Experienced project execution. Ability to meet challenging deadlines.”
Michael Han
“Excellent technical knowledge, commercially aware and very responsive.”
“Competent and professional.”
Siyuan Pan
“She is a professional lawyer who understands our requirements properly.”
Josh Shin
“Very responsive.”
Yu (Tony) Xiang
“Xiang is equipped with many years of experience and his leadership and management throughout the proceedings is a testament to the skills and knowledge he has developed. A highly-involved leader, he followed our proceedings closely and offered vital advice throughout.”
Pu (Alexandra) Yang
“Very proactive communication, thorough analysis and dependable advice.”
Work highlights
Acted as the PRC counsel to the borrower in the privatisation of loan facilities provided by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (Shanghai branch), China Merchants Bank (Shanghai branch) and Industrial Bank (Shanghai branch), for the financing of the privatisation of 58.com. This deal is one of the largest privatisation deals in 2020.
Key clients
Anjuke Group, China Merchants Bank (Hong Kong branch), CITIC Capital, KKR
Global Law Office is one of the ‘Outstanding’ firms in banking and finance. The firm’s banking and finance team has extensive experience in onshore, offshore and cross-border financing work, covering bilateral and syndicated loans, project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset finance, trade and ECA-backed finance. Lawrence Lin leads the firm’s banking and finance team. The firm hired plenty of partners in the past year: Kunlin Wang joined from Jincheng Tongda & Neal, Catherine Song joined from Baker McKenzie FenXun, and Yang Zhang joined from AllBright Law Offices. Jieyi (Eric) Chen, Michael Chen, Haojia (Vincent) Zhuang and Mingshi (Tony) Zhang, also joined the firm from Zhong Lun Law Firm, and Xiaofeng Tang and Yubing (Ruby) Shao completed the recent additions.
Client feedback
“Good at managing project flow, protection of our rights with expertise and commercial sense.” – Corporate and M&A
“Global Law Office has provided us with accurate, efficient and professional legal services, and has represented us in the most complex and important intellectual property disputes. During Global Law Office's representation, it has provided us with comprehensive legal opinions and litigation strategies in the judicial process in a very professional and effective manner, so has to protect our rights and interests to the greatest extent. Our company and our affiliates are known as one of the largest well-known internet companies. In the face of those copyright infringements and unfair competitions conducted by our competitor, it can clearly identify the issues and provide a comprehensive legal analysis regarding the controversial issues. Global Law Office can always understand our objectives and can regularly communicate and address the problems to us during different stages of the litigation process. In the course of our cooperation, it has successfully represented us in several copyright infringement and unfair competition lawsuits against our competitor.” – Dispute resolution
“I am very satisfied with its legal services, which truly helped our company achieve our business goals. The firm is a red circle law firm with a very good reputation in the legal market. It served its clients with professional skills and a dedicated attitude. Its lawyers possess very good English language communication skills and have shown deep understanding on the laws. When providing legal services, they can provide real solutions that are commercially feasible for our company and our business.” – Intellectual property
“Excellent partner for our trademark litigation in China. We strongly rely on the high-quality advice – detailed and clear. Positive attributes: clear communication, quick follow-up, professional handling of our account.” – Intellectual property
“The firm is familiar with our product and technology as well as copyright enforcement in China. It provided practical legal advice on resolving the IP dispute.” – Intellectual property
“Responds promptly to a client's needs and inquiries. Familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds.” – Investment funds
Guangying (Amy) Dai
“Actively facilitates the deal during services. Keeps good relationship with business and legal teams of both sides.”
Yifeng Gao
“Gao has profound legal knowledge and experience in maritime law practice. He possesses excellent communication skills, and he is responsive to clients' questions or concerns. Also, he pays attention to the details of every aspect of a given case. He is perseverant yet flexible enough to satisfy the clients' commercial needs. Overall, he is a highly-respected and recommended lawyer.”
Jia (Meph) Gui
“We instructed Gui to deal with our IP cases. He has a thorough and in-depth understanding of IP laws in Mainland China and the US and is one of the very few IP partners admitted to practice laws in both jurisdictions. He is a creative and solution-oriented IP lawyer with enthusiasm, which is one of his most impressive traits. More importantly, he thinks critically, reasons well and has all the instincts of an excellent IP lawyer. He impressed me with his hard work and professionalism. I would without any reservation recommend Gui to be an IP expert to any friend in need of IP legal service in China. I have not found any obvious weakness in him.”
Zhanke (Jack) Li
“Li is an experienced IP lawyer who is familiar with both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. He has a proven track record in copyright and patent litigations in China and can always provide swift responses and practical legal advice to his clients. He can communicate effectively with this client and is very responsive.”
“Clear communication skills, responsive and professional in handling of our account.”
Ping Qiao
“Qiao has always been a dependable lawyer who can be entrusted with our most complicated and significant disputes. He carries out a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth study of China IP law. While representing our company in the copyright infringement and unfair competition case against our competitor Shanghai 2345 Co, Qiao provides a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the controversial issues regarding the case and makes the most suitable litigation plans based on our corporate strategy and industry characteristics.”
Lei (Steven) Yu
“Very hands-on and reliable.”
Work highlights
Advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank on a term loan facility to Compass Shipping 27 Corporation and Compass Shipping 28 Corporation.
Key clients
BNP Paribas, China CITIC Bank International, KfW IPEX-Bank, Sichuan Tianfu Bank
Jingtian & Gongcheng is highly ranked in capital markets and corporate and M&A. The firm has also developed a strong reputation in banking and finance in the past 12 months. A key contact to note is Hongjiu Zhang, who specialises in banking and finance, corporate and M&A, cross-border investment, restructuring and securities.
Client feedback
“Jingtian & Gongcheng’s team was very responsive and demonstrated professional dedication. It has rich experience in advising the issuers in Hong Kong IPO projects.” – Capital markets
“The professional skills and timely responses from the firm really impressed our company. In addition, they have a great perspective of the overall situation. They are good at combining the business requirements with legal skills when tackling complex problems arising from the transaction.” – Corporate and M&A
“They have a good view of the transaction, and they know the laws and local practices very well. They provide us practical solutions.” – Corporate and M&A
“Fast, efficient and effective.” – Intellectual property
“It's familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds. It also has extensive experience in insurance fund investment.” – Private equity
Hua Dai
“We are impressed by Dai’s professional skills and inspiration, especially his ability to combine the business requirements with excellent legal skills.”
Guanchun Dai
“Dai has been working with us for almost 10 years. He always provides us with effective solutions and handles our transactions very well.”
Chungang Dong
“He is responsive, professional and knowledgeable.”
Wan Yang
“Actively facilitates the deal during service and keeps good relationships with business and legal team.”
Hanshuo Zhou
“I'm impressed by Zhou's professionalism and pragmatic approach. It helped our company explore new areas and business opportunities.”
Work highlights
Acted for China Huaneng Group on a HK$17 billion bridge loan provided by Bank of China for the purpose of China Huaneng Group’s acquisition of H shares in Huaneng Renewables Corporation and its delisting. This is the largest privatisation deal in the energy sector on the HKEX.
Key clients
Agricultural Bank of China, DBS Bank (Shanghai branch), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (Shenzhen branch)
Top-tier firm JunHe is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas, including banking and finance, capital markets, competition/antitrust, corporate and M&A, labour and employment and tax. Key figures include partner Hui (Nelson) Zhou for banking and finance, Jiang (Joe) Chen for corporate and M&A, Yingling Wei for competition/antitrust, Weining Zou for dispute resolution, Dongpeng Wang for labour and employment and Chumeng (Jessica) Xu for IP. Firm has hired several corporate partners in the past year: Yipeng (Alan) Zhang, Yi You, Ke Zhang, Guangqin Wei and Zheyuan (Jacqueline) Qiao.
Client feedback
“Excellent critical legal thinking backed by creative solutions.” – Construction
“Professional and intelligent with language capability, including Japanese, English and Chinese.” – Intellectual property
Yu Qin
“Knowledgeable in the energy and infrastructure sectors.”
Zhaolin (Johnson) Wang
“Smart and intelligent with excellent problem-solving and language skills. Fast learner when it comes to complex technology. Also provides professional opinions.”
Xianfeng (Elvis) Zhou
“Professional, client-driven, cooperative and responsive.”
Work highlights
Acted on the financing of 58.com’s privatisation and delisting from the NYSE.
Acted for Industrial Bank on Geely’s fundraising to support the restructuring of Polestar, a luxury performance electric vehicle brand jointly owned by Geely and Volvo.
Key clients
BAIC Inalfa, Bank of China, BREP Asia II Holdings, Standard Chartered Bank (China)
Prominent firm King & Wood Mallesons sits atop ranking tables across various practice areas. Managing partner Ling Wang is a project finance specialist with deep expertise in the infrastructure and energy sectors. Disputes partner Ariel Ye has more than 25 years of experience in cross-border commercial dispute resolution, focusing on international arbitration and China related compliance work. The firm’s banking and finance team promoted Chunlong (Simon) Xu, Xiaoxue (Stella) Wang, Liang Qiu and Jie Chen to partners in September 2020. The firm’s dispute resolution team welcomed partners Feng Shan and Ling Wu, both joining from Grandall Law Firm.
Work highlights
Advised the syndication formed by Bank of China (Hong Kong), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Hong Kong branch) and Natixis (Hong Kong branch) on acquisition financing to CPI Mexico Holdings for the purpose of purchasing the assets of a large clean energy platform company in Mexico. This was the first time a Chinese power company made an investment directly into the Mexican clean energy market, and was also the largest renewable energy acquisition transaction in Latin America in recent years.
Key clients
China Minsheng Bank, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Jaguar Land Rover (China) Investment
Llinks Law Offices is highly ranked in banking and finance and corporate and M&A. Partner Charles Qin heads the firm’s banking and finance department and has rich experience in capital markets, corporate and M&A, and private equity. Qin and his team regularly advise clients on cross-border and multi-currency transactional issues. In May 2020, the firm hired a number of partners from AllBright Law Offices, including disputes lawyer Alex Huang and corporate lawyers Candice Du, Alan Chen and Sheldon Chen.
Client feedback
“Solid legal knowledge with client-driven attitude.” – Labour and employment
Work highlights
Advised a number of domestic and overseas banks led by OCBC Singapore on a syndicated acquisition financing for Daning International Commercial Plaza in Shanghai.
Advised Ping An Bank (Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone branch) on a Euro-denominated loan advanced to SINO-CEE Fund. This financing was one of a series of cross border loans advanced to the leading fund for the purpose of investment into ‘Belt and Road’ projects.
Advised Hang Seng Bank (China) and Nanyang Commercial Bank (China) on a parallel offshore and onshore loan advanced to a leading player in the IDC industry.
Key clients
HSBC Bank (China) Company (Shenyang branch), Nomura Investment Management (Shanghai)
Shanghai Pacific Legal specialises in advising domestic and international corporates, financial institutions and Chinese state-owned entities on investments and financings into and out of China. The firm’s banking and finance team has substantial cross-border expertise in international and cross-border banking and finance transactions. In September 2020, Joy Gao joined the firm from Zhong Lun Law Firm as partner to lead its banking and finance practice. She advises banks and borrowers on a wide range of financings, with a particular focus on bilateral and syndicated finance, real estate finance, acquisition finance and corporate lending.
Client feedback
“A global firm that can provide more international services to the client.” – Intellectual property
Work highlights
Advised Everest Infrastructure, a consortium of PT Provident Capital Indonesia Saratoga Investama Sedaya, on a US dollar loan facility led by Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and HSBC (Singapore branch), for the purpose of the development of a number of telecommunication tower projects in China.
Established in 2000, Tahota Law Firm has more than 300 partners providing legal services to its clients across various practice areas. The firm regularly advises clients on the issuance of bonds, including corporate bonds, financial bonds and SME aggregate bonds. Senior partner Jinnan Li specialises in cross-border financing, investments and acquisitions.
Work highlights
Acted for iSNOB Holdings on its B-plus rounds of financing.
Chinese legal powerhouse Zhong Lun Law Firm is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas and industry sectors with its well-established teams in both the transactional and contentious arena. With its exceptional experience in complex and high-profile restructuring, M&A, and various other transactions, it has assisted many hi-tech businesses in their development and expansion. Construction and project development have traditionally been the firm’s core practices, its expertise has also expanded to real estate, infrastructure and PPP, energy, public facilities, and industrial manufacturing. Some of the key partners to note from the firm are Shanghai-based partner Anthony Zhao, who specialises in capital markets, private equity, cross-border investment/M&A, and Beijing-based partner Jihong Wang, whose practice covers corporate governance, health, safety, environmental protection, and financing. Dongping (Mabel) Liu, specialises in competition/antitrust, joined the firm as partner from East & Concord Partners in November 2020. The firm’s IP team welcomed Xi Sun as partner from Lifang & Partners in March 2021. Partner Lixing Zhao departed to Fangda Partners in April 2020.
Client feedback
“Zhong Lun Law Firm benefits from two factors which contribute to its reputation as one the premier disputes firms for international work in the PRC. First, it benefits from excellent leadership. Lijun Cao and Huawei Sun are both superb leaders. Sun, with whom I have worked most closely, is brilliant. He is bright, thoughtful, engaged and hard-working. Secondly, the firm attracted the brightest and best graduates from Chinese universities. As a result, the support from associates is excellent.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm is very proactive in finding the best approach to serve client's interest. They are very open to new ideas and suggestions, and know how to work in a collaborative mode, particularly with western teams.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm provides comprehensive legal advice that is tailored to our business needs.” – Intellectual property
“The team of lawyers provided a lot of targeted and valuable plans for the purpose of business transactions of the company. It promoted the development of the product market through the distribution of the company's patented technology.” – Intellectual property
“Detail-oriented, professional and responsive.” – Intellectual property
“Detailed analysis of the patent. Timely feedback.” – Intellectual property
“Quick feedback with accurate and practical solutions. Outstanding in patent and other technology related cases. Profound experience in Supreme People's Court IP cases. Deep knowledge of all kinds of IP issues in China.” – Intellectual property
“The law firm has provided professional opinions on the issue.” – Privacy and data protection
“It is always on standby and helps resolve your issues as needed.” – Private equity
“Zhong Lun Law Firm provided effective, high-quality legal services, which contained fund establishment, documents drafting and negotiation for this project. Also, lawyer Yanchun Zhao's legal team possesses sound experience with respect to fund establishment and the investment and financing of funds.” – Private equity
“Professional and responsive.” – Real estate
“It demonstrates enthusiasm with a rigorous attitude.” – Restructuring and insolvency
“Professional and efficient.” – Technology and telecommunications
Ping Gu
“Gu understands the needs of our business and provides the legal advice that we need.”
