FROM REVOLUTIONISING COMPLIANCE systems in the face of growing regulatory pressure to conducting nationwide anti-counterfeiting campaigns against hundreds of infringing targets, in-house counsel have time and again proven instrumental in navigating their companies through legal hurdles at home and abroad.
Their ingenuity and problem solving skills are on full display in China Business Law Journal’s inaugural In-house Impact Awards, which presents 46 stellar projects handpicked by the editorial team after carefully reviewing hundreds of market submissions.
The winning projects are significant deals or cases that closed or hit major development targets within the past five years. They are split into the following seven categories: compliance; data compliance; finance; outbound investment; industry contribution; intellectual property; and dispute resolution.
Compared with our annual In-house Counsel Awards, which celebrates the expertise and market recognition of general counsel and legal teams across various practice areas and industries, the new In-house Impact Awards are designed to highlight the exceptional, yet often overlooked, value created by in-house counsel for their companies, as well as for the greater market.
In addition, there are three sub-categories of the In-house Impact Awards that recognise other aspects of legal excellence.
The In-house Innovation Awards showcase legal teams willing to disrupt the status quo and explore better ways to be of service; while the In-house Teambuilding Awards highlight the unforgettable events that make teams closer and stronger.
Last but certainly not least is the debut of our Lifetime Achievement Awards, for which we conducted a market-wide survey asking legal professionals to recommend senior general counsel that have spent their careers pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an in-house counsel, and inspiring younger generations with what is possible. Self-nominations were not allowed.
Like all other awards hosted by China Business Law Journal, there is no fee or other obligation associated with the submission, nomination or evaluation processes.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all who participated in the market survey. We also offer our congratulations to the winning teams and their leaders.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department at Cansino Biologics
TEAM LEADER: Zhou Yuan, senior director
KEY POINTS: Tianjin-headquartered vaccine maker Cansino Biologics obtained certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI) for attaining the ISO 37301 compliance management standards and ISO 37301 anti-bribery management standards, the first biopharmaceutical company in China to have achieved this.
For companies in the biopharma industry, increasingly stringent regulation brings considerable risks, and non-compliance could lead to serious consequences such as hefty fines, legal sanctions and tarnished reputation.
Yu Xuefeng, CEO of the company, praises the legal and compliance department, being the “leading team for compliance management”, and for “actively planning and advancing the certification of dual-compliance systems, building an effective compliance management system, and continuously improving on it”.
KEY POINTS: EdiGene, a global clinical-stage company focused on gene-editing technology translation, established a comprehensive system on the compliance of human genetic resources (HGR). This includes setting up a set of internal HGR compliance rules, creating the HGR committee, regularly conducting HGR review and training, and developing an internal HGR registration system.
In recent years, the Biosecurity Law, as well as the Regulation on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources and detailed rules on its implementation, were enacted in quick succession, highlighting the country’s emphasis on biological samples and HGR compliance. By creating an across the board HGR compliance system, the legal team sought to respond to national policies while meeting the needs of the company’s rapid development.
LEGAL TEAM: Department of Legal & Intellectual Property at Foxconn Industrial Internet
TEAM LEADER: Xie Chenyang, vice president and general counsel
KEY POINTS: Soon after two subsidiaries of Foxconn were included in the US Unverified List (UVL), the legal department formed an emergency response group with Xie Chenyang as one of its key persons, and attended meetings with the Ministry of Commerce to ensure alignment with Chinese and US laws.
While ensuring compliance in the areas of import/export governance and cross-border data transfer, the team submitted detailed information to the US Department of Commerce and co-operated with follow-up investigations and interviews conducted by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The two subsidiaries were eventually removed from the list.
For a global manufacturer and listed company, being listed on the UVL could mean the breakage of supply chains, limits to business scope and damage to international reputation, among other disastrous results. Liu Zongchang, vice president and board secretary at the company, compliments the successful removal as “not only ensuring the company’s leading status in the global supply chain, but also significantly elevating its global competitiveness and prestige”.
TEAM LEADER: Meline Huang, company secretary and general counsel
KEY POINTS: Drawing references from the anti-corruption guide of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and relevant provisions in PRC law, Hong Kong-listed Goldpac established its own corruption prevention system that included a declaration of conflict of interest and accepting gifts or benefits. Furthermore, a system was set up to protect whistleblowers, demonstrating a zero-tolerance attitude towards corruption. Since 2022, the legal team has conducted nearly 3,000 anti-corruption compliance training sessions.
“Corporate anti-corruption is not a ‘household matter’, as some would say, but a matter of great significance that affects the longevity and sustainability of the company,” says Hou Ping, executive director and CEO. “By establishing and improving on our anti-corruption system, our legal team contributed greatly to our fight against corruption and bribery.”
LEGAL TEAM: Litigation team of the Sina Group legal department
TEAM LEADER: Gu Haiyan, general counsel; Zhang Zhe, head of litigation
KEY POINTS: Across a series of high-profile sporting events including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the litigation team provided across the board compliance support for Sina’s operations. These included designing the compliance plans, responding to complaints and doing everything to lower legal risks.
At the Paris Olympics, for instance, the team provided 24/7 legal support, handled disputes in real time, and in total responded to more than 40,000 complaints, both domestic and abroad, within the 17-day Weibo event operation cycle.
