On January 22, 2025, after collecting a wide range of market feedback, China Business Law Journal announced the China practice edition of The A-List 2024-25: Growth Drivers, which includes 160 lawyers practicing PRC law and 100 lawyers practicing in foreign law firms or overseas. Five Han Kun partners were selected for their outstanding contributions to Chinese legal practice.
Wei (Vincent) Sun
Mr. Sun specializes in commercial litigation and arbitration, cross-border dispute resolution, as well as banking and finance. Mr. Sun has extensive experience in commercial litigation and arbitration. He has also been engaged as the leading litigator in resolving complex and high-end litigation and commercial arbitration cases, primarily involving disputes in relation to financial matters, equity investments, private funds, and cross-border transactions, for financial institutions, private equity funds, MNCs, and renowned local enterprises. Mr. Sun has also been listed as a panel arbitrator and mediator for a number of well-known arbitration institutions, including the Shanghai International Arbitration Center ("SHIAC"), Shanghai Arbitration Commission ("SHAC"), and China Commission of Arbitration for Sport ("CCAS"). As the presiding arbitrator or sole arbitrator, he has participated in many arbitration cases involving disputes in financial matters, corporate governance, private funds, investments, and cross-border transactions. In addition, Mr. Sun coordinates and provides legal support to institutional clients related to domestic and foreign investment, financial institution governance, private funds, syndicated loans, and cross-border financings, among others. Mr. Sun is also a skillful negotiator and possesses exemplary business acumen, flexibility, and decisiveness. He provides long-term legal services to renowned domestic and international clients. In addition, Mr. Sun maintains cooperative relationships with numerous international law firms to provide legal support to global investors. Mr. Sun's honours and awards include: Leading Individual in Dispute resolution: Arbitration & Litigation (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2024-2025); China Overseas Lawyer of the Year (GRCD, 2024); "The A List" - China's Elite 100 Lawyers for three consecutive years; Shortlisted as Litigator Lawyer of the Year (The Asian Lawyer, 2024); Shortlist Shanghai Lawyer of the Year (Benchmark Litigation China Awards, 2024); in 2018, he was selected into the Talent Pool of China's 1,000 Lawyers for International Practice by the PRC Ministry of Justice. In 2016, he was awarded as Chinese Leading Lawyer in International Practice by the All China Lawyers Association.
Denning Xu
Mr. Xu's areas of expertise cover SOE-related services, financial compliance, asset management, investment, and financing. Mr. Xu has over 20 years of experience in SOE-related services and has long served various central state-owned enterprises, large local state-owned groups and their affiliated companies. Mr. Xu has a leading edge in the field of compliance of state-owned enterprises, state-owned assets transactions, state-owned enterprise restructuring, as well as the establishment and investment of state-owned funds. At the same time, Ms. Xu has provided legal services for various financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, trust companies, and securities traders, which cover the issuance of various financial products, structured financing and asset securitization, the use of insurance funds, the establishment of insurance asset management products, the establishment and investment of private equity funds, the issuance of various debt financing instruments, etc. Ms. Xu has been called upon to draft guidelines and industry standards on many occasions by Shanghai SASAC, the Shanghai Bar Association, and LexisNexis and various other legal media organizations. He served as vice director of the SOE-related Services Research Committee of Shanghai Bar Association, a member of Legal and Compliance Committee of China Insurance Asset Management Association, and a legal evaluation expert of the Shanghai Public Resources Center. Mr. Xu's honours and awards include: Leading Lawyer in Banking & Finance (Chambers Greater China Region, 2025); The A-List China's Elite Lawyers：Growth Drivers (China Business Law Journal, 2022-2023); China Top 15 Lawyers – State-Invested and State-owned Enterprises (Legalband, 2024); and Client Choice: Top 15 Insurance Versatile Practitioners (Legalband, 2022).