Dongxiao Ma
“Good communication and analytical skills. Clear thinking, responsive and detail oriented. Provides very practical solutions to clients in IP matters, from client's business side. Exceptional, outstanding, and eloquent in court.”
“Very professional and detail-oriented in TM and IP related matters. He responds to inquiries promptly and thinks from the client's commercial perspective instead of from a textbook.”
“Highly responsive and professional. Recommended for complex and technology sophisticated cases. Has a team of talented associates responsible for different tech areas.”
Shengfeng Xu
“Diligent research and good problem solver.”
Huawei Sun
“Sun is brilliant – bright, thoughtful and extremely hard working. Her ability to focus on the most important case-critical issues means that she is particularly well-suited to the most complex and high value disputes.”
Wenhao Han
“Proactive, fluent in English, very good at explaining issues and finding solutions.”
Yanchun Zhao
“Yanchun Zhao is an equity partner of the firm. He has in-depth research and rich practical experience in the compliance, establishment, fundraising and investment of private equity and investment funds. Partner Zhao has provided legal services for private equity and investment funds such as FOF, VC, PE, M&A funds and real estate funds, and the investment fields include biomedicine, artificial intelligence, education, environmental protection, great health and real estate.”
Work highlights
Advised Bank of Beijing, one of the largest urban commercial banks in China, on its online auto loan cooperation project with Guazi.
Key clients
Bank of China Financial Technology, Bank of Nanjing, Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange, Taiping Financial Services
Founded in 1999 with branch offices in 20 cities across China, full-service law firm AllBright Law Offices is known for its expertise in capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and tax. Senior partner Fangzhou (Ark) Bao is experienced in providing legal services to companies regarding corporate restructurings and IPOs in both domestic and overseas stock exchanges.
Client feedback
“Tries to truly understand the facts and underlying business interest. Very to-the-point advice that is both correct, understandable and pragmatic.” – Corporate and M&A
Carl Li
“Pragmatic advisor with strong communication skills in English, backed by a strong team.” – Corporate and M&A
Sheng Zhang
“Sheng Zhang, senior partner of AllBright Law Offices and his team provided finance and leasing/forfeiting related legal advice and acted as financing risk advisor and attorney for our company in a number of finance and leasing/forfeiting litigation cases over the past several years. They won all those cases for us. Zhang brings many years of legal experience and recognised expertise, particularly in the finance and leasing/forfeiting area. They offer an up-to-date and thorough understanding of the country's regulatory requirements for financing companies like us. Their aperiodic interpretations, professional risk assessment and analysis greatly facilitated in broadening our vision. They also helped updating our leasing/forfeiting contracts template in respect of the updated government policy and laws, which greatly enhanced our competent position in the finance and leasing industry.”
Work highlights
Assisted SMIC Manufacturing International Corporation on its listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market) of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), marking the largest IPO raised since the opening of the sci-tech innovation board, also the largest IPO of A-shares in the past 10 years.
Advised Guo Rui Technology on its issuance of shares and related transactions. This project is the largest reorganisation in the history of China Electric Technology Group.
Key clients
Caitong Securities, Jiangsu Jindike Biotechnology, Kintor Pharmaceutical
Headquartered in Beijing with branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Hong Kong, Beijing Grandway Law Offices is best known for its capital market practice. The firm also excels in a number of other practice areas, such as corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and real estate. A key partner to note is Liguo Zhang, who has a track record of providing legal services to corporations on matters related to IPOs, M&A, refinancing, securities investment funds and equity incentives. The firm has hired eight corporate partners in the year of 2020, namely Jun Chen, Yong Zhang, Yafu Feng, Xiaofei Liu, Jun Xie, Wei Wang, Xiaofei Qu and Lin Gong. Huilin Zhang and Lin Gong also joined firm’s real estate team as partners in the same year.
Work highlights
Advised Shandong Kaisheng New Material on its IPO on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Acted for Shenzhen Vzoom Credit Technology on its listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Acted for Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems on its listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Key clients
Guangdong Rifeng Electric Cable, Shanghai Golden Union Business Management, XiaMen HongXin Electron-tech Group
Chen & Co Law Firm works with other EY member firms, including EY assurance, tax, transactions and advisory professionals, to address its clients’ needs across different markets. Managing partner John Jiang heads the firm’s corporate finance department. He focuses his practice on banking and finance, corporate and M&A and private equity. The firm hired data protection expert Sunny Liew as partner in March 2021. Zhong Lin left the firm in April 2021.
Work highlights
Advised Youcare Pharmaceutical Group, a diversified medical and pharmaceutical enterprise integrated with new drug research, manufacturing, circulation, and marketing, on its listing on the STAR market of Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Advised national high-tech enterprise Jiangsu Boqian New Materials Stock Company on its listing on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Advised CCGrass, the largest synthetic turf factory in the world, on its listing on the main board of Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Key clients
Hangzhou Raycloud Technology, Novoray Corporation
DeHeng Law Offices specialises in acquisition finance and project finance. Partner Xu (Jennifer) Zhang is experienced in cross-border financing, including syndicated lending, asset finance and sovereign loans. The firm has recently opened offices in Shi Jiazhuang, Nanchang, Yinchuang, Xiamen, Xi’an, Xixian New Area and Hong Kong. It now has 33 branch offices in PRC and eight branch offices in foreign countries. The firm’s capital markets team has hired Hua Li and Xuefei Shi as partners in 2020.
Client feedback
“The law firm has used their exceptional skills and expertise to help us complete the deal wonderfully.” – Competition/antitrust
Hongyuan Li
“Li is an expert lawyer in the field of infrastructure. He has a comprehensive working background in construction project management, bidding and tendering, government procurement and legal services. He has rich experience in providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure investment and construction operation and is good at resolving disputes over project contracts.”
“Li is particularly good at providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure projects. He is skilled in construction project management, bidding and procurement. He has solid legal skills and a kind attitude. Our whole team likes him.”
Work highlights
Advised Haitong Securities (the lead underwriter) on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation’s IPO on Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR market. This is the biggest A-share IPO by a semiconductor enterprise in terms of financing in history, and the biggest A-share IPO of the past decade.
Key clients
China Coal Energy Company, China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services, Kweichow Moutai Group, Smoore International Holdings
Top-tier firm Fangda Partners dominates the majority of ranking tables. The firm also moved up to the ‘Highly recommended’ tier in this year’s media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences rankings. The firm’s regulatory team provides one-stop compliance and government enforcement services, including corporate investigations, government enforcement, compliance advisory, and related contentious matters. A key partner to note in the team is Kate Yin, who is a recognised leader in complex government enforcement, internal investigation and regulatory compliance, especially for challenging cross-border matters. Weiguo Yang joined the firm as partner from Guantao Law Firm in November 2020. Another dispute partner, Melody Wang, departed to Allen & Overy in January 2021. Wei Fang, specialised in corporate and M&A and private equity, joined the firm as partner in March 2021.
Client feedback
“The lawyers of the firm have very good legal skills, insight in the industry, and good connection with the relevant authorities. The team is well structured. They work efficiently and are easy to communicate with.” – Capital markets
“Professional. Fangda Partners understands our requirements promptly and advises on such requirements professionally, especially its PRC team.” – Capital markets
“Excellent technical and knowledgeable legal advice, combined with commercial awareness, innovative thinking. Incredibly hard-working and responsive.” – Competition/antitrust
“Professional with high level of integrity. Provides prompt responses for time-sensitive matters.” – Competition/antitrust
“The firms did particularly well at hearings. Lawyers are very professional and detail minded. They performed well in construction related issues and IP disputes.” - Construction
“Professional, quick turnaround, good understanding of industry and company's business.” – Corporate and M&A
“Knowledgeable and responsive.” – Corporate and M&A
“Excellent qualifications, great commercial judgment and sound legal advice.” – Corporate and M&A
“Competent lawyers who give timely and clear advice. Simplify complex issues with concise and clear explanations.” – Dispute resolution
“They provide thorough analysis, good counsel, and are prompt in communicating.” – Intellectual property
“Fast responses. Comprehensive insights. Down-to-earth approach. Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.” – Real estate
“The firm knows the market participants well, including both investment funds and portfolio companies. It is easy to communicate with and produces high quality work for investment funds.” – Technology and telecommunications
Christine Chen
“Chen has in-depth experience in advising sophisticated international issuers on local law issues. As our trusted legal advisor, she provides practical and thoughtful solutions to complicated legal issues, which are immensely helpful to the successful execution of cutting-edge debt offering transactions.”
Frank Fan
“Deep industrial knowledge. Experienced project execution. Ability to meet challenging deadlines.”
Michael Han
“Excellent technical knowledge, commercially aware and very responsive.”
“Competent and professional.”
Siyuan Pan
“She is a professional lawyer who understands our requirements properly.”
Josh Shin
“Very responsive.”
Yu (Tony) Xiang
“Xiang is equipped with many years of experience and his leadership and management throughout the proceedings is a testament to the skills and knowledge he has developed. A highly-involved leader, he followed our proceedings closely and offered vital advice throughout.”
Pu (Alexandra) Yang
“Very proactive communication, thorough analysis and dependable advice.”
Work highlights
Acted for Kingsoft Cloud Holdings on its listing on Nasdaq. This deal was the largest IPO in the US of China-based companies since Luckin Coffee.
Acted for Bank of Chongqing on its A-share listing.
Acted for iRay Technology Company on its listing on the STAR market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. This deal marks the largest IPO project in the special equipment manufacturing industry on the SSE STAR market.
Key clients
AUPU Home Style Corporation, BTR New Material Group, Shanghai Fudan-Zhangjiang Bio-Pharmaceutical, VeriSilicon Microelectronics (Shanghai)
Global Law Office is one of the ‘Outstanding’ firms in banking and finance. The firm’s banking and finance team has extensive experience in onshore, offshore and cross-border financing work, covering bilateral and syndicated loans, project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset finance, trade and ECA-backed finance. Lawrence Lin leads the firm’s banking and finance team. The firm hired plenty of partners in the past year: Kunlin Wang joined from Jincheng Tongda & Neal, Catherine Song joined from Baker McKenzie FenXun, and Yang Zhang joined from AllBright Law Offices. Jieyi (Eric) Chen, Michael Chen, Haojia (Vincent) Zhuang and Mingshi (Tony) Zhang, also joined the firm from Zhong Lun Law Firm, and Xiaofeng Tang and Yubing (Ruby) Shao completed the recent additions.
Client feedback
“Good at managing project flow, protection of our rights with expertise and commercial sense.” – Corporate and M&A
“Global Law Office has provided us with accurate, efficient and professional legal services, and has represented us in the most complex and important intellectual property disputes. During Global Law Office's representation, it has provided us with comprehensive legal opinions and litigation strategies in the judicial process in a very professional and effective manner, so has to protect our rights and interests to the greatest extent. Our company and our affiliates are known as one of the largest well-known internet companies. In the face of those copyright infringements and unfair competitions conducted by our competitor, it can clearly identify the issues and provide a comprehensive legal analysis regarding the controversial issues. Global Law Office can always understand our objectives and can regularly communicate and address the problems to us during different stages of the litigation process. In the course of our cooperation, it has successfully represented us in several copyright infringement and unfair competition lawsuits against our competitor.” – Dispute resolution
“I am very satisfied with its legal services, which truly helped our company achieve our business goals. The firm is a red circle law firm with a very good reputation in the legal market. It served its clients with professional skills and a dedicated attitude. Its lawyers possess very good English language communication skills and have shown deep understanding on the laws. When providing legal services, they can provide real solutions that are commercially feasible for our company and our business.” – Intellectual property
“Excellent partner for our trademark litigation in China. We strongly rely on the high-quality advice – detailed and clear. Positive attributes: clear communication, quick follow-up, professional handling of our account.” – Intellectual property
“The firm is familiar with our product and technology as well as copyright enforcement in China. It provided practical legal advice on resolving the IP dispute.” – Intellectual property
“Responds promptly to a client's needs and inquiries. Familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds.” – Investment funds
Guangying (Amy) Dai
“Actively facilitates the deal during services. Keeps good relationship with business and legal teams of both sides.”
Yifeng Gao
“Gao has profound legal knowledge and experience in maritime law practice. He possesses excellent communication skills, and he is responsive to clients' questions or concerns. Also, he pays attention to the details of every aspect of a given case. He is perseverant yet flexible enough to satisfy the clients' commercial needs. Overall, he is a highly-respected and recommended lawyer.”
Jia (Meph) Gui
“We instructed Gui to deal with our IP cases. He has a thorough and in-depth understanding of IP laws in Mainland China and the US and is one of the very few IP partners admitted to practice laws in both jurisdictions. He is a creative and solution-oriented IP lawyer with enthusiasm, which is one of his most impressive traits. More importantly, he thinks critically, reasons well and has all the instincts of an excellent IP lawyer. He impressed me with his hard work and professionalism. I would without any reservation recommend Gui to be an IP expert to any friend in need of IP legal service in China. I have not found any obvious weakness in him.”
Zhanke (Jack) Li
“Li is an experienced IP lawyer who is familiar with both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. He has a proven track record in copyright and patent litigations in China and can always provide swift responses and practical legal advice to his clients. He can communicate effectively with this client and is very responsive.”
“Clear communication skills, responsive and professional in handling of our account.”
Ping Qiao
“Qiao has always been a dependable lawyer who can be entrusted with our most complicated and significant disputes. He carries out a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth study of China IP law. While representing our company in the copyright infringement and unfair competition case against our competitor Shanghai 2345 Co, Qiao provides a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the controversial issues regarding the case and makes the most suitable litigation plans based on our corporate strategy and industry characteristics.”
Lei (Steven) Yu
“Very hands-on and reliable.”
Work highlights
Advised ZTO Express on its secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Advised Lvgem (China) Real Estate Investment Company on its wholly owned subsidiary’s issuance of $450 million senior notes and listing on the Singapore Exchange.
Key clients
Beijing Mediwelcome Medical Technology, BlueCity Holdings, China Resources Microelectronics, Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials, Lvji Technology Holdings
With 13 offices in China, Guantao Law Firm provides legal services across all practice areas. The firm is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in restructuring and insolvency. Its team advises non-bank financial institutions on dissolution liquidation, insolvency liquidation and insolvency reorganisation. Managing partner Liguo Cui has expertise in transactional law with a focus on aviation, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. M&A lawyers Rongyuan Xu and Min Ni joined the firm as partners in 2020. In the same year, the firm’s dispute resolution team also welcomed Shichun Cao, Xin Li, Changzhou Xin and Jun Zou as partners.
Work highlights
Advised Financial Street Property on its IPO and listing in Hong Kong.