For a dispute resolution team to be so deeply involved in project operation is a rare sight for corporate counsel, and a stiff test of its familiarity with the business and ability to collaborate with the business team. Zhan Sheng, general manager of Sina Sports, compliments the litigation team for their “resolute pursuit of professionalism”, adding: “Our external partners can sense the energy, dedication, sense of responsibility, and professionalism from this team.”
WINNER REMARKS: The litigation team of Sina Group directs and takes responsibility for all dispute resolution matters of Sina, Weibo, its subsidiaries and invested companies, in multiple jurisdictions including China, the US and Europe. The team encounters legal issues involving various professional areas, including entertainment and sports, on matters such as data protection and combating cybercrime, with which it has attained outstanding achievements in IP rights and data protection. The team successfully concludes thousands of proceedings every year. It has pioneered an independent IP rights protection system within the group, generating considerable?rights protection benefits, and contributing to the industry’s landmark cases represented by copyright disputes in the live streaming of the Chinese Super League. In recent years, the team contributed a number of model cases in data protection. A pioneer in this area, it is committed to promote judicial protection of data flow and the establishment of fair and orderly data rules.
LEGAL TEAM: Alternative investment legal counsel of Taikang Asset Management
TEAM LEADER: Wang Yi, legal director
KEY POINTS: Working with the IT and internet centre, the legal and compliance department of Taikang Asset Management developed a legal compliance review platform for non-standard projects. According to the team, it was a pioneer use of the semi-automated review system for non-standard projects in China’s asset management sector.
The system lists review issues and automatically matches the next questions to be checked. It can capture key data of the proposed investment projects and subjects, use embedded logic for initial compliance assessment, and mark key issues while allowing the review of other lawyers’ opinions.
The platform covers the entire field of non-standard investments, including debt, equity, securitisation and other financial products. The team regularly maintains, updates and optimises the platform based on new regulations, policies and business developments. Zhou Feng, chief compliance officer, praises the alternative investment legal team for leveraging years of expertise and experience, innovatively designing the platform to strictly control compliance risks and empower business services, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of project reviews.
AXA Tianping passes data export security assessment
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance team at AXA Tianping P&C Insurance
TEAM LEADER: Norman Luo, head of Legal and Compliance
KEY POINTS: AXA Tianping is one of the earliest foreign insurance groups to have entered China’s financial market and one of the first foreign financial institutions to start preparing for assessment following the introduction of the Measures for the Security Assessment of Outbound Data Transfer. The company obtained approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China in July 2024, becoming the first property insurance company to have done so, and paving the way for the outbound transfer of the personal information of millions of clients.
During preparation, the legal compliance department responsible for leading the assessment comprehensively evaluated and optimised the company’s data outbound purposes, scope, methods and security measures. They also drafted the data outbound security self-assessment report and application.
Cross-border data transfer is essential for a foreign insurance company, says CEO Zuo Weihao, who praises the legal and compliance team for “creating value for compliance”.
WINNER REMARKS: AXA Tianping is the sole fully-owned property and casualty insurance subsidiary of AXA Group in China, serving nearly 4 million Chinese households and corporate clients through its network of 25 branches spread across 20 provinces nationwide.
AXA Tianping’s legal and compliance department is committed to delivering comprehensive and efficient legal advisory services and compliance management. We provide holistic legal and compliance support across a spectrum of business activities, including significant commercial transactions, establishment of institutions, critical compliance initiatives such as cross-border data transfers, legal dispute resolution, and compliance training programs, thereby enhancing the company’s operational capabilities.
Our team is staffed by a group of seasoned legal and compliance specialists, who possess deep expertise and a wealth of industry experience in areas such as insurance law, corporate governance, labour and employment law, data protection compliance, financial crime compliance, and AI regulatory compliance. We eagerly anticipate collaborating with our professional peers in the industry to foster collective advancement.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance team at Lalatech Group
TEAM LEADER: Jean Jiang, chief legal & compliance officer
KEY POINTS: Lalatech, the leading logistics trading platform of Huolala, secured an approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) for cross-border data transfer, less than a year since the Measures for Security Assessment for Outbound Data Transfer became effective in September 2022.
Owing to the recency of the policy, few market references were available for the Lalatech team to draw from: within that year only 17 companies, representing about 1% of total applicants, passed the assessment.
Notably, the legal and compliance team collaborated with only the company’s information security team in preparing for the CAC assessment. No external legal counsel were sought for the matter.
WINNER REMARKS: The legal team of Huolala Group has grown to more than 30 members, with systematised teams specialising in common law, dispute resolution, compliance, project and overseas matters, among others. The team is largely composed of young professionals. In accordance with the company’s business development, the team has established a complete legal compliance and risk control system that for years have provided legal support services to domestic and overseas businesses in various areas, covering contract review, compliance and data privacy protection system establishment, IP management build-up, administrative regulatory communication, overseas city launch legal assessment, litigation and dispute resolution, M&A, financing, as well as policy and regulation research. The team has supported and completed many major company projects. It is committed to providing precise, efficient and comprehensive legal services to the company, empowering and creating value for its business.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal team of Lululemon Athletica Trading (Shanghai)
TEAM LEADER: Carrie Yu, legal director
KEY POINTS: Lululemon, a Canadian/American athletic apparel retailer, began preparing for its assessment application merely two weeks after the Measures for Security Assessment for Outbound Data Transfer came into effect. With no market precedence to draw reference from and certain regulations remaining ambiguous and untested, the legal team had to “tap in the dark” on many occasions.