Gloria Xu
Gloria Xu's practice areas include private equity, M&A, capital markets and general corporate matters. Specialising in navigating complex domestic and cross-border transactions, Ms. Xu possesses extensive expertise in private equity investments and financings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and IPOs. Her client portfolio spans diverse industries, including telecommunications, media, technology, healthcare, biotechnology, transportation, manufacturing, and retail. Ms. Xu has successfully represented numerous private equity funds and companies in their domestic and cross-border investments, providing strategic counsel for start-ups, fast-growing enterprises, and well-established corporations during private equity financings. She possesses substantial experience in orchestrating cross-border and domestic M&A transactions, offering guidance to a multitude of multinational and domestic firms engaged in large-scale M&A activities. Additionally, Ms. Xu has played a pivotal role in representing several PRC companies in their IPOs on prominent securities exchanges in the U.S. and Hong Kong. Ms. Xu is a graduate of the University of International Business and Economics (LL.B., 2002) and the University of Bristol (UK) (LL.M. degree in international commercial law, 2004). Ms. Xu's honours and awards include: China Top 15 Female Lawyers (ALB, 2024); Recommended Lawyer in TMT (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2017-2019, 2024); Recommended Lawyer in Corporate and M&A (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2024-2025); Recommended Lawyer in Private equity (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2018, 2025); Stellar Accolade (LegalOne, 2024); Client Choice: Top 15 Female Lawyers (Legalband, 2022); Asialaw Leading Lawyer (Asialaw Profiles, 2015-2016); The A-List China's Elite Lawyers：Growth Drivers (China Business Law Journal, 2023); Shortlisted for Rising Star Lawyer of the Year (China Law and Practice, 2016); Named by the Beijing Lawyers Association to its 2024 list of foreign-related legal case experts. She was named by the Beijing Lawyers Association to its 2023 list of foreign-related legal case experts.
Jian Zhang
Ms. Zhang has been focused on IP-related legal services for more than 17 years. She has extensive experience in patent invalidation, IP infringement litigation, administrative litigation, and licensing. She also provides legal opinions for a variety of matters including patent analysis, IP due diligence, and IP strategy design. She specializes in patent prosecution and dispute resolution in technical fields such as telecommunications, computers, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and signal processing. Ms. Zhang has represented many high-tech multinationals in complex patent disputes. She has the expertise to design practical strategies based on specific cases and to help clients to resolve disputes efficiently and has handled a number of influential cases in the field. Ms. Zhang has also advised many Chinese companies on intellectual property right-related problems encountered when they ventured overseas and played an important role in facilitating the successful overseas-venturing of Chinese companies, receiving favorable comments from her clients. Ms. Zhang's honours and awards include: Recommended Lawyer in Intellectual property (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2023-2024); Client Choice: Top 15 Intellectual property Lawyers (Legalband, 2024), Patent Rising Star (IFLR Asia-Pacific, 2022); 50 IP lawyers under 50 (IPR Daily, 2023); Top 50 PRC IP Lawyers (IP House & IP Lead, 2022). She was named by the Beijing Lawyers Association to its 2024 list of foreign-related legal case experts and Named by the Beijing Lawyers Association to its 2020 list of foreign-related legal case experts.
Yaxing Zhang
Yaxing Zhang specialises in dispute resolution pertaining to investment, financing and corporate disputes. Mr. Zhang has extensive practical experience in resolving disputes arising from investment and financing agreements, share transfers, convertible bonds and other transactions, as well as legal issues relating to control rights, information rights, validity of resolutions, dissolution, and directors' and officers' liability of companies and partnerships. In addition, Mr. Zhang has successfully handled numerous cases involving disputes over contract breach, share redemption and winding-up under red-chip structures, accumulating experience in connecting and co-ordinating litigation, arbitration, and the recognition and enforcement of judgment proceedings across various jurisdictions. Mr. Zhang has also handled several asset management and false statement cases, some of which have become influential benchmarks. He also has in-depth knowledge and practical experience in fund investment project exits, corporate dissolutions, liquidations and bankruptcy proceedings, having assisted numerous clients in achieving investment exits or bankruptcy protections. Mr. Zhang has been recognized as an Up and Coming Lawyer in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration 2025 by Chambers Greater China Region; China Top 15 Litigators (Asian Legal Business, 2024); as a Recommended Lawyer in Dispute resolution: Arbitration & Litigation for many consecutive years and Next Generation Partner in Dispute resolution: Litigation (2022-2025) by Legal 500 Asia Pacific; Legal500's Private Practice Powerlist Arbitration China 2023; a Litigation Star for Commercial Disputes by Benchmark Litigation China for many consecutive years, included in China Business Law Journal's 2023 Rising Stars, The A-List China's Elite Lawyers: Growth Drivers (China Business Law Journal, 2023); and Thomson Reuters' Outstanding Lawyers (2022).
China Business Law Journal's The A-List 2024-25: Growth Drivers acknowledges the key players in law firms ‒ the stalwarts with rich practice experience and profound legal acumen. These seasoned lawyers are active at the forefront of the market, boasting outstanding reputations and robust revenue-generating capabilities. With impressive track records, they excel in business development and drive intense market competition. Battle-tested and armed with acute insights, they can swiftly comprehend and master the dynamic changes in the legal landscape. Renowned for their exceptional professional capabilities, they not only create tangible value for clients but also contribute significantly to the sustained growth of their respective law firms.
The final list is the aggregate result of market nominations, candidates' own submitted supportive information and independent research conducted by the editorial team.