Acted for Jinke Smart Services Group on its listing on the main board of HKEX.
Key clients
Beijing World Online Advertising, Shanxi Zhongtian Rocket Technology, Sihui Fuji Electronics Technology, Wuhan Xingtu Xinke Electronics
Hai Run Law Firm was formed by the merger of Beijing Hairun Law Firm and Beijing Teamray Law Firm in 2018. Capital markets is the firm’s core strength. Its securities and capital markets department consists of 120 lawyers, including 20 partners and 100 practising lawyers. Senior partner Kebing Yan heads the firm’s capital market practice. He focuses his practice on securities and finance, including restructuring and reorganisation, IPOs and listings, listed company M&A and asset securitisation.
Work highlights
Acted for Beijing Tieke Shougang Railway-Tech on its listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market) of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).
Acted for Amic Technology Development on its listing on the ChiNext of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Acted for Ningxia Xiaoming Agriculture and Animal Husbandry on its listing on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE).
Key clients
Arctech Solar Holding, Beijing Bohui Technology, Shanghai Huafeng Aluminum, Xiangyang Boya Precision Equipment, Zhejiang Aoxiang Pharmaceutical
Founded in 1992, Haiwen & Partners is experienced in cross-border securities, M&A transactions, private equity, and general corporate and commercial dispute resolution. Media and entertainment is one of the firm’s key industry sectors. It is often involved in the development of film and television projects, formation of production and financing vehicles, and other new media matters. The firm currently has around 300 lawyers in total working at its Beijing, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen offices. Beijing-based partner Yu Cao is a reputable entertainment lawyer. On top of his profound understanding in the media industry, he is also experienced in general corporate and finance transactions.
Work highlights
Acted for Kuaishou Technology as PRC legal advisor on its listing on the main board of HKEX.
Acted for Lufax Holding as the PRC counsel on its trading and listing of American Depositary Shares on the New York Stock Exchange. This is the largest-ever fintech IPO and the biggest Chinese IPO since 2015 in the US.
Key clients
China Galaxy Securities, JHBP CY Holdings, Nanofilm Technologies International, Orient Securities Investment Banking
Han Kun Law Offices is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in corporate and M&A, investment funds and private equity. The firm has also earned a reputation in capital markets for its performance in representing both domestic and international clients from various emerging industries. Its aviation finance team, on the other hand, is experienced in advising both Chinese and foreign lessors as well as Chinese and foreign banks in their leasing and finance of commercial aircraft and business jets to Chinese airlines. Based in the firm’s Beijing and Shenzhen office, partner Chaoying (Charles) Li is experienced in public and private financings, M&A, incorporation and corporate restructuring, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property protection. Real estate lawyer Rong Fang and disputes lawyer Yang You both joined the firm from King & Wood Mallesons in 2020.
Client feedback
“Their services are excellent. They are highly efficient, professional and marvellous.” – Aviation
“Knowledgeable, speedy and flexible.” – Corporate and M&A
“Attentive with professional knowledge and practicality.” – Dispute resolution
“The partners I have worked with are obviously leaders in their field. They communicate well and are responsive.” – Dispute resolution
“Dedicated and professional. Provides pragmatic advice with sound legal knowledge.” – Dispute resolution
“I had a good feeling about working with Han Kun Law Offices. They have practical experience in various jurisdictions, which helps to produce enforceable claim construction and sufficient disclosure of patents meeting requirements. They demonstrated high level of performance and experience of administrative work, especially for safely and smoothly transferring patent rights. Their litigation team and prosecution team worked closely, which is good because they are also getting enforcement experience to complement their prosecution practice. Whenever I have a question, I just get in touch and they will give practical and helpful answers in a timely manner. To sum up, Han Kun Law Offices is unique among all the law firms I have worked with.” – Intellectual property
“Outstanding level of service. Extremely responsive with excellent business judgment.” – Investment funds
“Well-structured team who is responsive, experienced, resourceful and responsible.” – Private equity
“Detail-oriented and efficient. Understands local practices. Reasonable fees with a good network within various industries.” – Real estate
Xianglin Chen
“Good legal knowledge. Attentive to client's needs. Organised and punctual.”
“Chen is a brilliant lawyer. He is trustworthy, dynamic and has great relationships with his team and clients.”
Dafei Chen
“Superb client counselling skills showcased with very clear communication.”
Yi Ding
“Ding is fantastic and outstanding. He can point out the key issues and find the solutions very quickly.”
Shiwen (Stephen) Dong
“Dong is very hands-on with an excellent knowledge base. He manages team resources well in meeting deadlines. Also charges reasonably.”
Rong Fang
“Experienced, responsive and innovative.”
Wei (Will) Huang
“Provides a tailor-made service and responds with impressive efficiency.”
Lili Wu
“Client-oriented, professional, responsive and charges reasonably.”
Yaxing Zhang
“Dedicated and professional, owning the problem as if it were his own, and providing pragmatic advice backed by sound knowledge of the law as well as the legal and political landscape.”
Min Zhu
“Knowledgeable and efficient.”
“Professional and easy-going.”
Work highlights
Represented the joint sponsors in JD.com’s HK$29.8 billion secondary listing on the main board of HKEX. It is reported that JD’s secondary listing was 2020’s largest listing in Hong Kong.
Represented KE Holdings in its $2.1 billion US IPO and listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Key clients
Baozun, Beike, Li Auto, NIO
Hai Run Law Firm was formed by the merger of Beijing Hairun Law Firm and Beijing Teamray Law Firm in 2018. Capital markets is the firm’s core strength. Its securities and capital markets department consists of 120 lawyers, including 20 partners and 100 practising lawyers. Senior partner Kebing Yan heads the firm’s capital market practice. He focuses his practice on securities and finance, including restructuring and reorganisation, IPOs and listings, listed company M&A and asset securitisation.
Work highlights
Acted for Beijing Tieke Shougang Railway-Tech on its listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market) of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).
Acted for Amic Technology Development on its listing on the ChiNext of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Acted for Ningxia Xiaoming Agriculture and Animal Husbandry on its listing on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE).
Key clients
Arctech Solar Holding, Beijing Bohui Technology, Shanghai Huafeng Aluminum, Xiangyang Boya Precision Equipment, Zhejiang Aoxiang Pharmaceutical
Headquartered in Beijing with branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Xi'an, Jia Yuan Law Offices is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in capital markets. The firm specialises in capital markets, corporate and M&A, financial and international businesses. Senior partner Liangjuan Wen has expertise in corporate restructuring, refinancing and M&A.
Work highlights
Acted for New Oriental Education Technology Group on its secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Acted for Hefei Jianghang Aircraft Equipment on its listing on the STAR market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Acted for Junshi Biosciences on its listing on the STAR market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Key clients
China International Capital Corporation
Jingtian & Gongcheng is highly ranked in capital markets and corporate and M&A. The firm has also developed a strong reputation in banking and finance in the past 12 months. A key contact to note is Hongjiu Zhang, who specialises in banking and finance, corporate and M&A, cross-border investment, restructuring and securities.
Client feedback
“Jingtian & Gongcheng’s team was very responsive and demonstrated professional dedication. It has rich experience in advising the issuers in Hong Kong IPO projects.” – Capital markets
“The professional skills and timely responses from the firm really impressed our company. In addition, they have a great perspective of the overall situation. They are good at combining the business requirements with legal skills when tackling complex problems arising from the transaction.” – Corporate and M&A
“They have a good view of the transaction, and they know the laws and local practices very well. They provide us practical solutions.” – Corporate and M&A
“Fast, efficient and effective.” – Intellectual property
“It's familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds. It also has extensive experience in insurance fund investment.” – Private equity
Hua Dai
“We are impressed by Dai’s professional skills and inspiration, especially his ability to combine the business requirements with excellent legal skills.”
Guanchun Dai
“Dai has been working with us for almost 10 years. He always provides us with effective solutions and handles our transactions very well.”
Chungang Dong
“He is responsive, professional and knowledgeable.”
Wan Yang
“Actively facilitates the deal during service and keeps good relationships with business and legal team.”
Hanshuo Zhou
“I'm impressed by Zhou's professionalism and pragmatic approach. It helped our company explore new areas and business opportunities.”
Work highlights
Acted for Nongfu Spring on its listing on the HKEX. The project is the first H-share ‘full circulation’ IPO deal in Hong Kong since China Securities Regulatory Commission announced the reform of ‘full circulation’ of H shares in November 2019.
Key clients
Haidilao International Holdings, Pop Mart International Group, Yum China Holdings
Top-tier firm JunHe is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas, including banking and finance, capital markets, competition/antitrust, corporate and M&A, labour and employment and tax. Key figures include partner Hui (Nelson) Zhou for banking and finance, Jiang (Joe) Chen for corporate and M&A, Yingling Wei for competition/antitrust, Weining Zou for dispute resolution, Dongpeng Wang for labour and employment and Chumeng (Jessica) Xu for IP. Firm has hired several corporate partners in the past year: Yipeng (Alan) Zhang, Yi You, Ke Zhang, Guangqin Wei and Zheyuan (Jacqueline) Qiao.
Client feedback
“Excellent critical legal thinking backed by creative solutions.” – Construction
“Professional and intelligent with language capability, including Japanese, English and Chinese.” – Intellectual property
Yu Qin
“Knowledgeable in the energy and infrastructure sectors.”
Zhaolin (Johnson) Wang
“Smart and intelligent with excellent problem-solving and language skills. Fast learner when it comes to complex technology. Also provides professional opinions.”
Xianfeng (Elvis) Zhou
“Professional, client-driven, cooperative and responsive.”
Work highlights
Acted for the joint sponsors of NetEase’s listing on the main board of HKEX.
Acted for the underwriter of XPeng’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Advised China Development Bank on its first ever RMB-denominated financial bond listing on the Singapore Exchange.
Key clients
Bank of Communications (Hong Kong branch), China Yangtze Power, PICC
JunZeJun Law Offices is experienced in providing professional and comprehensive legal services for financial institutions and financial instruments. The firm’s banking and finance team is especially skilled in the issuance and underwriting of various types of bonds, including medium-term notes, financial bonds and corporate bonds. The firm has established four new offices in Haikou, Kunming, Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou in the past 12 months.
Work highlights
Advised Wuhan Optical Valley Environmental Science and Technology on the public issuance of corporate bonds.
Advised Chengdu High-tech Investment Group on the issuance of corporate bonds.
Headquartered in Beijing with 18 offices across China, Kangda Law Firm specialises in capital markets, with a particular focus on securities issuances and listings. A key partner to note is Beijing-based partner Guanghui Jiang, whose practice covers restructuring, listings and refinancing, private financing, bond issuances, compliance, and information disclosure of listed companies.
Work highlights
Advised Zhejiang Zhekuang Heavy Industry on its IPO on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the HKEX.
Advised Essence Information Technology on its IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market)of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).
Key clients
Bonree Data Technology, China Merchants Securities, Guotai Junan Securities, Hebei Runnong Water-saving Technology
Llinks Law Offices is highly ranked in banking and finance and corporate and M&A. Partner Charles Qin heads the firm’s banking and finance department and has rich experience in capital markets, corporate and M&A, and private equity. Qin and his team regularly advise clients on cross-border and multi-currency transactional issues. In May 2020, the firm hired a number of partners from AllBright Law Offices, including disputes lawyer Alex Huang and corporate lawyers Candice Du, Alan Chen and Sheldon Chen.
Client feedback
“Solid legal knowledge with client-driven attitude.” – Labour and employment
Work highlights
Advised Shanghai Yongmaotai Automotive Technology on its IPO on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Advised Yonghui Superstores on its first offering of medium-term notes in 2021.
Key clients
Jiangsu Sanfame, Shanghai Allist Pharmaceuticals, Xiamen ITG Group, Zhejiang East Asia Pharmaceutical
Shihui Partners is known for its expertise in capital markets, investment funds and private equity. Partner George Niu focuses on domestic and overseas IPOs, M&A, private equity, and investment funds. The firm has hired several partners throughout the past 12 months, including Xiangjun Kong, who joined from Zhong Lun Law Firm, Yun Bi, who joined from King & Wood Mallesons, Yan Xia from Han Kun Law Offices, and a few partners from Global Law Office.
Client feedback
“Shihui Partners is quite experienced in the capital markets related area. It is helpful in issuing PRC legal opinions and legal solutions for compliance matters during the IPO process of JD Logistics.” – Capital markets
Peizhi Zhao
“We are impressed with Zhao and the team's robust due diligence and hard-working attitude. As a law firm dealing with many global transactions, it communicates well with many peer law firms such as Goodwin and Covington, and negotiates with strong facts and reasonings to stand for our interest. It also communicates well with us and provides good suggestions and options during the deal, facilitating the smooth close of all of our transactions in a time-sensitive manner.”
“Zhao is very hard-working. He handles a deal in a very tight schedule with very robust and professional output. He has very good communication skills both in negotiation and providing legal suggestions with consideration of deal dynamics.”
Jian Zhang
“Experienced and responsive with an innovative mind.”
Work highlights
Advised JD.com on its listing on the HKEX.
Acted for Burning Rock on its US IPO.
Established in 2000, Tahota Law Firm has more than 300 partners providing legal services to its clients across various practice areas. The firm regularly advises clients on the issuance of bonds, including corporate bonds, financial bonds and SME aggregate bonds. Senior partner Jinnan Li specialises in cross-border financing, investments and acquisitions.
Work highlights
Advised Chengdu Santai Holding Group on its non-public issuance of shares.
Advised Hengqin Huatong Financial on the issuance of 2020 financial bonds.
Key clients
Chengdu High-new Investment Group, Shandong Commercial Group, Xinjiang Urumqi High-tech Investment Development Group
Headquartered in Beijing with branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hong Kong, Tian Yuan Law Firm is highly ranked in capital markets, competition/antitrust and corporate and M&A. Partner Xiaohui Zhu has extensive experience in corporate law and capital markets, with a particular focus on M&A, restructuring, venture capital, private equity and securities issuances. The firm first entered our private equity table this year.
Client feedback
Wenjie (Winston) Gao
“Provides total solutions and demonstrates professionalism.”
Work highlights
Advised Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings on its A-share IPO. In terms of financing size, this is the largest IPO since the establishment of ChiNext.
Advised CanSino Biologics on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of Shanghai Stock Exchange. The IPO raised more than Rmb5.2 billion in total.
Advised BYD on its additional issuance of HK$30 billion H-share stocks. This is the largest stock financing project in the Asian auto industry in the past decade, the largest stock issuance project in the history of China's new energy auto industry, and the largest new share placement of a non-financial enterprise in the history of Hong Kong.