Eventually, the company passed the Cyberspace Administration (CAC) assessment in July 2023. In the follow-up, the team localised data fields that the CAC deemed unfit for cross-border transfer.
The high efficiency of the team was no accident. When the draft for comment of the CAC measures came out, the team reached out to the North Asia privacy protection team to prepare for customer data localisation. Shannon Higginson, chief legal officer based in the company’s Vancouver headquarters, says it required unprecedented cross-departmental and cross-regional co-ordination, but the China legal team was able to overcome the obstacles.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance Department of Ping An Healthcare Diagnostics Centre
TEAM LEADER: Zeng Ni, director of Legal and Compliance Department
KEY POINTS: Before the heavyweight Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law came out, Ping An Healthcare began establishing an industry-leading data security compliance system, which took 18 months to complete.
The complexity of the data involved in the operations proved challenging, as the Ping An Healthcare platform adopted innovative models such as “diagnosis and treatment + AI assistance”, covering personal information, diagnostics records and medical insurance. Exacerbating the situation was the lack of established relevant laws and regulations at the time.
The project greatly improved the company’s data compliance capacity and achieved balance between the needs for business returns and lowering compliance risks. The efforts were also highly consistent with the subsequent legislative developments, giving the company a growth head start.
Fang Weihao, general manager, acknowledges the great value brought by this project. “We used to be overcautious with these data, but with the data security compliance system in place, we know how to use them in an effective and compliant manner, which grants us both a competitive edge and recognition from our partners.”
WINNER REMARKS: The core members of Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company’s legal and compliance department are from first-tier domestic and international companies, law and accounting firms, as well as government departments, with solid professional skills, broad industry perspectives, diverse backgrounds and rich practice experience. The department has a broad range of responsibilities including business support, financing M&A, IP protection, compliance system construction, compliance review, prospective research, and technology application, covering all of the company’s business sectors.
In legal support, the legal department has achieved efficient co-ordination of systematic construction and ad hoc support, and has promoted close integration of streamlined processes with key risk management and control. In compliance construction, it has established a “three-line defence” mechanism to recognise risks at all levels, while internal compliance management and audit inspection are organically integrated.
TEAM LEADER: Mary Ma, assistant vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary
KEY POINTS: One-stop travel booking platform Tongcheng Travel established an ESG and data security committee in 2021, and formulated strict data security management systems including an emergency response plan for personal information security incidents and a standardised management process for the launch and promotion of apps and platform products.
Additionally, the company adopted encryption and de-identification technologies, and established a comprehensive data security detection mechanism. In 2023, the company successfully passed the cross-border data transfer security assessment.
Tongcheng Travel has more than 200 million annual paying users. User data are meticulously classified based on security and importance.
“In the many years that the Tongcheng app has operated, it was never listed by authorities for rectification, nor was it ever required to be shelved,” says Yu Pei, vice president. “These factors solidify our company as a leader in data security and compliance.”
WINNER REMARKS: The data compliance programme of Tongcheng Travel’s legal centre demonstrates the team’s exceptional performance and contributions in data compliance. As general counsel, Ma Li leads the legal centre to promote the establishment of the company’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) and data security committee, develop a strict data management system, and ensure secure data practices. By implementing personalised compliance programmes, adopting advanced encryption and desensitisation technologies, as well as setting up data security monitoring mechanisms, the company’s data protection level has been significantly enhanced. This achievement earned the team recognition from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other authoritative bodies. The team successfully helped the company through the national data exit assessment, positioning it as a leader in data exit compliance in Jiangsu province. These accomplishments underscore Tongcheng Travel’s leading position in data compliance, setting a benchmark for the travel industry and promoting its healthy sustainable development.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance Department of China International Capital Corporation (CICC)
TEAM LEADER: Joe Zhou, chief compliance officer
KEY POINTS: Multinational oncology company BeiGene began trading on the SSE Star Market in December 2021, raising about RMB22.2 billion (USD3.05 billion), making it the largest Star Market IPO that year. The offering also made BeiGene the first company to be simultaneously listed in the US, Hong Kong and mainland China, following its Nasdaq and SEHK listings, as well as the first red-chip pharmaceutical company.
CICC acted as the joint sponsor and joint lead underwriter. Chen Liang, chairman of the board, acknowledges it as a “success story in terms of finance serving the real economy”. He further recognises the legal team for “monitoring the quality and risk of the project throughout, accurately addressing the core issues, identifying and managing risks in a professional, efficient and responsible manner, and overall providing formidable legal support for the listing”.
LEGAL TEAM: Ontime Mobility Legal Team at Chenqi Technology
TEAM LEADER: Faye Xu, general counsel
KEY POINTS: Chenqi Technology, a smart travel platform under the GAC Group engaged in ride-hailing and robotaxi businesses, began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2024. The listing, hailed as the first in the self-driving sector, raised about HKD1.05 billion (USD134 million).
