On March 14, 2023, China Business Law Journal ("CBLJ") unveiled its 2023 list of Rising Stars in China's legal sector ("Rising Stars 2023"). The list presents 100 young, elite lawyers, comprising 80 practitioners of Chinese law and 20 international lawyers committed to China-related business, to recognize China's up-and-coming legal achievers who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and professionalism in their practice areas and who continue to deepen and expand their practices. Han Kun partners Chunyan He, Zaiguang Lu, Vincent Song, Dana Wu, and Yaxing Zhang were selected for their excellence and contributions.
Ms. He focuses her practice on corporate litigation, securities litigation, securities compliance, and general civil and commercial dispute resolution. She has a solid understanding of civil and commercial law principles, serves as perennial legal counsel to many financial enterprises, and is especially skilled at handling major and difficult cases. Ms. He has participated in many landmark cases of national influence, such as the case series involving control right and equity dispute of a renowned PRC beverage company, which was among the first batch of first-instance civil/commercial lawsuits before the Supreme People's Court since the SPC's establishment; a ground-breaking, VIE-related case where the shareholder's failure to disclose overseas shareholding entrustment was deemed by the court as not impairing the company's interests; the 300 million RMB worth dispute over ownership of the "Ming Dynasty wine cellar group", the core asset of a renowned listed liquor company in China; and the first-ever civil liability lawsuit against misrepresentation of a listed company on the A-share market. Ms. He is also an active contributor in the theoretical study of commercial and securities litigation. She has contributed to ACLA's Guideline for Legal Practice (the section on civil liability litigation practice against securities misrepresentation) and published numerous articles on relevant practices.
Mr. Lu focuses on venture capital and private equity financing, overseas listings and public offerings, foreign direct investment in high-tech fields, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Lu has represented a number of companies to complete IPOs in the US and Hong Kong markets, has participated in a great number of complex equity and asset acquisitions and merger deals, and has helped many companies to complete domestic and overseas investments and financing transactions. He assists clients in designing transaction structures, drafting transaction documents, participating in negotiations, and handling Chinese law-related issues arising in transactions. Mr. Lu mainly represents clients in industries such as financial services, education, retail, transportation, TMT, healthcare, and entertainment. He has been recognized by Chambers as a Leading Lawyer in Private Equity: Buyouts & Venture Capital Investment, TMT: Equity Financing, by The Legal 500 as a New Generation Partner in TMT and in Corporate/M&A, and by ALB among its Top 15 Rising Lawyers 2020.
Mr. Song specializes in venture capital and private equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, and overseas listings. He has represented a large number of venture capital funds, private equity funds and entrepreneurs in their investment and financing projects, has participated in numerous complex equity and asset acquisition and merger deals, and has been significantly involved in the formation of, and fundraising for, numerous onshore and offshore private equity funds. In addition, Mr. Song has represented issuers and underwriters in certain Chinese company initial public offerings on overseas stock exchanges. Mr. Song has represented clients in a wide variety of industries including TMT, healthcare, culture and entertainment, education, consumer goods, internet finance, and logistics. He has been recognized as IFLR1000's 2023 Rising Star Partner in Private Equity (IFLR1000 32nd edition), among LEGALBAND's 2022 Client Choice: Top 15 Rising Partners, and among CLECSS's 2020 Top 10 Outstanding Young Lawyers.
Ms. Wu focuses her practice on private equity and venture capital investment, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, outbound investments, and general corporate matters. She has extensive experience handling complex legal and commercial issues relating to a wide variety of industries and business activities. Ms. Wu frequently represents private equity funds and venture capital funds, institutional investors, multinational companies, start-up companies and listed companies in their investments, financings, acquisitions and divestments in China and various legal matters. She has in-depth knowledge of complicated cross-border transactions involving multiple jurisdictions. Ms. Wu also acted as PRC legal counsel in a number of overseas listings. She advises Chinese state-owned and private companies on their outbound acquisitions and investments in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Ms. Wu represents clients across diverse industries, including technology, advanced manufacturing, biomedical, automotive, cosmetics and consumer products, real estate, and finance.
Mr. Zhang specializes in dispute resolution concerning investments, financings, and corporate matters. He is experienced in handling contract disputes arising from financing and investment agreements and equity transfer, as well as dispute cases incurred by red-chip related defaults, redemption, asset management, misrepresentation, etc. Mr. Zhang's expertise also covers intra-company/partnership disputes, forged by his extensive practice in dispute resolution related to control rights, information rights, invalidating resolutions, dissolution, executive liability, etc. Mr. Zhang also possesses in-depth knowledge and experience in liquidation and bankruptcy proceedings and has helped many clients realize smooth exits from investee companies or secure bankruptcy protection. In addition, Mr. Zhang is a specialist in judicial enforcement procedures, especially property seizures, judicial auctions, and asset disposals and distributions. He has also assisted clients in handling property seizures in mainland China in several Hong Kong-initiated arbitration cases. Mr. Zhang is adept at handling cross-jurisdictional recognition and enforcement of arbitration awards and court judgments.
This year's list is a result of independent research by CBLJ's editorial team after reviewing external nominations and supporting material submitted by the candidates. The rising stars were chosen from thousands of nominations made by law firms, business leaders, senior in-house counsel, and the wider legal community.