Key clients
Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares, Chenzhou Industry Investment Group, Jiangsu Chuanzhi Podcast Education Technology
Chinese legal powerhouse Zhong Lun Law Firm is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas and industry sectors with its well-established teams in both the transactional and contentious arena. With its exceptional experience in complex and high-profile restructuring, M&A, and various other transactions, it has assisted many hi-tech businesses in their development and expansion. Construction and project development have traditionally been the firm’s core practices, its expertise has also expanded to real estate, infrastructure and PPP, energy, public facilities, and industrial manufacturing. Some of the key partners to note from the firm are Shanghai-based partner Anthony Zhao, who specialises in capital markets, private equity, cross-border investment/M&A, and Beijing-based partner Jihong Wang, whose practice covers corporate governance, health, safety, environmental protection, and financing. Dongping (Mabel) Liu, specialises in competition/antitrust, joined the firm as partner from East & Concord Partners in November 2020. The firm’s IP team welcomed Xi Sun as partner from Lifang & Partners in March 2021. Partner Lixing Zhao departed to Fangda Partners in April 2020.
Client feedback
“Zhong Lun Law Firm benefits from two factors which contribute to its reputation as one the premier disputes firms for international work in the PRC. First, it benefits from excellent leadership. Lijun Cao and Huawei Sun are both superb leaders. Sun, with whom I have worked most closely, is brilliant. He is bright, thoughtful, engaged and hard-working. Secondly, the firm attracted the brightest and best graduates from Chinese universities. As a result, the support from associates is excellent.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm is very proactive in finding the best approach to serve client's interest. They are very open to new ideas and suggestions, and know how to work in a collaborative mode, particularly with western teams.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm provides comprehensive legal advice that is tailored to our business needs.” – Intellectual property
“The team of lawyers provided a lot of targeted and valuable plans for the purpose of business transactions of the company. It promoted the development of the product market through the distribution of the company's patented technology.” – Intellectual property
“Detail-oriented, professional and responsive.” – Intellectual property
“Detailed analysis of the patent. Timely feedback.” – Intellectual property
“Quick feedback with accurate and practical solutions. Outstanding in patent and other technology related cases. Profound experience in Supreme People's Court IP cases. Deep knowledge of all kinds of IP issues in China.” – Intellectual property
“The law firm has provided professional opinions on the issue.” – Privacy and data protection
“It is always on standby and helps resolve your issues as needed.” – Private equity
“Zhong Lun Law Firm provided effective, high-quality legal services, which contained fund establishment, documents drafting and negotiation for this project. Also, lawyer Yanchun Zhao's legal team possesses sound experience with respect to fund establishment and the investment and financing of funds.” – Private equity
“Professional and responsive.” – Real estate
“It demonstrates enthusiasm with a rigorous attitude.” – Restructuring and insolvency
“Professional and efficient.” – Technology and telecommunications
Ping Gu
“Gu understands the needs of our business and provides the legal advice that we need.”
Dongxiao Ma
“Good communication and analytical skills. Clear thinking, responsive and detail oriented. Provides very practical solutions to clients in IP matters, from client's business side. Exceptional, outstanding, and eloquent in court.”
“Very professional and detail-oriented in TM and IP related matters. He responds to inquiries promptly and thinks from the client's commercial perspective instead of from a textbook.”
“Highly responsive and professional. Recommended for complex and technology sophisticated cases. Has a team of talented associates responsible for different tech areas.”
Shengfeng Xu
“Diligent research and good problem solver.”
Huawei Sun
“Sun is brilliant – bright, thoughtful and extremely hard working. Her ability to focus on the most important case-critical issues means that she is particularly well-suited to the most complex and high value disputes.”
Wenhao Han
“Proactive, fluent in English, very good at explaining issues and finding solutions.”
Yanchun Zhao
“Yanchun Zhao is an equity partner of the firm. He has in-depth research and rich practical experience in the compliance, establishment, fundraising and investment of private equity and investment funds. Partner Zhao has provided legal services for private equity and investment funds such as FOF, VC, PE, M&A funds and real estate funds, and the investment fields include biomedicine, artificial intelligence, education, environmental protection, great health and real estate.”
Work highlights
Advised Lufax, a leading technology-empowered personal financial services platform, on its IPO on the NYSE. This transaction is the largest ever fintech IPO and the biggest Chinese IPO since 2015 in the US.
Advised Haier Smart Home on its privatisation of Haier Electric Group and listing on the HKEX. This transaction is the first A-share listed company issuing H shares to privatise a Hong Kong-listed company and a major asset restructuring project. Upon the completion of this transaction, Haier Smart Home became the first to be listed on the three major stock exchanges in Shanghai, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.
Key clients
China National Nuclear Corporation, Hanshow Technology, Huafu Securities, Langold Real Estate, NetEase
AnJie Law Firm is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in competition/antitrust and insurance. The firm also has expertise in the areas of banking and finance, cross-border M&A, dispute resolution, IP and labour and employment. Partner Michael Gu specialises in competition/antitrust, handling merger control filings for multinational companies. He also frequently advises clients on the monopoly agreement and abuse of dominance issues and provides strategic preventive solutions. In January 2021, the firm hired a team of shipping experts from Ricc & Co: Bing Yan, Frank Chen, Yong Wang, and Boming Cui. Jenny Cai, who specialises in capital markets, also joined the firm from Ricc & Co. The firm’s intellectual property team, on the other hand, lost partners Jing He, Kefeng (Steve) Zhao, Zou Wen and Jinwen (Kevin) Han to Gen Law Firm. Employment lawyer Kaitian Luo also left the firm in March 2021.
Client feedback
“AnJie Law Firm has one of the strongest dispute resolution teams in China who have a good track record in representing international companies.” – Dispute resolution
Arthur Dong
“Dong is a leading dispute practitioner who provides solid legal and commercial advice, along with practical solutions. He takes the time to understand client's needs and tailors the service accordingly.”
Work highlights
Represented the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) in defending an administrative litigation brought by Kanghui Medicine and Puyunhui Pharmaceutical. This case is the first anti-monopoly administrative litigation against SAMR since the implementation of China's anti-monopoly law.
Advised China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund on its concentration filing with the SAMR for its acquisition of Kamchay Hydroelectric power plant in Cambodia. The acquisition at issue concerned Cambodia’s first hydroelectric project that inaugurated international bidding, and it was also Cambodia’s first hydroelectric project of the BOT scheme.
Key clients
ANTA Sports Products, Honeywell, Meituan, Novartis, Zhejiang Petrochemical
Anli Partners’ competition law team formerly practised at Chinese law firm Sinobridge PRC Lawyers. The firm merged with Sinobridge PRC Lawyers in 2018. Partner Cherry Cai heads the firm's competition practice team and has extensive experience in competition law, M&A, corporate matters and the disposal of non-performing assets.
Work highlights
Appointed as representative by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the SAMR in dealing with concerns in relation to Japan Airlines’ increase of capital and share in Spring Airlines Japan.
Appointed as representative by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the SAMR in merger reviews concerning the establishment of a joint venture ship-building company by China Isotope & Radiation Corporation and two other parties. The firm succeeded in convincing the SAMR that the case did not constitute concentration of undertakings. The case was eventually withdrawn and exempted from merger review.
Advised HOMAG Group on dealings with the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of SAMR in relation to its acquisition of woodworking machinery business of HOMAG China Golden Field (HK).
Key clients
Beijing Sogou Technology Development, PSA Singapore Terminals, State Grid Jibei Electric Power Company
DaHui Lawyers has extensive experience in capital markets transactions and has served as PRC counsel for issuers and underwriters in both equity and debt offerings in the US and Hong Kong, handling IPOs, secondary offerings, bond offerings and private placements. Managing partner of DaHui Lawyers, Richard Ma, has more than 20 years of experience in representing companies in capital markets, M&A, investments and compliance matters. His industry strengths are in media and entertainment, and technology and telecommunications. The firm welcomed corporate lawyers Jacky Zhu, Yingyuan Xue and Pei Zhao, alongside IP lawyers Li Xiang and Jieyun Cai who joined from Fangda Partners during the research period.
Work highlights
Acted for American multinational technology company Nvidia as antitrust trustee in its acquisition of Mellanox, an Israeli-American multinational supplier of computer networking products.
Represented Coca Cola and Mengniu on the merger control filing for the establishment of their joint venture in China.
Acted for Finnish company Cargotec as antitrust trustee in its acquisition of TTS Group.
DeHeng Law Offices specialises in acquisition finance and project finance. Partner Xu (Jennifer) Zhang is experienced in cross-border financing, including syndicated lending, asset finance and sovereign loans. The firm has recently opened offices in Shi Jiazhuang, Nanchang, Yinchuang, Xiamen, Xi’an, Xixian New Area and Hong Kong. It now has 33 branch offices in PRC and eight branch offices in foreign countries. The firm’s capital markets team has hired Hua Li and Xuefei Shi as partners in 2020.
Client feedback
“The law firm has used their exceptional skills and expertise to help us complete the deal wonderfully.” – Competition/antitrust
Hongyuan Li
“Li is an expert lawyer in the field of infrastructure. He has a comprehensive working background in construction project management, bidding and tendering, government procurement and legal services. He has rich experience in providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure investment and construction operation and is good at resolving disputes over project contracts.”
“Li is particularly good at providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure projects. He is skilled in construction project management, bidding and procurement. He has solid legal skills and a kind attitude. Our whole team likes him.”
Work highlights
Advised Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart on antitrust compliance of its plan to acquire a 29.9% stake in Jinhui Liquor from Gansu Yate Investment Group.
Dentons China is ‘Highly recommended’ in our construction and labour and employment tables. The firm is best known for its speciality in handling matters across the spectrum of transportation and infrastructure. Through cooperation with the government and enterprises in major construction projects, the team has accumulated extensive experience in public–private partnerships (PPPs). Based in Beijing, senior partner Huazhi Yuan heads the firm’s real estate and natural resources practices. Real estate, construction, PPP, mineral resources and general corporate law are some of his core practices.
Client feedback
“Dentons China is professional and enthusiastic to provide us with high-quality legal services all the time. Meanwhile, it also has a professional team to provide us with customised, professional, team-based and elite services. The multi-field international team cooperation gives us a broader vision and helps us to establish a better and more professional enterprise management mechanism.” – Construction
“Dentons China has provided us with efficient, timely and professional legal services, which have solved many problems for us. At the same time, the law firm's docking team keeps in touch with our company every week to timely inquire about the project and the company's daily situation, so as to provide legal services at any time.” – Construction
Tao Li
“I would like to recommend Tao Li, the director of Dentons China. Since establishing of our holding company, we have been working with many lawyers both in China and North America for many different cases for the past 30 years. Li is the best lawyer we have known for many aspects. She is currently handling a case before the Supreme Court. This case is extremely difficult. She can accurately analyse the key points of the case within limited time frame. She always thinks from all sides and gives the most professional advice to us. She is familiar with the current civil code law, and constantly strives for perfection.”
Changde Luo
“Luo is an outstanding lawyer I have never seen before. He is not only good at construction engineering and real estate, but also has sufficient strength in capital markets and dispute settlement. No matter how complicated the matters are, he can easily find the pain points and give corresponding solutions. This is the real lawyer we have been looking for.”
“Luo has been engaged in the practice area of real estate and construction for over fifteen years. He has provided professional legal services for our company in the past four years and has received appraisals and satisfied feedback from the leaders in our company. Moreover, he has also showed strong project coordination ability as well as professionalism in real estate and construction.”
Work highlights
Acted on the merger filing of the establishment of a joint venture between Porsche and Munich Re Group.
Key clients
CITIC Capital Holdings, Shenzhen SF Taisen Holding (Group)
Top-tier firm Fangda Partners dominates the majority of ranking tables. The firm also moved up to the ‘Highly recommended’ tier in this year’s media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences rankings. The firm’s regulatory team provides one-stop compliance and government enforcement services, including corporate investigations, government enforcement, compliance advisory, and related contentious matters. A key partner to note in the team is Kate Yin, who is a recognised leader in complex government enforcement, internal investigation and regulatory compliance, especially for challenging cross-border matters. Weiguo Yang joined the firm as partner from Guantao Law Firm in November 2020. Another dispute partner, Melody Wang, departed to Allen & Overy in January 2021. Wei Fang, specialised in corporate and M&A and private equity, joined the firm as partner in March 2021.
Client feedback
“The lawyers of the firm have very good legal skills, insight in the industry, and good connection with the relevant authorities. The team is well structured. They work efficiently and are easy to communicate with.” – Capital markets
“Professional. Fangda Partners understands our requirements promptly and advises on such requirements professionally, especially its PRC team.” – Capital markets
“Excellent technical and knowledgeable legal advice, combined with commercial awareness, innovative thinking. Incredibly hard-working and responsive.” – Competition/antitrust
“Professional with high level of integrity. Provides prompt responses for time-sensitive matters.” – Competition/antitrust
“The firms did particularly well at hearings. Lawyers are very professional and detail minded. They performed well in construction related issues and IP disputes.” - Construction
“Professional, quick turnaround, good understanding of industry and company's business.” – Corporate and M&A
“Knowledgeable and responsive.” – Corporate and M&A
“Excellent qualifications, great commercial judgment and sound legal advice.” – Corporate and M&A
“Competent lawyers who give timely and clear advice. Simplify complex issues with concise and clear explanations.” – Dispute resolution
“They provide thorough analysis, good counsel, and are prompt in communicating.” – Intellectual property
“Fast responses. Comprehensive insights. Down-to-earth approach. Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.” – Real estate
“The firm knows the market participants well, including both investment funds and portfolio companies. It is easy to communicate with and produces high quality work for investment funds.” – Technology and telecommunications
Christine Chen
“Chen has in-depth experience in advising sophisticated international issuers on local law issues. As our trusted legal advisor, she provides practical and thoughtful solutions to complicated legal issues, which are immensely helpful to the successful execution of cutting-edge debt offering transactions.”
Frank Fan
“Deep industrial knowledge. Experienced project execution. Ability to meet challenging deadlines.”
Michael Han
“Excellent technical knowledge, commercially aware and very responsive.”
“Competent and professional.”
Siyuan Pan
“She is a professional lawyer who understands our requirements properly.”
Josh Shin
“Very responsive.”
Yu (Tony) Xiang
“Xiang is equipped with many years of experience and his leadership and management throughout the proceedings is a testament to the skills and knowledge he has developed. A highly-involved leader, he followed our proceedings closely and offered vital advice throughout.”
Pu (Alexandra) Yang
“Very proactive communication, thorough analysis and dependable advice.”
Work highlights
Represented WABCO Holdings on all Chinese merger control aspects of its acquisition by manufacturing company ZF Group.
Represented Infineon Technologies on all Chinese merger control aspects of its acquisition of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.