The mobility industry has been subject to stringent and volatile regulation in terms of cross-border data transfer and overseas listings. The successful listing of Chenqi in Hong Kong, following a required China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) filing, therefore served as a sign of encouragement for the sector.
The CSRC’s filing-based administrative measures for overseas listings were quite recent when the Chenqi team prepared for its IPO, meaning there was no market precedence. Adding to the complexity of the filing were necessary arguments for a variable interest entity (VIE) structure and restructuring in line with the employee stock incentive plan (ESOP). Furthermore, the team met the fundraising requirements for a Hong Kong IPO through the anti-dilution rights setup, which gained recognition from investors.
Sun Lei, vice president of the company, considers the IPO a “beacon project” for Guangzhou state-owned assets reform. “The legal team demonstrated outstanding expertise in the course of the listing,” he says. “They have been instrumental to the success of the IPO.”
WINNER REMARKS: The Ontime Mobility legal team made an outstanding contribution to the efficient completion of its IPO on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong through meticulous work, high-quality standards and strong professional support.
In the face of a complex regulatory environment and industry uncertainties, the team leveraged its expertise to rigorously ensure work quality while embracing challenges to innovatively address the regulatory issues encountered by the project and the industry. Under the new regulations for overseas listings by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Ontime Mobility became the first issuer with state-owned enterprises as the largest shareholder to obtain approval through the red-chip plus variable interest entity structure after successfully navigating issues related to state asset management, control rights of Chinese shareholders, and industry regulatory policies.
During the final push for issuance, the legal team facilitated the project’s progress from approval to successful issuance in less than a month amid frequent regulatory inquiries, showcasing a strong fighting spirit and unwavering work ethic.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Affairs, Compliance, Risk and Audit Department of CR Capital Management
TEAM LEADER: Feng Lin, general counsel
KEY POINTS: CR Capital and its fellow subsidiary, CR Micro, the group’s semiconductor arm, jointly set up the Runke Microelectronics Fund in 2019, with the government guidance funds of Shanghai, Chongqing and Hubei, among others, introduced as investors. The RMB2 billion (USD280 million) fund is mainly invested in microelectronics products and technologies, application markets, and the semiconductor upstream and downstream industry chain.
Sector funds, compared with traditional financing models, help reduce the cost and the overall investment risk by diversifying the investment portfolio. By 2024, the fund had completed investments in 48 projects.
The legal department provided legal support for the fund throughout the “financing, invest, manage, exit” life cycle, which gained the recognition of Qin Feng, general manager and CEO of CR Capital. “The [legal team] has lent their professional support for fund establishment and investment activities,” he says. “They have protected the fund well in terms of compliant operation and risk prevention.”
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance Department of China International Capital Corporation
TEAM LEADER: Joe Zhou, chief compliance officer
KEY POINTS: In August 2021, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled to initiate bankruptcy reorganisation for Tsinghua Unigroup, a high-tech enterprise valued in the hundreds of billions of renminbi. The extensive group encompasses nearly 300 companies and more than 50,000 employees, with operations spanning multiple jurisdictions. Strategic investors, including Wise Road Capital and JAC Capital, invested RMB60 billion (USD8.25 billion) in cash to facilitate the comprehensive reorganisation.
CICC served as the sole financial adviser to the bankruptcy administrator, assisting in the smooth resolution of about RMB150 billion in substantial debt. The reorganisation plan included full repayment through methods such as cash settlement, debt-to-equity swaps and debt retention. This case was selected as one of the Top 10 Cases Promoting the Rule of Law in the New Era 2022 by the Supreme People’s Court in collaboration with China Central Television, as well as the Deals of the Year 2022 by China Business Law Journal.
CICC chairman Chen Liang praises the legal team, stating that they “effectively fulfilled the defence function, assisted the business team in resolving significant, unprecedented issues, and provided high-quality legal services that ensured the successful completion of the project”.
LEGAL TEAM: Group Legal & Compliance Department of J&T Global Express
TEAM LEADER: Shang Quanxi, legal & compliance director
KEY POINTS: In October 2023, the multinational express logistics company J&T Express was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HKD3.53 billion (USD499 million). During the listing process, J&T Express faced stringent scrutiny from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and had to provide additional explanations regarding its control structure, equity incentives, and information security. Renowned institutions such as Tencent, Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital and Temasek participated in the investment.
Founded in Indonesia, J&T Express holds a leading position in the Southeast Asian market and ranks among the top six in the highly competitive Chinese logistics market. The funds raised from this listing were intended to expand the logistics network, upgrade infrastructure, and increase investment in research and technological innovation.
The legal team conducted a comprehensive compliance review of J&T Express’s business and operations. Also, due to the multi-jurisdictional nature of J&T’s business, the team co-ordinated with lawyers in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Risk Control Department of Oriza FOFs
TEAM LEADER: Li Huiling, senior director
KEY POINTS: The fund of funds investment management platform, Oriza FOFs, independently established a comprehensive ESG investment process system. The legal and risk control team was responsible for drafting the complete set of policy documents and supporting implementation tools, and participated in ESG investment due diligence.