Represented Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering in relation to its China merger control of its proposed merger with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.
Key clients
Alibaba Group, Danaher Corporation, FountainVest China Capital Partners, Shanghai Electric
With 13 offices in China, Guantao Law Firm provides legal services across all practice areas. The firm is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in restructuring and insolvency. Its team advises non-bank financial institutions on dissolution liquidation, insolvency liquidation and insolvency reorganisation. Managing partner Liguo Cui has expertise in transactional law with a focus on aviation, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. M&A lawyers Rongyuan Xu and Min Ni joined the firm as partners in 2020. In the same year, the firm’s dispute resolution team also welcomed Shichun Cao, Xin Li, Changzhou Xin and Jun Zou as partners.
Work highlights
Acted on the merger filing of ZF China Investment’s establishment of a joint venture with Wolong Electric Group.
Han Kun Law Offices is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in corporate and M&A, investment funds and private equity. The firm has also earned a reputation in capital markets for its performance in representing both domestic and international clients from various emerging industries. Its aviation finance team, on the other hand, is experienced in advising both Chinese and foreign lessors as well as Chinese and foreign banks in their leasing and finance of commercial aircraft and business jets to Chinese airlines. Based in the firm’s Beijing and Shenzhen office, partner Chaoying (Charles) Li is experienced in public and private financings, M&A, incorporation and corporate restructuring, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property protection. Real estate lawyer Rong Fang and disputes lawyer Yang You both joined the firm from King & Wood Mallesons in 2020.
Client feedback
“Their services are excellent. They are highly efficient, professional and marvellous.” – Aviation
“Knowledgeable, speedy and flexible.” – Corporate and M&A
“Attentive with professional knowledge and practicality.” – Dispute resolution
“The partners I have worked with are obviously leaders in their field. They communicate well and are responsive.” – Dispute resolution
“Dedicated and professional. Provides pragmatic advice with sound legal knowledge.” – Dispute resolution
“I had a good feeling about working with Han Kun Law Offices. They have practical experience in various jurisdictions, which helps to produce enforceable claim construction and sufficient disclosure of patents meeting requirements. They demonstrated high level of performance and experience of administrative work, especially for safely and smoothly transferring patent rights. Their litigation team and prosecution team worked closely, which is good because they are also getting enforcement experience to complement their prosecution practice. Whenever I have a question, I just get in touch and they will give practical and helpful answers in a timely manner. To sum up, Han Kun Law Offices is unique among all the law firms I have worked with.” – Intellectual property
“Outstanding level of service. Extremely responsive with excellent business judgment.” – Investment funds
“Well-structured team who is responsive, experienced, resourceful and responsible.” – Private equity
“Detail-oriented and efficient. Understands local practices. Reasonable fees with a good network within various industries.” – Real estate
Xianglin Chen
“Good legal knowledge. Attentive to client's needs. Organised and punctual.”
“Chen is a brilliant lawyer. He is trustworthy, dynamic and has great relationships with his team and clients.”
Dafei Chen
“Superb client counselling skills showcased with very clear communication.”
Yi Ding
“Ding is fantastic and outstanding. He can point out the key issues and find the solutions very quickly.”
Shiwen (Stephen) Dong
“Dong is very hands-on with an excellent knowledge base. He manages team resources well in meeting deadlines. Also charges reasonably.”
Rong Fang
“Experienced, responsive and innovative.”
Wei (Will) Huang
“Provides a tailor-made service and responds with impressive efficiency.”
Lili Wu
“Client-oriented, professional, responsive and charges reasonably.”
Yaxing Zhang
“Dedicated and professional, owning the problem as if it were his own, and providing pragmatic advice backed by sound knowledge of the law as well as the legal and political landscape.”
Min Zhu
“Knowledgeable and efficient.”
“Professional and easy-going.”
Work highlights
Represented Vale and Ningbo Zhoushan Port in the China merger notification for their joint venture transaction.
Represented Permira in the China merger notification for its acquisition of equity interests in English One. This is the most high-profile transaction of the year in the e-education industry in China.
Key clients
AstraZeneca, Bayer, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Santen Pharmaceutical
Llinks Law Offices is highly ranked in banking and finance and corporate and M&A. Partner Charles Qin heads the firm’s banking and finance department and has rich experience in capital markets, corporate and M&A, and private equity. Qin and his team regularly advise clients on cross-border and multi-currency transactional issues. In May 2020, the firm hired a number of partners from AllBright Law Offices, including disputes lawyer Alex Huang and corporate lawyers Candice Du, Alan Chen and Sheldon Chen.
Client feedback
“Solid legal knowledge with client-driven attitude.” – Labour and employment
Work highlights
Represented Redstar, a leading Chinese furniture and home decoration retail company, in its merger filing in relation to its acquisition of Shandong Yin Zuo Home Decoration.
Represented CATL, a leading new energy battery researching and manufacturing company, in its merger filing in relation to its joint venture with Shenzhen Dynanonic.
Key clients
Anglo American Resources (China), Rockwell Automation, Yonghui Superstores
Headquartered in Beijing with branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hong Kong, Tian Yuan Law Firm is highly ranked in capital markets, competition/antitrust and corporate and M&A. Partner Xiaohui Zhu has extensive experience in corporate law and capital markets, with a particular focus on M&A, restructuring, venture capital, private equity and securities issuances. The firm first entered our private equity table this year.
Client feedback
Wenjie (Winston) Gao
“Provides total solutions and demonstrates professionalism.”
Work highlights
Represented Beijing Jingdong Century Trading (JD.com) against Alibaba in an antitrust matter. JD.com claimed up to Rmb1 billion of damages in this case, which is currently the highest in antitrust litigation in China.
Key clients
Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical, SK Hynix, Sony Music Entertainment
Chinese legal powerhouse Zhong Lun Law Firm is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas and industry sectors with its well-established teams in both the transactional and contentious arena. With its exceptional experience in complex and high-profile restructuring, M&A, and various other transactions, it has assisted many hi-tech businesses in their development and expansion. Construction and project development have traditionally been the firm’s core practices, its expertise has also expanded to real estate, infrastructure and PPP, energy, public facilities, and industrial manufacturing. Some of the key partners to note from the firm are Shanghai-based partner Anthony Zhao, who specialises in capital markets, private equity, cross-border investment/M&A, and Beijing-based partner Jihong Wang, whose practice covers corporate governance, health, safety, environmental protection, and financing. Dongping (Mabel) Liu, specialises in competition/antitrust, joined the firm as partner from East & Concord Partners in November 2020. The firm’s IP team welcomed Xi Sun as partner from Lifang & Partners in March 2021. Partner Lixing Zhao departed to Fangda Partners in April 2020.
Client feedback
“Zhong Lun Law Firm benefits from two factors which contribute to its reputation as one the premier disputes firms for international work in the PRC. First, it benefits from excellent leadership. Lijun Cao and Huawei Sun are both superb leaders. Sun, with whom I have worked most closely, is brilliant. He is bright, thoughtful, engaged and hard-working. Secondly, the firm attracted the brightest and best graduates from Chinese universities. As a result, the support from associates is excellent.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm is very proactive in finding the best approach to serve client's interest. They are very open to new ideas and suggestions, and know how to work in a collaborative mode, particularly with western teams.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm provides comprehensive legal advice that is tailored to our business needs.” – Intellectual property
“The team of lawyers provided a lot of targeted and valuable plans for the purpose of business transactions of the company. It promoted the development of the product market through the distribution of the company's patented technology.” – Intellectual property
“Detail-oriented, professional and responsive.” – Intellectual property
“Detailed analysis of the patent. Timely feedback.” – Intellectual property
“Quick feedback with accurate and practical solutions. Outstanding in patent and other technology related cases. Profound experience in Supreme People's Court IP cases. Deep knowledge of all kinds of IP issues in China.” – Intellectual property
“The law firm has provided professional opinions on the issue.” – Privacy and data protection
“It is always on standby and helps resolve your issues as needed.” – Private equity
“Zhong Lun Law Firm provided effective, high-quality legal services, which contained fund establishment, documents drafting and negotiation for this project. Also, lawyer Yanchun Zhao's legal team possesses sound experience with respect to fund establishment and the investment and financing of funds.” – Private equity
“Professional and responsive.” – Real estate
“It demonstrates enthusiasm with a rigorous attitude.” – Restructuring and insolvency
“Professional and efficient.” – Technology and telecommunications
Ping Gu
“Gu understands the needs of our business and provides the legal advice that we need.”
Dongxiao Ma
“Good communication and analytical skills. Clear thinking, responsive and detail oriented. Provides very practical solutions to clients in IP matters, from client's business side. Exceptional, outstanding, and eloquent in court.”
“Very professional and detail-oriented in TM and IP related matters. He responds to inquiries promptly and thinks from the client's commercial perspective instead of from a textbook.”
“Highly responsive and professional. Recommended for complex and technology sophisticated cases. Has a team of talented associates responsible for different tech areas.”
Shengfeng Xu
“Diligent research and good problem solver.”
Huawei Sun
“Sun is brilliant – bright, thoughtful and extremely hard working. Her ability to focus on the most important case-critical issues means that she is particularly well-suited to the most complex and high value disputes.”
Wenhao Han
“Proactive, fluent in English, very good at explaining issues and finding solutions.”
Yanchun Zhao
“Yanchun Zhao is an equity partner of the firm. He has in-depth research and rich practical experience in the compliance, establishment, fundraising and investment of private equity and investment funds. Partner Zhao has provided legal services for private equity and investment funds such as FOF, VC, PE, M&A funds and real estate funds, and the investment fields include biomedicine, artificial intelligence, education, environmental protection, great health and real estate.”
Work highlights
Advised Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group on its proposed joint venture with LyondellBasell Industries. This is the largest project of its kind in Northeast China. This government project has been highly valued by the government and attracted widespread attention in the industry.
Advised Yum China on merger filing for its joint venture with MiningLamp. This case is the first unconditional approval of a transaction involving the VIE structure by SAMR. It marks a major milestone for subsequent anti-trust filings for similar transactions.
Key clients
China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings, GD Midea Heating & Ventilating Equipment, Huawei Technology, Lakala Payment Corporation, Zhejiang Artiking Group
Founded in 1999 with branch offices in 20 cities across China, full-service law firm AllBright Law Offices is known for its expertise in capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and tax. Senior partner Fangzhou (Ark) Bao is experienced in providing legal services to companies regarding corporate restructurings and IPOs in both domestic and overseas stock exchanges.
Client feedback
“Tries to truly understand the facts and underlying business interest. Very to-the-point advice that is both correct, understandable and pragmatic.” – Corporate and M&A
Carl Li
“Pragmatic advisor with strong communication skills in English, backed by a strong team.” – Corporate and M&A
Sheng Zhang
“Sheng Zhang, senior partner of AllBright Law Offices and his team provided finance and leasing/forfeiting related legal advice and acted as financing risk advisor and attorney for our company in a number of finance and leasing/forfeiting litigation cases over the past several years. They won all those cases for us. Zhang brings many years of legal experience and recognised expertise, particularly in the finance and leasing/forfeiting area. They offer an up-to-date and thorough understanding of the country's regulatory requirements for financing companies like us. Their aperiodic interpretations, professional risk assessment and analysis greatly facilitated in broadening our vision. They also helped updating our leasing/forfeiting contracts template in respect of the updated government policy and laws, which greatly enhanced our competent position in the finance and leasing industry.”
Work highlights
Acted for Sanpower Group in cooperation with the Xiangtan Municipal Government in respect of the construction of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Urban Agglomeration (Zhaoshan) Life Care City Community.
Key clients
Longfor Group, Shanghai Lujiazui (Group), WEGO Holding
Headquartered in Beijing with branch offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Hong Kong, Beijing Grandway Law Offices is best known for its capital market practice. The firm also excels in a number of other practice areas, such as corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and real estate. A key partner to note is Liguo Zhang, who has a track record of providing legal services to corporations on matters related to IPOs, M&A, refinancing, securities investment funds and equity incentives. The firm has hired eight corporate partners in the year of 2020, namely Jun Chen, Yong Zhang, Yafu Feng, Xiaofei Liu, Jun Xie, Wei Wang, Xiaofei Qu and Lin Gong. Huilin Zhang and Lin Gong also joined firm’s real estate team as partners in the same year.
Work highlights
Advised Shanghai Jiangjie Rongtai Real Estate (Group) on the reconstruction project in Yanghang Town, Baoshan District, Shanghai. The reconstruction includes land acquisition, resettlement compensation, municipal supporting facilities construction, public building supporting construction and relevant transfer of land use rights for business purposes.
Acted for STEC Shanghai Urban Construction Design and Research Institute (Group) on the EPC project of Red Town of Nanniwan in Jiangxi province.
Acted for Shanghai Jinshan Urban Construction Investment Group throughout the whole process of the Legoland Shanghai Resort project. The resort is one of the representative key projects in Jinshan District and Shanghai. It has been listed as one of the major preparatory projects of Shanghai in 2020 by Shanghai Development and Reform Commission.
Key clients
Pingan Trust
Established in 1995, Shanghai-based firm Boss & Young is most reputable for its construction practice. Partner Guofei Lu leads the firm’s real estate and construction practice. He is exceptionally skilled in both contentious and non-contentious matters involving development projects and disputes arising from construction projects and transactions.
Work highlights
Advised Shanghai Lingang Group on the construction and transfer of a 12-inch automotive-grade power semiconductor automated wafer manufacturing centre in Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone to an affiliate of Wingtech Technology. This project is a major project in Shanghai and it is also the first 12-inch automotive-grade power semiconductor wafer manufacturing project in China.
Top-tier firm Fangda Partners dominates the majority of ranking tables. The firm also moved up to the ‘Highly recommended’ tier in this year’s media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences rankings. The firm’s regulatory team provides one-stop compliance and government enforcement services, including corporate investigations, government enforcement, compliance advisory, and related contentious matters. A key partner to note in the team is Kate Yin, who is a recognised leader in complex government enforcement, internal investigation and regulatory compliance, especially for challenging cross-border matters. Weiguo Yang joined the firm as partner from Guantao Law Firm in November 2020. Another dispute partner, Melody Wang, departed to Allen & Overy in January 2021. Wei Fang, specialised in corporate and M&A and private equity, joined the firm as partner in March 2021.