Oriza FOFs began systematically establishing and refining its ESG investment system in 2021. Two years later, it became a signatory to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), making it one of the three domestic fund of funds to achieve this milestone.
The legal department was responsible for developing ESG principles and systems tailored to the fund of funds business, facilitating the establishment of an ESG committee, and further promoting ESG practices among sub-funds and portfolio companies. According to the team, more than 30 investment institutions and 10 companies have adopted Oriza’s ESG principles.
Spinoff, reorganisation and listing of Gezhouba Explosive
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance Department of China International Capital Corporation (CICC)
TEAM LEADER: Joe Zhou, chief compliance officer
KEY POINTS: China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), listed on both the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, achieved the spinoff and backdoor listing of the civil explosives company, Gezhouba Explosive, through an unprecedented “spinoff + restructuring” transaction structure.
Gezhouba Group, a subsidiary of CEEC, holds 68% of Gezhouba Explosive’s shares. Nanling Industry Explosive acquired 95.5% of Gezhouba Explosive’s equity by way of non-public issuance of shares to specific targets. On completion of the restructuring, Gezhouba Explosive raised supporting funds through non-public issuance of 117 million shares to no more than 35 specific investors through an inquiry method, raising a total of RMB1.34 billion (USD180 million).
This marked the first A-share spinoff and backdoor listing in the market. CICC acted as the independent financial adviser for Gezhouba Explosive, ensuring compliance in its restructuring decision-making process. Chairman Chen Liang says that this transaction is the largest merger and restructuring deal in China’s civil explosives industry to date, providing valuable experience for future dealings in the market. He praises the legal team for their “professional, efficient and responsible approach to risk identification and control during the project implementation, providing a solid legal foundation for the successful completion of the project”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Compliance Department of Zhonghai Trust
TEAM LEADER: Li Yu, deputy general manager
KEY POINTS: The Stable and Sustainable (ESG Theme) No. 1 Collective Fund Trust Plan by Zhonghai Trust marked the first fixed-income securities investment trust product in this industry that meets ESG investment requirements and focuses on green and sustainable development.
Despite the absence of unified ESG investment compliance standards in China’s asset management industry, the legal compliance department independently developed internal ESG compliance review standards, investment ratio requirements and dynamic asset clearing methods. These were based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, guided by its internationally accepted Principles for Responsible Investment, and aligned with existing domestic green finance standards and ESG information collection conditions.
Gao Jianhui, Zhonghai’s president, says: “The contribution of the legal compliance department to this project embodies the company’s high-quality development philosophy and sets a new benchmark for ESG investment among asset management institutions in Shanghai and across the country.”
WINNER REMARKS: The legal and compliance team is an important branch of the legal department of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) in the financial sector. All of its team members are from well-known law schools and are qualified to practice law. The team, led by Li Yu, have long been engaged in legal dispute resolution, academic theory research, and policy consultation in asset management. It actively responds to CNOOC’s and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s requirements to achieve high-quality development, and is committed to explore the integration of ESG (environmental, social and governance) compliance management into the financial asset management field, having successfully launched this year its fixed-income securities investment trust products with a green and sustainable development theme. This innovative trust product transforms ESG development concepts into compliance requirements that are in line with the current state of the Chinese market, exploring new paths for the finance sector to support sustainable development, and for state enterprises to fulfil their social responsibilities.
LEGAL TEAM: Special Projects and Legal and Compliance of CITIC Capital
TEAM LEADER: Wong Yong Kai, managing director, head of special projects and co-general counsel
KEY POINTS: US-headquartered multinational retail and nutritional manufacturing company GNC filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, an affiliate of CITIC Capital, bid USD760 million plus the assumption of certain liabilities to establish a minimum purchase price for GNC’s assets, which kept open more than 1,400 nutrition stores and saved thousands of jobs.
Adding to the complexity of securing necessary approvals for a Chinese state-owned enterprise to acquire a distressed US company through the US bankruptcy process was the ill-timed pandemic, which challenged many businesses to “adapt or die”.
Wong Yong Kai took a hands-on approach to navigating the complex environment, successfully securing the necessary approvals for offshore financing from the Bank of China Macau as part of a strategic plan that worked around the global crisis.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Team of Risk Management Department at China Southern Power Grid International
TEAM LEADER: Edward Li, deputy general manager
KEY POINTS: Italy’s Enel sold its entire equity stake in two Peruvian assets held by its subsidiary, Enel Perú, to China Southern Power Grid International (Hong Kong) for USD2.9 billion. This transaction, completed in 2024, is the largest distribution asset acquisition by a Chinese enterprise in Peru in recent years.
The acquisition involved significant legal matters such as foreign investment access, national security review and antitrust review, requiring an in-depth analysis of the Peruvian legal environment. In addition to conducting due diligence, the legal team provided support in negotiating transaction documents, collected comparable deals in the same industry within the region, and successfully removed the reverse break-up fee clause that was unfavourable to the buyer.
The professional competence and dedication of the legal team earned praise from the business team, external advisers and transaction counterparts, as well as accolades from China Southern Power Grid International’s chairman, Chen Shengran, who says: “Their work not only ensured the smooth progress of the project, but also made a significant contribution to its success and the company’s international development.”
LEGAL TEAM: Department of Legal & Intellectual Property at Foxconn Industrial Internet
TEAM LEADER: Xie Chenyang, vice president & general counsel
KEY POINTS: Foxconn Industrial Internet undertook greenfield investments in India, Vietnam and Mexico, which involved complex outbound direct investment (ODI) and foreign direct investment (FDI) legal procedures. By innovatively combining indirect investment with equity acquisitions, the structure optimises resource allocation and effectively reduces investment risks.
The legal team collaborated with local legal institutions to ensure the compliance and efficiency of legal procedures, enhancing the transparency of project execution. It also continually adjusted strategies to adapt to the local legal environment, addressing the differences and challenges posed by the local legal culture.
Liu Zongchang, deputy director and board secretary of Foxconn Industrial Internet, praises the legal team’s “professionalism and forward-thinking approach” and expresses appreciation for their “innovative capabilities and adaptability to complex legal environments”.
KEY POINTS: Korean food company Orion and Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical established a joint venture, Shandong Lukang Orion Biotechnology Development, to engage in the research and production of chemical and biological drugs, as well as diagnostic reagents. Orion invested about RMB200 million (USD27.5 million) in the joint venture, acquiring a 65% equity stake.
This cross-sector collaboration marks the Orion legal department’s first foray into legal matters within the pharmaceutical field. The cross-border introduction of biotechnology licensing involves numerous complex legal issues. Zhang Jianjun led the team to efficiently complete the design of the transaction structure, investment contract negotiations, state-owned equity transfer, and the anti-monopoly merger control filing procedures.
Jing Bei, Orion China’s deputy general manager, praises Zhang for building the company’s legal team from scratch and transforming it into a team that not only handles general legal matters but also “provides comprehensive legal services with precision and effectiveness, adding significant value to the company”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Risk Control Department of Shanxi CIG International Investment
TEAM LEADER: Ge Shouwen, deputy general manager
KEY POINTS: Shanxi CIG International Investment participated in the setup of a 66MW wind power project in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the first large-scale centralised wind power project in the country. With total investment of more than USD110 million, the project involves 22 3MW wind turbines, along with a supporting booster station and transmission lines. Once operational, the project is expected to generate 145,600MWh of electricity annually, significantly reducing coal consumption as well as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions.
The legal and risk control department developed a risk prevention and control system that covers pre-event, in-event and post-event stages. It further established risk warning indicators for overseas investment projects and implemented a three-level warning mechanism to align with the project’s risk response and monitoring measures.
Deputy general manager Ge Shouwen comments that this project “is of great significance in meeting the needs of the transformation and upgrading of the Bangladeshi power grid and supporting high-quality green development of the economy and society”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Team (AP-N) of SIG Group
TEAM LEADER: Kenneth Zhou, head of legal & compliance, AP-N
KEY POINTS: In 2022, SIG, a global leader in aseptic carton filling solutions, completed its acquisition of the Asia-Pacific operations of Pactiv Evergreen for RMB335 million (USD46 million), which covers all of Evergreen’s legal entities and factories in Shanghai, Taiwan and South Korea. The deal made SIG a leader in low-temperature carton packaging.
Legally, merger filing requirements around the globe proved to be exceptionally challenging. Kenneth Zhou, in charge of the matter, addressed the repeated inquiries of China’s State Anti-Monopoly Bureau during multiple stages of review, as well as legal questioning raised by affiliated industry associations and ministries.
Samuel Sigrist, CEO of SIG Group based in Switzerland, praises Zhou as “a very senior general counsel” who “embraces a proactive entrepreneurial spirit, but always has a clear vision of the potential risks”.
WINNER REMARKS: Founded in 1853 and headquartered in Switzerland, SIG Group is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. SIG encapsulates its brand with a slogan, “a leading solutions provider of packaging for better – better for our customers, for consumers, and for the world”.
SIG’s legal and compliance team for the Asia-Pacific north region supports all legal and compliance matters in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Mongolia. Under the leadership of Kenneth Zhou, all of the team’s lawyers have more than 10 years of legal and compliance experience, with expertise in antitrust, competition law, data privacy, personal information protection, contract management, corporate governance, IP protection, overseas M&A, anti-fraud and investigation. SIG is committed to creating perfect packaging for global customers and consumers, and its legal and compliance teams strive to become models for the industry’s elite.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Department of United Energy Group
TEAM LEADER: Leslie Zhang, vice president & chief legal officer
KEY POINTS: United Energy completed its all-equity acquisition of Kuwait Energy Company (KEC) in 2019, with the total transaction value amounting to USD810 million. The deal enabled United Energy to enter the Middle East and North Africa oil and gas markets, as well as join the front ranks of independent oil and gas companies around the world.
Legal work for the transaction was for the most part completed by the legal department internally, including quantifying the litigation and legal risks of the target company. KEC had hundreds of shareholders, a complex VIE structure and an ongoing lawsuit with hundreds of millions of US dollars at stake, which proved considerably challenging.