Client feedback
“The lawyers of the firm have very good legal skills, insight in the industry, and good connection with the relevant authorities. The team is well structured. They work efficiently and are easy to communicate with.” – Capital markets
“Professional. Fangda Partners understands our requirements promptly and advises on such requirements professionally, especially its PRC team.” – Capital markets
“Excellent technical and knowledgeable legal advice, combined with commercial awareness, innovative thinking. Incredibly hard-working and responsive.” – Competition/antitrust
“Professional with high level of integrity. Provides prompt responses for time-sensitive matters.” – Competition/antitrust
“The firms did particularly well at hearings. Lawyers are very professional and detail minded. They performed well in construction related issues and IP disputes.” - Construction
“Professional, quick turnaround, good understanding of industry and company's business.” – Corporate and M&A
“Knowledgeable and responsive.” – Corporate and M&A
“Excellent qualifications, great commercial judgment and sound legal advice.” – Corporate and M&A
“Competent lawyers who give timely and clear advice. Simplify complex issues with concise and clear explanations.” – Dispute resolution
“They provide thorough analysis, good counsel, and are prompt in communicating.” – Intellectual property
“Fast responses. Comprehensive insights. Down-to-earth approach. Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.” – Real estate
“The firm knows the market participants well, including both investment funds and portfolio companies. It is easy to communicate with and produces high quality work for investment funds.” – Technology and telecommunications
Christine Chen
“Chen has in-depth experience in advising sophisticated international issuers on local law issues. As our trusted legal advisor, she provides practical and thoughtful solutions to complicated legal issues, which are immensely helpful to the successful execution of cutting-edge debt offering transactions.”
Frank Fan
“Deep industrial knowledge. Experienced project execution. Ability to meet challenging deadlines.”
Michael Han
“Excellent technical knowledge, commercially aware and very responsive.”
“Competent and professional.”
Siyuan Pan
“She is a professional lawyer who understands our requirements properly.”
Josh Shin
“Very responsive.”
Yu (Tony) Xiang
“Xiang is equipped with many years of experience and his leadership and management throughout the proceedings is a testament to the skills and knowledge he has developed. A highly-involved leader, he followed our proceedings closely and offered vital advice throughout.”
Pu (Alexandra) Yang
“Very proactive communication, thorough analysis and dependable advice.”
Work highlights
Advised Starbucks on its first greenfield investment in a manufacturing plant in China, including purchase of land and construction of a roasting plant in Kunshan City, China.
Advised Shanghai Jita Semiconductor on the construction of a manufacturing plant in Lingang area, Shanghai for its integrated circuit chip project.
Key clients
ESR, Orion Engineered Carbon
Global Law Office is one of the ‘Outstanding’ firms in banking and finance. The firm’s banking and finance team has extensive experience in onshore, offshore and cross-border financing work, covering bilateral and syndicated loans, project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset finance, trade and ECA-backed finance. Lawrence Lin leads the firm’s banking and finance team. The firm hired plenty of partners in the past year: Kunlin Wang joined from Jincheng Tongda & Neal, Catherine Song joined from Baker McKenzie FenXun, and Yang Zhang joined from AllBright Law Offices. Jieyi (Eric) Chen, Michael Chen, Haojia (Vincent) Zhuang and Mingshi (Tony) Zhang, also joined the firm from Zhong Lun Law Firm, and Xiaofeng Tang and Yubing (Ruby) Shao completed the recent additions.
Client feedback
“Good at managing project flow, protection of our rights with expertise and commercial sense.” – Corporate and M&A
“Global Law Office has provided us with accurate, efficient and professional legal services, and has represented us in the most complex and important intellectual property disputes. During Global Law Office's representation, it has provided us with comprehensive legal opinions and litigation strategies in the judicial process in a very professional and effective manner, so has to protect our rights and interests to the greatest extent. Our company and our affiliates are known as one of the largest well-known internet companies. In the face of those copyright infringements and unfair competitions conducted by our competitor, it can clearly identify the issues and provide a comprehensive legal analysis regarding the controversial issues. Global Law Office can always understand our objectives and can regularly communicate and address the problems to us during different stages of the litigation process. In the course of our cooperation, it has successfully represented us in several copyright infringement and unfair competition lawsuits against our competitor.” – Dispute resolution
“I am very satisfied with its legal services, which truly helped our company achieve our business goals. The firm is a red circle law firm with a very good reputation in the legal market. It served its clients with professional skills and a dedicated attitude. Its lawyers possess very good English language communication skills and have shown deep understanding on the laws. When providing legal services, they can provide real solutions that are commercially feasible for our company and our business.” – Intellectual property
“Excellent partner for our trademark litigation in China. We strongly rely on the high-quality advice – detailed and clear. Positive attributes: clear communication, quick follow-up, professional handling of our account.” – Intellectual property
“The firm is familiar with our product and technology as well as copyright enforcement in China. It provided practical legal advice on resolving the IP dispute.” – Intellectual property
“Responds promptly to a client's needs and inquiries. Familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds.” – Investment funds
Guangying (Amy) Dai
“Actively facilitates the deal during services. Keeps good relationship with business and legal teams of both sides.”
Yifeng Gao
“Gao has profound legal knowledge and experience in maritime law practice. He possesses excellent communication skills, and he is responsive to clients' questions or concerns. Also, he pays attention to the details of every aspect of a given case. He is perseverant yet flexible enough to satisfy the clients' commercial needs. Overall, he is a highly-respected and recommended lawyer.”
Jia (Meph) Gui
“We instructed Gui to deal with our IP cases. He has a thorough and in-depth understanding of IP laws in Mainland China and the US and is one of the very few IP partners admitted to practice laws in both jurisdictions. He is a creative and solution-oriented IP lawyer with enthusiasm, which is one of his most impressive traits. More importantly, he thinks critically, reasons well and has all the instincts of an excellent IP lawyer. He impressed me with his hard work and professionalism. I would without any reservation recommend Gui to be an IP expert to any friend in need of IP legal service in China. I have not found any obvious weakness in him.”
Zhanke (Jack) Li
“Li is an experienced IP lawyer who is familiar with both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. He has a proven track record in copyright and patent litigations in China and can always provide swift responses and practical legal advice to his clients. He can communicate effectively with this client and is very responsive.”
“Clear communication skills, responsive and professional in handling of our account.”
Ping Qiao
“Qiao has always been a dependable lawyer who can be entrusted with our most complicated and significant disputes. He carries out a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth study of China IP law. While representing our company in the copyright infringement and unfair competition case against our competitor Shanghai 2345 Co, Qiao provides a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the controversial issues regarding the case and makes the most suitable litigation plans based on our corporate strategy and industry characteristics.”
Lei (Steven) Yu
“Very hands-on and reliable.”
Work highlights
Advised City Development & Investment of China Xiong'an Group on the construction project of Xiong'an New Area.
Key clients
Dongfeng Castrol, KION Group, SK Hynix System Ic, Schlumberger Oilfield Equipment (Shanghai)
With 13 offices in China, Guantao Law Firm provides legal services across all practice areas. The firm is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in restructuring and insolvency. Its team advises non-bank financial institutions on dissolution liquidation, insolvency liquidation and insolvency reorganisation. Managing partner Liguo Cui has expertise in transactional law with a focus on aviation, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. M&A lawyers Rongyuan Xu and Min Ni joined the firm as partners in 2020. In the same year, the firm’s dispute resolution team also welcomed Shichun Cao, Xin Li, Changzhou Xin and Jun Zou as partners.
Work highlights
Acted for Data Zone Company, a subsidiary company of CMCC Infrastructure, in completing the tender in a bid for industrial land in Hong Kong at a record price.
Key clients
China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), Cosco Shipping Ports Railway Construction Investment Group
Jundu Law Firm specialises in construction. The firm’s construction team is particularly good at engineering and real estate and is often involved in bidding, drafting contracts, development, arbitration, and litigation settlement. Founding partner Jinghui Tan’s practice covers construction, infrastructure investment, real estate development and settlement of complex commercial disputes. The firm hired Yanxia Zhang as partner in March 2021, whose practice includes construction and dispute resolution.
Work highlights
Advised CITIC HeYe Investment Company on the construction of the China Zun Tower project, the highest new landmark in Beijing.
Advised China Communications Construction Company on the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project.
Key clients
China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Company, China Railway Construction Group, China Railway Seventh Group
Top-tier firm JunHe is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas, including banking and finance, capital markets, competition/antitrust, corporate and M&A, labour and employment and tax. Key figures include partner Hui (Nelson) Zhou for banking and finance, Jiang (Joe) Chen for corporate and M&A, Yingling Wei for competition/antitrust, Weining Zou for dispute resolution, Dongpeng Wang for labour and employment and Chumeng (Jessica) Xu for IP. Firm has hired several corporate partners in the past year: Yipeng (Alan) Zhang, Yi You, Ke Zhang, Guangqin Wei and Zheyuan (Jacqueline) Qiao.
Client feedback
“Excellent critical legal thinking backed by creative solutions.” – Construction
“Professional and intelligent with language capability, including Japanese, English and Chinese.” – Intellectual property
Yu Qin
“Knowledgeable in the energy and infrastructure sectors.”
Zhaolin (Johnson) Wang
“Smart and intelligent with excellent problem-solving and language skills. Fast learner when it comes to complex technology. Also provides professional opinions.”
Xianfeng (Elvis) Zhou
“Professional, client-driven, cooperative and responsive.”
Work highlights
Advised Shanghai Electric Group Company on its investment in the photovoltaic power station project in Mexico to obtain the EPC contract of the Mexico 350MW ground centralised photovoltaic project.
Acted for Dayue Consulting and Changsha Municipal People's Government on the construction of Changsha Metro Line 6 Part B PPP project, the first urban rail transit PPP project in Changsha.
Key clients
Matechstone Engineering Group
Llinks Law Offices is highly ranked in banking and finance and corporate and M&A. Partner Charles Qin heads the firm’s banking and finance department and has rich experience in capital markets, corporate and M&A, and private equity. Qin and his team regularly advise clients on cross-border and multi-currency transactional issues. In May 2020, the firm hired a number of partners from AllBright Law Offices, including disputes lawyer Alex Huang and corporate lawyers Candice Du, Alan Chen and Sheldon Chen.
Client feedback
“Solid legal knowledge with client-driven attitude.” – Labour and employment
Work highlights
Advised Ping An Real Estate on its cooperation with Sunkwan Properties and Beijing Capital Land on the construction of Wuzhen Project.
Key clients
Shenzhen Long Heng Yue Investment Development, Vanke
Chinese legal powerhouse Zhong Lun Law Firm is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas and industry sectors with its well-established teams in both the transactional and contentious arena. With its exceptional experience in complex and high-profile restructuring, M&A, and various other transactions, it has assisted many hi-tech businesses in their development and expansion. Construction and project development have traditionally been the firm’s core practices, its expertise has also expanded to real estate, infrastructure and PPP, energy, public facilities, and industrial manufacturing. Some of the key partners to note from the firm are Shanghai-based partner Anthony Zhao, who specialises in capital markets, private equity, cross-border investment/M&A, and Beijing-based partner Jihong Wang, whose practice covers corporate governance, health, safety, environmental protection, and financing. Dongping (Mabel) Liu, specialises in competition/antitrust, joined the firm as partner from East & Concord Partners in November 2020. The firm’s IP team welcomed Xi Sun as partner from Lifang & Partners in March 2021. Partner Lixing Zhao departed to Fangda Partners in April 2020.
Client feedback
“Zhong Lun Law Firm benefits from two factors which contribute to its reputation as one the premier disputes firms for international work in the PRC. First, it benefits from excellent leadership. Lijun Cao and Huawei Sun are both superb leaders. Sun, with whom I have worked most closely, is brilliant. He is bright, thoughtful, engaged and hard-working. Secondly, the firm attracted the brightest and best graduates from Chinese universities. As a result, the support from associates is excellent.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm is very proactive in finding the best approach to serve client's interest. They are very open to new ideas and suggestions, and know how to work in a collaborative mode, particularly with western teams.” – Dispute resolution
“The firm provides comprehensive legal advice that is tailored to our business needs.” – Intellectual property
“The team of lawyers provided a lot of targeted and valuable plans for the purpose of business transactions of the company. It promoted the development of the product market through the distribution of the company's patented technology.” – Intellectual property
“Detail-oriented, professional and responsive.” – Intellectual property
“Detailed analysis of the patent. Timely feedback.” – Intellectual property
“Quick feedback with accurate and practical solutions. Outstanding in patent and other technology related cases. Profound experience in Supreme People's Court IP cases. Deep knowledge of all kinds of IP issues in China.” – Intellectual property
“The law firm has provided professional opinions on the issue.” – Privacy and data protection
“It is always on standby and helps resolve your issues as needed.” – Private equity
“Zhong Lun Law Firm provided effective, high-quality legal services, which contained fund establishment, documents drafting and negotiation for this project. Also, lawyer Yanchun Zhao's legal team possesses sound experience with respect to fund establishment and the investment and financing of funds.” – Private equity
“Professional and responsive.” – Real estate
“It demonstrates enthusiasm with a rigorous attitude.” – Restructuring and insolvency
“Professional and efficient.” – Technology and telecommunications
Ping Gu
“Gu understands the needs of our business and provides the legal advice that we need.”
Dongxiao Ma
“Good communication and analytical skills. Clear thinking, responsive and detail oriented. Provides very practical solutions to clients in IP matters, from client's business side. Exceptional, outstanding, and eloquent in court.”
“Very professional and detail-oriented in TM and IP related matters. He responds to inquiries promptly and thinks from the client's commercial perspective instead of from a textbook.”
“Highly responsive and professional. Recommended for complex and technology sophisticated cases. Has a team of talented associates responsible for different tech areas.”
Shengfeng Xu
“Diligent research and good problem solver.”
Huawei Sun
“Sun is brilliant – bright, thoughtful and extremely hard working. Her ability to focus on the most important case-critical issues means that she is particularly well-suited to the most complex and high value disputes.”
Wenhao Han
“Proactive, fluent in English, very good at explaining issues and finding solutions.”
Yanchun Zhao
“Yanchun Zhao is an equity partner of the firm. He has in-depth research and rich practical experience in the compliance, establishment, fundraising and investment of private equity and investment funds. Partner Zhao has provided legal services for private equity and investment funds such as FOF, VC, PE, M&A funds and real estate funds, and the investment fields include biomedicine, artificial intelligence, education, environmental protection, great health and real estate.”
Work highlights
Advised TBEA on its engineering contracting matters for the construction of the Power Grid Expansion and Upgrading Project in Dhaka District, Bangladesh. This project is the most significant power grid system expansion and upgrading project in Bangladesh and it will also become a link project connecting China and Bangladesh in the ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation and development, making it the most important part of China-Bangladesh economic and trade cooperation.
Key clients
Agile Group Holdings, Hangzhou Shuya Technology, Ping An Real Estate, Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering
Founded in 1999 with branch offices in 20 cities across China, full-service law firm AllBright Law Offices is known for its expertise in capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and tax. Senior partner Fangzhou (Ark) Bao is experienced in providing legal services to companies regarding corporate restructurings and IPOs in both domestic and overseas stock exchanges.
Client feedback
“Tries to truly understand the facts and underlying business interest. Very to-the-point advice that is both correct, understandable and pragmatic.” – Corporate and M&A
Carl Li
“Pragmatic advisor with strong communication skills in English, backed by a strong team.” – Corporate and M&A
Sheng Zhang
“Sheng Zhang, senior partner of AllBright Law Offices and his team provided finance and leasing/forfeiting related legal advice and acted as financing risk advisor and attorney for our company in a number of finance and leasing/forfeiting litigation cases over the past several years. They won all those cases for us. Zhang brings many years of legal experience and recognised expertise, particularly in the finance and leasing/forfeiting area. They offer an up-to-date and thorough understanding of the country's regulatory requirements for financing companies like us. Their aperiodic interpretations, professional risk assessment and analysis greatly facilitated in broadening our vision. They also helped updating our leasing/forfeiting contracts template in respect of the updated government policy and laws, which greatly enhanced our competent position in the finance and leasing industry.”
Work highlights
Represented China Resources Pharmaceutical Holdings on its acquisition of the controlling right of Boya Biopharmaceutical Group through share transfer, entrustment of voting rights and issuance of shares to specific targets.
Key clients
Chongqing Aluminium Industry Development Investment Group, Wuxi Construction and Development Investment, Xinjiang Beixin Road & Bridge Group
Full-service law firm Broad & Bright provides legal services in multiple practice areas for clients, with particular expertise in cross-border business transactions. A key partner to note in the firm’s M&A team is Hongchuan Liu, whose practice covers capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and private equity. The firm has hired several new partners in the past 12 months, including Coco Kou, Wency Yu, Louis Meng, Yufeng Han, and Sijie Zhang. It also promoted Hailey Cheng and Jacqueline Gu to partners in 2021.
Work highlights
Advised global chemical distributor Azelis on its acquisition of 100% shares of Bronson & Jacobs China.
Represented Chinese car maintenance start-up Tuhu in the establishment of a joint venture with Exxon Mobil and Tencent.
Key clients
China Salt Industry Group, DSV Panalpina, Rusal
Founded in 2011, Chance Bridge Partners’ main areas of practice include antitrust, capital markets, compliance, restructuring, construction, cross-border investment and financing, dispute resolution and IP. Managing partner Ning Zhu focuses her practice on capital markets and cross-border investment and financing. Jiehan Xin and Rong Yin joined the firm as partners in January 2021.
Work highlights
Acted for Zhangjiakou Financial Holding Group, a comprehensive state-owned financial holding group established under the Zhangjiakou Municipal Government, on transfer of equity interest to Intelligent Interconnection Technologies.
Advised Qian'an Fada Real Estate Development Company on its acquisition of equity interest in Sanya Resorts.
Advised Zhuhai Zhenpu Genentech Company on its purchase of part of the assets of Great Wall Genentech Company.
Key clients
Jinshi Jinchang Equity Investment (Hangzhou) Partnership, Shenzhen Rongrunxiang Venture Capital, Strong Petrochemical Holdings, Suzhou Ruanyin Yuesheng Venture Capital Management
DaHui Lawyers has extensive experience in capital markets transactions and has served as PRC counsel for issuers and underwriters in both equity and debt offerings in the US and Hong Kong, handling IPOs, secondary offerings, bond offerings and private placements. Managing partner of DaHui Lawyers, Richard Ma, has more than 20 years of experience in representing companies in capital markets, M&A, investments and compliance matters. His industry strengths are in media and entertainment, and technology and telecommunications. The firm welcomed corporate lawyers Jacky Zhu, Yingyuan Xue and Pei Zhao, alongside IP lawyers Li Xiang and Jieyun Cai who joined from Fangda Partners during the research period.
Work highlights
Acted for JHD, a retail and financial technology services provider, on its merger with East Stone Acquisition Corporation, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.
Represented American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital in the establishment of a joint venture with GitLab, a web-based DevOps lifecycle tool. This is a market-entry joint venture for GitLab and a significant venture in China for Sequoia.
DeHeng Law Offices specialises in acquisition finance and project finance. Partner Xu (Jennifer) Zhang is experienced in cross-border financing, including syndicated lending, asset finance and sovereign loans. The firm has recently opened offices in Shi Jiazhuang, Nanchang, Yinchuang, Xiamen, Xi’an, Xixian New Area and Hong Kong. It now has 33 branch offices in PRC and eight branch offices in foreign countries. The firm’s capital markets team has hired Hua Li and Xuefei Shi as partners in 2020.
Client feedback
“The law firm has used their exceptional skills and expertise to help us complete the deal wonderfully.” – Competition/antitrust
Hongyuan Li
“Li is an expert lawyer in the field of infrastructure. He has a comprehensive working background in construction project management, bidding and tendering, government procurement and legal services. He has rich experience in providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure investment and construction operation and is good at resolving disputes over project contracts.”
“Li is particularly good at providing legal services for large-scale infrastructure projects. He is skilled in construction project management, bidding and procurement. He has solid legal skills and a kind attitude. Our whole team likes him.”
Work highlights
Advised Dalian Energas Gas-System on its acquisition of shares of Meiyuanchen Energy and Halma New Energy.
Key clients
Fujian Dongfei Environment Group, North China Pharmaceutical Company, Shenzhen Baode Digital Information, Zhuhai Da Heng Qin Investment
Dentons China is ‘Highly recommended’ in our construction and labour and employment tables. The firm is best known for its speciality in handling matters across the spectrum of transportation and infrastructure. Through cooperation with the government and enterprises in major construction projects, the team has accumulated extensive experience in public–private partnerships (PPPs). Based in Beijing, senior partner Huazhi Yuan heads the firm’s real estate and natural resources practices. Real estate, construction, PPP, mineral resources and general corporate law are some of his core practices.
Client feedback
“Dentons China is professional and enthusiastic to provide us with high-quality legal services all the time. Meanwhile, it also has a professional team to provide us with customised, professional, team-based and elite services. The multi-field international team cooperation gives us a broader vision and helps us to establish a better and more professional enterprise management mechanism.” – Construction
“Dentons China has provided us with efficient, timely and professional legal services, which have solved many problems for us. At the same time, the law firm's docking team keeps in touch with our company every week to timely inquire about the project and the company's daily situation, so as to provide legal services at any time.” – Construction
Tao Li
“I would like to recommend Tao Li, the director of Dentons China. Since establishing of our holding company, we have been working with many lawyers both in China and North America for many different cases for the past 30 years. Li is the best lawyer we have known for many aspects. She is currently handling a case before the Supreme Court. This case is extremely difficult. She can accurately analyse the key points of the case within limited time frame. She always thinks from all sides and gives the most professional advice to us. She is familiar with the current civil code law, and constantly strives for perfection.”
Changde Luo
“Luo is an outstanding lawyer I have never seen before. He is not only good at construction engineering and real estate, but also has sufficient strength in capital markets and dispute settlement. No matter how complicated the matters are, he can easily find the pain points and give corresponding solutions. This is the real lawyer we have been looking for.”
“Luo has been engaged in the practice area of real estate and construction for over fifteen years. He has provided professional legal services for our company in the past four years and has received appraisals and satisfied feedback from the leaders in our company. Moreover, he has also showed strong project coordination ability as well as professionalism in real estate and construction.”
Work highlights
Advised China Railway Investment Group of Culture and Tourism on its investment in the comprehensive treatment and restoration project of the ecological environment in Zongling mining area of Nayong County.
Acted for Arçelik, a Turkish multinational household appliances manufacturer which owns Beko and Grundig, on its asset carve-out transaction involving the sale of Beko Electrical Appliances to Konka Group by an asset deal.
Key clients
FMC Corporation, Lavazza, Oshkosh JLG (Tianjin) Equipment Technology, Shell Energy (China)
Headquartered in Beijing with branches in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Hangzhou, East & Concord Partners has expertise in banking and finance, and commercial arbitration. Managing partner Qi Zhou focuses on dispute resolution and is experienced in handling commercial litigation and arbitration cases. The firm hired a number of new partners in the past 12 months: dispute lawyers Jingjing Zhong, Yulong Wu and Ke Li, and other lawyers include Shi Yao, Chaowen Liu and Kai Zhan.
Client feedback
“The firm gives professional advice and is capable of identifying the real needs of the customer and providing realistic solutions including settlement.” – Dispute resolution
“East & Concord provides customers with practical solutions, and you can see that they make their best efforts to provide high quality legal services to their customers while the service fees stay very reasonable.” – Dispute resolution
Chaoyi Ji
“Ji's team is very efficient. They always put customers first and are very thorough in fact checking.”
“Timely responses with practical solutions.”
Work highlights
Advised Sichuan Aipu Financial Industrial on its investment in the 5G smart manufacturing cluster and the second headquarters project in Qingbaijiang district of Chengdu.
Key clients
Beijing Grain Group Finance, China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group), Minerva Foods
Top-tier firm Fangda Partners dominates the majority of ranking tables. The firm also moved up to the ‘Highly recommended’ tier in this year’s media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences rankings. The firm’s regulatory team provides one-stop compliance and government enforcement services, including corporate investigations, government enforcement, compliance advisory, and related contentious matters. A key partner to note in the team is Kate Yin, who is a recognised leader in complex government enforcement, internal investigation and regulatory compliance, especially for challenging cross-border matters. Weiguo Yang joined the firm as partner from Guantao Law Firm in November 2020. Another dispute partner, Melody Wang, departed to Allen & Overy in January 2021. Wei Fang, specialised in corporate and M&A and private equity, joined the firm as partner in March 2021.
Client feedback
“The lawyers of the firm have very good legal skills, insight in the industry, and good connection with the relevant authorities. The team is well structured. They work efficiently and are easy to communicate with.” – Capital markets
“Professional. Fangda Partners understands our requirements promptly and advises on such requirements professionally, especially its PRC team.” – Capital markets
“Excellent technical and knowledgeable legal advice, combined with commercial awareness, innovative thinking. Incredibly hard-working and responsive.” – Competition/antitrust
“Professional with high level of integrity. Provides prompt responses for time-sensitive matters.” – Competition/antitrust
“The firms did particularly well at hearings. Lawyers are very professional and detail minded. They performed well in construction related issues and IP disputes.” - Construction
“Professional, quick turnaround, good understanding of industry and company's business.” – Corporate and M&A
“Knowledgeable and responsive.” – Corporate and M&A
“Excellent qualifications, great commercial judgment and sound legal advice.” – Corporate and M&A
“Competent lawyers who give timely and clear advice. Simplify complex issues with concise and clear explanations.” – Dispute resolution
“They provide thorough analysis, good counsel, and are prompt in communicating.” – Intellectual property
“Fast responses. Comprehensive insights. Down-to-earth approach. Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.” – Real estate
“The firm knows the market participants well, including both investment funds and portfolio companies. It is easy to communicate with and produces high quality work for investment funds.” – Technology and telecommunications
Christine Chen
“Chen has in-depth experience in advising sophisticated international issuers on local law issues. As our trusted legal advisor, she provides practical and thoughtful solutions to complicated legal issues, which are immensely helpful to the successful execution of cutting-edge debt offering transactions.”
Frank Fan
“Deep industrial knowledge. Experienced project execution. Ability to meet challenging deadlines.”
Michael Han
“Excellent technical knowledge, commercially aware and very responsive.”
“Competent and professional.”
Siyuan Pan
“She is a professional lawyer who understands our requirements properly.”
Josh Shin
“Very responsive.”
Yu (Tony) Xiang
“Xiang is equipped with many years of experience and his leadership and management throughout the proceedings is a testament to the skills and knowledge he has developed. A highly-involved leader, he followed our proceedings closely and offered vital advice throughout.”
Pu (Alexandra) Yang
“Very proactive communication, thorough analysis and dependable advice.”
Work highlights
Acted for TPV Technology on its sale of 51% shares to Nanjing Huadong Electronic Information & Technology.
Acted for VIPTHINK, an online children's mathematics thinking education brand, on its acquisition of 100% equity interests in Magic Ears.
Global Law Office is one of the ‘Outstanding’ firms in banking and finance. The firm’s banking and finance team has extensive experience in onshore, offshore and cross-border financing work, covering bilateral and syndicated loans, project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset finance, trade and ECA-backed finance. Lawrence Lin leads the firm’s banking and finance team. The firm hired plenty of partners in the past year: Kunlin Wang joined from Jincheng Tongda & Neal, Catherine Song joined from Baker McKenzie FenXun, and Yang Zhang joined from AllBright Law Offices. Jieyi (Eric) Chen, Michael Chen, Haojia (Vincent) Zhuang and Mingshi (Tony) Zhang, also joined the firm from Zhong Lun Law Firm, and Xiaofeng Tang and Yubing (Ruby) Shao completed the recent additions.
Client feedback
“Good at managing project flow, protection of our rights with expertise and commercial sense.” – Corporate and M&A
“Global Law Office has provided us with accurate, efficient and professional legal services, and has represented us in the most complex and important intellectual property disputes. During Global Law Office's representation, it has provided us with comprehensive legal opinions and litigation strategies in the judicial process in a very professional and effective manner, so has to protect our rights and interests to the greatest extent. Our company and our affiliates are known as one of the largest well-known internet companies. In the face of those copyright infringements and unfair competitions conducted by our competitor, it can clearly identify the issues and provide a comprehensive legal analysis regarding the controversial issues. Global Law Office can always understand our objectives and can regularly communicate and address the problems to us during different stages of the litigation process. In the course of our cooperation, it has successfully represented us in several copyright infringement and unfair competition lawsuits against our competitor.” – Dispute resolution
“I am very satisfied with its legal services, which truly helped our company achieve our business goals. The firm is a red circle law firm with a very good reputation in the legal market. It served its clients with professional skills and a dedicated attitude. Its lawyers possess very good English language communication skills and have shown deep understanding on the laws. When providing legal services, they can provide real solutions that are commercially feasible for our company and our business.” – Intellectual property
“Excellent partner for our trademark litigation in China. We strongly rely on the high-quality advice – detailed and clear. Positive attributes: clear communication, quick follow-up, professional handling of our account.” – Intellectual property
“The firm is familiar with our product and technology as well as copyright enforcement in China. It provided practical legal advice on resolving the IP dispute.” – Intellectual property
“Responds promptly to a client's needs and inquiries. Familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds.” – Investment funds
Guangying (Amy) Dai
“Actively facilitates the deal during services. Keeps good relationship with business and legal teams of both sides.”