“The success of the acquisition – its triumph in the face of fierce competition – is closely linked to the legal team’s grasp and assessment of the target company’s risks, as well as their implementation of commercially reasonable and feasible legal solutions to control these risks,” says Song Yu, CEO of the company.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department of Be Friends
TEAM LEADER: Zhang Zhiming, vice president of legal & compliance
KEY POINTS: The legal & compliance department of Be Friends, a leading livestream e-commerce platform, independently developed Zhijian, a smart product compliance review standard and risk evaluation system based on platforms, hosts and product categories.
The system, created in accordance with laws, regulations, industry standards and past cases, leverages AI, optical character recognition (OCR) and big data analysis technologies to conduct real-time compliance reviews as merchants upload their qualifications, indicate risk levels and provide rectification suggestions.
Inconsistent product quality and review standards have plagued the livestream e-commerce industry throughout its existence. Be Friends’ original smart system has the potential of filling the gap in the standardisation, automation and smart product compliance review, greatly enhancing industry compliance.
“The system significantly improved our efficiency and accuracy,” says vice president Zhang Huijun. “In the past, legal compliance reviews and qualification risk evaluations required a large amount of manpower and time, and were prone to human errors.” From an industry perspective, he adds that this system provides a valuable example for peers to follow.
WINNER REMARKS: Be Friends Holding is a frontrunner in China’s live-streaming e-commerce sector. Since 2020, through relentless exploration and trial, the company has established a standardised, replicable “1+N” matrix live broadcasting operation model, and has been committed to becoming a technology-driven new retail enterprise.
Its legal and compliance department keeps pace with the times and continually innovates on the path of digitalisation. It has developed the industry’s cutting-edge compliance review and risk evaluation system, “Zhijian”. This system has successfully combined technical language with compliance rules and has deeply applied them to compliance reviews, achieving real-time review and risk evaluation of products. This pioneering move not only fills the industry gap but also provides a solid safeguard for the company’s long-term development and sustained growth.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department of Be Friends
TEAM LEADER: Zhang Zhiming, vice president of legal & compliance
KEY POINTS: After a product promoted in a live-streaming session was exposed for false advertising and the merchant refused to voluntarily compensate, the leading live-streaming e-commerce agency, Be Friends, decided to proactively compensate more than 7,000 consumers with more than RMB2.4 million (USD330,000). The court reacted positively to the decision to prioritise consumer protection and acknowledged its claim for reimbursement.
This case has established clear norms and standards for the frequently complaint-ridden live-streaming e-commerce industry, demonstrating that multi-channel network (MCN) agencies should actively assume compensation responsibilities when facing consumer rights issues. It has also increased consumer confidence in the protection of their rights within the live-streaming e-commerce sector.
Cui Dongshen, vice president of the company, praises the legal & compliance department for “being able to quickly clarify the situation and accurately assess the circumstances at the early stages of the case, providing a solid and reliable legal basis for the company’s decision-making”.
WINNER REMARKS: The department’s litigation team secured a sweeping victory in the first-ever case involving a live-streaming e-commerce agency pre-compensating consumers. This landmark triumph recouped significant economic losses for the company, and more importantly injected confidence into its commitment to prioritise consumer interests and its boldness to compensate on behalf of merchants. This victory fully embodies the company’s values of “pursuing excellence, integrity, altruism, care and long-term thinking”, a steadfast safeguard for the company’s enduring growth.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department of Du Xiaoman Technology (Beijing)
TEAM LEADER: Xing Jing, general manager
KEY POINTS: Baidu’s fintech platform, Du Xiaoman, independently developed XuanYuan, the first trillion-parameter Chinese financial large-language model (LLM) in China. With the support of the Legal & Compliance Department, XuanYuan secured generative AI registration from the Cyberspace Administration of China in December 2023, followed by algorithm registration in June 2024.
Additionally, under the guidance of Xing Jing, the Legal & Compliance Department drafted the Du Xiaoman (Financial) Personal Information Protection Policy and the Du Xiaoman XuanYuan Large Model User Service Agreement, ensuring that the large model assumes the responsibilities of a personal information processor during data processing activities such as optimisation training.
Du Xiaoman’s CTO, Xu Dongliang, praises Xing for “leading the department in providing comprehensive legal compliance support and assurance for the company’s large model and algorithm registrations”. He notes that the team, in addition to offering legal opinions, achieved valuable results in addressing cutting-edge theoretical issues such as technology ethics, international legislation and IP protection in the field of AI.
Full Truck Alliance’s smart mediation of freight disputes
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Department of Full Truck Alliance
TEAM LEADER: Shen Kai, chief risk officer and general counsel
KEY POINTS: The legal compliance department of the smart logistics ecosystem platform, Full Truck Alliance, initiated a freight dispute source governance project to address the longstanding issues of freight payment arrears and the difficulty for drivers to defend their rights in the road freight industry.
This system quantifies and categorises the handling of freight payment disputes, introducing methods such as intelligent guided mediation and mechanisms like notification, industry mediation and batch litigation. In the first half of 2024, the system assisted users in resolving more than 8,000 disputes, recovering a total of more than RMB30 million (USD4.1 million) in freight payments for drivers.
Although freight disputes are frequent, the disputed amounts are generally low, placing drivers at a disadvantage in defending their rights. Through Full Truck Alliance’s standardised front-end dispute resolution and mediation docking mechanism, disputes can be guided for self-mediation in batches with minimal human intervention. This approach helps resolve disputes cost-effectively and efficiently.