Yifeng Gao
“Gao has profound legal knowledge and experience in maritime law practice. He possesses excellent communication skills, and he is responsive to clients' questions or concerns. Also, he pays attention to the details of every aspect of a given case. He is perseverant yet flexible enough to satisfy the clients' commercial needs. Overall, he is a highly-respected and recommended lawyer.”
Jia (Meph) Gui
“We instructed Gui to deal with our IP cases. He has a thorough and in-depth understanding of IP laws in Mainland China and the US and is one of the very few IP partners admitted to practice laws in both jurisdictions. He is a creative and solution-oriented IP lawyer with enthusiasm, which is one of his most impressive traits. More importantly, he thinks critically, reasons well and has all the instincts of an excellent IP lawyer. He impressed me with his hard work and professionalism. I would without any reservation recommend Gui to be an IP expert to any friend in need of IP legal service in China. I have not found any obvious weakness in him.”
Zhanke (Jack) Li
“Li is an experienced IP lawyer who is familiar with both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. He has a proven track record in copyright and patent litigations in China and can always provide swift responses and practical legal advice to his clients. He can communicate effectively with this client and is very responsive.”
“Clear communication skills, responsive and professional in handling of our account.”
Ping Qiao
“Qiao has always been a dependable lawyer who can be entrusted with our most complicated and significant disputes. He carries out a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth study of China IP law. While representing our company in the copyright infringement and unfair competition case against our competitor Shanghai 2345 Co, Qiao provides a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the controversial issues regarding the case and makes the most suitable litigation plans based on our corporate strategy and industry characteristics.”
Lei (Steven) Yu
“Very hands-on and reliable.”
Work highlights
Represented the six consortium members, including China Merchants Expressway Network & Technology, China Merchants Union, Zhejiang Expressway, Jiangsu Expressway, Sichuan Expressway and Anhui Expressway, on their proposed acquisition of the third Bosphorus bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway Project in Istanbul, Turkey. The acquisition transaction is the largest infrastructure M&A transaction in Turkey and a landmark cross-border investment by China-based investors in Turkey to date.
Key clients
ESR, Jiaxin International Resources Investment, LuxShare, Synermore Biomedicine (Suzhou)
Grandall Law Firm is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in capital markets. Established in 1998, Grandall was initially formed upon the amalgamation of Beijing Zhang Yongtao Law Firm, Shanghai Wanguo Law Firm and Shenzhen Tangren Law Firm. Hongbing Lv is a key contact who specialises in capital markets and corporate and M&A. He has a track record of advising companies in corporate reform and domestic and overseas listing projects.
Work highlights
Acted for Xiamen Aircraft Leasing in the sale of three used aircraft to a SPV formed by XAL and Xiamen Jin Yuan Financial Leasing.
With 13 offices in China, Guantao Law Firm provides legal services across all practice areas. The firm is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in restructuring and insolvency. Its team advises non-bank financial institutions on dissolution liquidation, insolvency liquidation and insolvency reorganisation. Managing partner Liguo Cui has expertise in transactional law with a focus on aviation, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. M&A lawyers Rongyuan Xu and Min Ni joined the firm as partners in 2020. In the same year, the firm’s dispute resolution team also welcomed Shichun Cao, Xin Li, Changzhou Xin and Jun Zou as partners.
Work highlights
Acted for PetroChina Company on its sale of its pipeline business and assets to China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corporation.
Advised Anbang Insurance Group on the disposal of 55% shares of Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank.
Advised China Railway Construction on its acquisition of 49% equity of a subsidiary of Evergrande Group and debts along with the project.
Key clients
Hebei Jinxi Iron and Steel Group Company, SDIC Power Holdings, Shanghai Lansheng Corporation, Zhejiang Communication Investment Group
Founded in 1992, Haiwen & Partners is experienced in cross-border securities, M&A transactions, private equity, and general corporate and commercial dispute resolution. Media and entertainment is one of the firm’s key industry sectors. It is often involved in the development of film and television projects, formation of production and financing vehicles, and other new media matters. The firm currently has around 300 lawyers in total working at its Beijing, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen offices. Beijing-based partner Yu Cao is a reputable entertainment lawyer. On top of his profound understanding in the media industry, he is also experienced in general corporate and finance transactions.
Work highlights
Acted on the consolidation of ChemChina and Sinochem's agricultural assets. Firm acted as the co-PRC counsel for the newly created intermediate holding company Syngenta Group.
Acted for Tencent Holdings on its acquisition of Sogou.
Key clients
Hillhouse Capital Management, Huadian Power International Corporation, Lens Technology
Han Kun Law Offices is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in corporate and M&A, investment funds and private equity. The firm has also earned a reputation in capital markets for its performance in representing both domestic and international clients from various emerging industries. Its aviation finance team, on the other hand, is experienced in advising both Chinese and foreign lessors as well as Chinese and foreign banks in their leasing and finance of commercial aircraft and business jets to Chinese airlines. Based in the firm’s Beijing and Shenzhen office, partner Chaoying (Charles) Li is experienced in public and private financings, M&A, incorporation and corporate restructuring, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property protection. Real estate lawyer Rong Fang and disputes lawyer Yang You both joined the firm from King & Wood Mallesons in 2020.
Client feedback
“Their services are excellent. They are highly efficient, professional and marvellous.” – Aviation
“Knowledgeable, speedy and flexible.” – Corporate and M&A
“Attentive with professional knowledge and practicality.” – Dispute resolution
“The partners I have worked with are obviously leaders in their field. They communicate well and are responsive.” – Dispute resolution
“Dedicated and professional. Provides pragmatic advice with sound legal knowledge.” – Dispute resolution
“I had a good feeling about working with Han Kun Law Offices. They have practical experience in various jurisdictions, which helps to produce enforceable claim construction and sufficient disclosure of patents meeting requirements. They demonstrated high level of performance and experience of administrative work, especially for safely and smoothly transferring patent rights. Their litigation team and prosecution team worked closely, which is good because they are also getting enforcement experience to complement their prosecution practice. Whenever I have a question, I just get in touch and they will give practical and helpful answers in a timely manner. To sum up, Han Kun Law Offices is unique among all the law firms I have worked with.” – Intellectual property
“Outstanding level of service. Extremely responsive with excellent business judgment.” – Investment funds
“Well-structured team who is responsive, experienced, resourceful and responsible.” – Private equity
“Detail-oriented and efficient. Understands local practices. Reasonable fees with a good network within various industries.” – Real estate
Xianglin Chen
“Good legal knowledge. Attentive to client's needs. Organised and punctual.”
“Chen is a brilliant lawyer. He is trustworthy, dynamic and has great relationships with his team and clients.”
Dafei Chen
“Superb client counselling skills showcased with very clear communication.”
Yi Ding
“Ding is fantastic and outstanding. He can point out the key issues and find the solutions very quickly.”
Shiwen (Stephen) Dong
“Dong is very hands-on with an excellent knowledge base. He manages team resources well in meeting deadlines. Also charges reasonably.”
Rong Fang
“Experienced, responsive and innovative.”
Wei (Will) Huang
“Provides a tailor-made service and responds with impressive efficiency.”
Lili Wu
“Client-oriented, professional, responsive and charges reasonably.”
Yaxing Zhang
“Dedicated and professional, owning the problem as if it were his own, and providing pragmatic advice backed by sound knowledge of the law as well as the legal and political landscape.”
Min Zhu
“Knowledgeable and efficient.”
“Professional and easy-going.”
Work highlights
Advised Baidu on its $3.6 billion acquisition of the PRC domestic video-based entertainment live streaming business of JOYY. In terms of deal size, this is the largest acquisition of an entertainment live streaming business in China to date.
Represented 58.com, China’s largest online classifieds marketplace, in its $8.7 billion take-private deal. This is by far the second largest go-private deal of a Chinese Concept Stock company.
Represented Shenzhen Mingde Holding Development, the major shareholder of Hive Box, in the merger of Hive Box and China Post Sudiyi. This merger is the largest M&A deal in the delivery locker service field in China.
Key clients
Bitauto Holdings, China Renaissance, KPS Capital Partners
HHP Attorneys-At-Law has strengths in corporate and M&A, dispute resolution and regulatory matters. Managing partner Yao Rao is experienced in representing companies in setting up foreign-invested companies. His industry strengths lie within the automotive, consumer goods and services, healthcare, and industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Client feedback
“Solid legal ground and good understanding of the business.” – Corporate and M&A
“The firm is very organised. It tailors its staffing based on the seniority and expertise case by case for us. It always stays in close contact with us, very responsive and proactive. It has strong business acumen, and a deep understanding of commercial reality.” - Energy
Yao Rao
“Excellent legal skills and communication skills. Solution provider and results-driven.”
“Rao is devoted to our cases, good at analysing issues and formulating a strategy that can practically solve our problems. He is an expert in M&A and labour and employment. He also provides an excellent full range of legal services for us.”
Work highlights
Acted for a PE firm on its investment in a real estate project in Northeast China.
Advised a foreign PE firm on its acquisition of an overseas entity through beneficial right of a trust plan in China.
Advised a European manufacturer on its corporate reorganisation in China involving merger by absorption and entity formation.
Hui Ye Law Firm's dedicated M&A department enables the firm to provide legal services to clients in China and investment target countries under its international service network. The team is also active in the fields of aviation, energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and real estate. The firm has hired more than 60 partners throughout the year of 2020. It has also opened seven new offices across China in Dalian, Lianyungang, Haikou, Urumqi, Guiyang, Nanning and Kunming. It now has a total of 28 offices in China, covering the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Coastal Economic Belt, as well as the Greater Bay Area.
Client feedback
“They always provide feedback efficiently and effectively.” – Corporate and M&A
Karen Liu
“She knows well about our business and is willing to provide practical advice.”
Work highlights
Acted on behalf of Jiangsu provincial government to acquire Jinpeng airlines, a subsidiary of HNA Group, with the aim to hold 67% shares of Jinpeng Airlines after a capital increase.
Key clients
Bright Food, Shanghai Xiehe Education Group, Shanghai Yingcui Industrial
Headquartered in Beijing, Javy Law Firm enters asialaw’s corporate and M&A table for the first time this year. The firm has recently expanded its practice to capital markets compliance, dispute resolution, investment funds and private equity. Cenghau Zhao is the director of the firm whose practice covers capital markets and dispute resolution. Other key partners include Youshan Ge, Chunfang Cao, Haipeng Ding, Tao Xia, Gaoyan Tai, Daoyi Pan and Yanjun Liang.
Work highlights
Advised Zhonghang North Assets Management (Beijing) on M&A matters.
Key clients
Beijing Automobile Manufacturing, Zhuhai Sherpa Equity Investment Management
Jingtian & Gongcheng is highly ranked in capital markets and corporate and M&A. The firm has also developed a strong reputation in banking and finance in the past 12 months. A key contact to note is Hongjiu Zhang, who specialises in banking and finance, corporate and M&A, cross-border investment, restructuring and securities.
Client feedback
“Jingtian & Gongcheng’s team was very responsive and demonstrated professional dedication. It has rich experience in advising the issuers in Hong Kong IPO projects.” – Capital markets
“The professional skills and timely responses from the firm really impressed our company. In addition, they have a great perspective of the overall situation. They are good at combining the business requirements with legal skills when tackling complex problems arising from the transaction.” – Corporate and M&A
“They have a good view of the transaction, and they know the laws and local practices very well. They provide us practical solutions.” – Corporate and M&A
“Fast, efficient and effective.” – Intellectual property
“It's familiar with the laws and regulations in the field of private equity funds. It also has extensive experience in insurance fund investment.” – Private equity
Hua Dai
“We are impressed by Dai’s professional skills and inspiration, especially his ability to combine the business requirements with excellent legal skills.”
Guanchun Dai
“Dai has been working with us for almost 10 years. He always provides us with effective solutions and handles our transactions very well.”
Chungang Dong
“He is responsive, professional and knowledgeable.”
Wan Yang
“Actively facilitates the deal during service and keeps good relationships with business and legal team.”
Hanshuo Zhou
“I'm impressed by Zhou's professionalism and pragmatic approach. It helped our company explore new areas and business opportunities.”
Work highlights
Acted for HBIS Group Beijing International Trading on its acquisition of 12.5% shares of Beijing Iron Ore Trading Center Corporation from China Beijing Equity Exchange.
Key clients
AviChina Industry & Technology Company, Chery Holdings Group, EFORT Intelligent Equipment, Sany Construction Technology
Top-tier firm JunHe is ranked ‘Outstanding’ across various practice areas, including banking and finance, capital markets, competition/antitrust, corporate and M&A, labour and employment and tax. Key figures include partner Hui (Nelson) Zhou for banking and finance, Jiang (Joe) Chen for corporate and M&A, Yingling Wei for competition/antitrust, Weining Zou for dispute resolution, Dongpeng Wang for labour and employment and Chumeng (Jessica) Xu for IP. Firm has hired several corporate partners in the past year: Yipeng (Alan) Zhang, Yi You, Ke Zhang, Guangqin Wei and Zheyuan (Jacqueline) Qiao.
Client feedback
“Excellent critical legal thinking backed by creative solutions.” – Construction
“Professional and intelligent with language capability, including Japanese, English and Chinese.” – Intellectual property
Yu Qin
“Knowledgeable in the energy and infrastructure sectors.”
Zhaolin (Johnson) Wang
“Smart and intelligent with excellent problem-solving and language skills. Fast learner when it comes to complex technology. Also provides professional opinions.”
Xianfeng (Elvis) Zhou
“Professional, client-driven, cooperative and responsive.”
Work highlights
Assisted Grifols, a Madrid and Nasdaq-listed company, in its strategic investment in Shanghai RAAS, an A-share listed company. This transaction is the largest M&A transaction in the global blood products market in 2020, with a consideration of approximately Rmb13.2 billion.
Assisted Dongguan Communications Investment Group in its acquisition of equity interests in Happy Life Insurance.
Assisted Greenland Hong Kong Holdings in its acquisition of 100% equity interest in Guangzhou Greenland.
Key clients
China Literature, Mango Media, Shenzhen Qianhai Fourth Paradigm Data Technology, Viva Biotech
Prominent firm King & Wood Mallesons sits atop ranking tables across various practice areas. Managing partner Ling Wang is a project finance specialist with deep expertise in the infrastructure and energy sectors. Disputes partner Ariel Ye has more than 25 years of experience in cross-border commercial dispute resolution, focusing on international arbitration and China related compliance work. The firm’s banking and finance team promoted Chunlong (Simon) Xu, Xiaoxue (Stella) Wang, Liang Qiu and Jie Chen to partners in September 2020. The firm’s dispute resolution team welcomed partners Feng Shan and Ling Wu, both joining from Grandall Law Firm.
Work highlights
Advised Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor on its $298 million investment into Maxeon Solar Technologies. This transaction was one of the few spin-off listing transaction