Zhang Qi, the head of the customer experience division, praises the legal compliance department for adopting innovative methods and comprehensive legal measures to address the industry’s freight dispute issues. He comments that this “set a good example for industry governance, while also indirectly supporting the healthy operation of the group’s freight platform business and the smooth execution of various commercial projects”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance team of Lalatech Group
TEAM LEADER: Jean Jiang, chief legal & compliance officer
KEY POINTS: Since July 2022, seven provinces and cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, have launched pilot projects for occupational injury protection for workers in new forms of employment. These projects cover seven platform enterprises in the travel, food delivery, instant delivery and same-city freight industries. As a representative of the latter, Lalatech’s logistics brand, Huolala, participated in the project, providing occupational injury protection for 300,000 platform drivers within the pilot’s scope.
Huolala expanded the scope of protection and improved the assistance mechanism by implementing a combination of commercial insurance, including personal accident insurance, as complimentary coverage, safeguarding the safety of the lives and property of drivers and riders. The legal team was fully involved in the establishment of the complimentary insurance system, providing risk warnings and legal advice. According to the team, as of August 2024, insurance had been provided for more than 200 million orders, with the total insured amount exceeding RMB50 million (USD6.9 million).
CFO Chen Guoji emphasises the importance of protecting the rights of drivers and riders for the company, and praises the legal team for “using legal expertise and foresight in policy trends to effectively address the pain points of personal safety protection, and to effectively assist in enhancing business efficiency”.
WINNER REMARKS: The legal team of Huolala Group has grown to more than 30 members, with systematised teams specialising in common law, dispute resolution, compliance, project and overseas matters, among others. The team is largely composed of young professionals. In accordance with the company’s business development, the team has established a complete legal compliance and risk control system that for years have provided legal support services to domestic and overseas businesses in various areas, covering contract review, compliance and data privacy protection system establishment, IP management build-up, administrative regulatory communication, overseas city launch legal assessment, litigation and dispute resolution, M&A, financing, as well as policy and regulation research. The team has supported and completed many major company projects. It is committed to providing precise, efficient and comprehensive legal services to the company, empowering and creating value for its business.
Midea Real Estate’s smart system for in-house counsel
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Shared Centre of Midea Real Estate Group
TEAM LEADER: Shang Dongning, legal director
KEY POINTS: The legal team at Midea Real Estate pioneered a unique approach in the application of legal technology. Based on their own needs for an online system, they independently developed an intelligent legal system to achieve online and digital management of the entire life cycle of litigation cases. Building on this foundation, they established a contract management system that covers processes such as project initiation, performance and electronic seals. Additionally, the team incorporated functional modules for IP and suppliers.
According to the team, many existing case management systems on the market are little more than online spreadsheets, placing a heavy manual burden on users. In contrast, Midea’s system simplifies the basic information approval process, requiring only the initial entry of case information for subsequent direct referencing. Additionally, it enables interoperability between systems for process approval, seals, suppliers, contracts, costs, finance and IP.
Liu Jun, office general manager of Midea Group, observes that after the system went online, the efficiency of case management work improved, which greatly benefited the handling of legal cases, the group’s risk prevention and control, and the informatisation of contract management.
LEGAL TEAM: Risk Control Department/Law Department of Rsun Group
TEAM LEADER: Peng Zhao, general legal manager
KEY POINTS: Between 2021 and 2024, the legal department of Rsun Group, a comprehensive real estate developer in Jiangsu province, collaborated with business departments to complete numerous rent reductions, changes in co-operation models and store closures for commercial outlets. This effort helped the group shed the burden of loss-making and asset-light operations amid a rapidly deteriorating business environment.
The legal team was responsible for reviewing contract performance, analysing project data, and conducting analysis of future operations, closures, litigation and settlements. Over three years, the team assisted the company in achieving rent reductions of more than RMB800 million (USD109.8 million) across nine asset-light projects, and closing five projects, optimising the closures to recover losses exceeding RMB65 million.
The group’s chief risk officer, Hu Fang, praises the legal team for their experience gained over three years and 14 projects, stating that their efforts “not only created economic value but also provided our group with a valuable asset – a systematic toolkit for commercial rent reductions and store closures, along with a supporting management system and key control points for handling the closure of asset-light projects”.
WINNER REMARKS: The Rsun Group legal affairs department brings together more than 30 outstanding corporate lawyers specialising in three core sectors: real estate, commerce and property management. The team provides full life cycle legal services and protection for the company. Leveraging its innovative spirit, it produced a legal management system grounded on a process-driven approach, efficiently managing various major litigation and non-litigation projects. In 2023, it successfully represented more than 2,200 litigation cases with a claim value exceeding RMB6 billion (USD837.5 million), achieving a litigation goal attainment rate of 97%. In challenging and complex legal service areas such as construction engineering claims and counterclaims, domestic and foreign financing extensions and interest rate reductions, land acquisition and conversion, co-operative development and withdrawal, the department has continuously provided value through litigation and non-litigation means, earning the company’s “Outstanding Contribution Award” and other honorary titles on seven occasions.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department at Cansino Biologics
TEAM LEADER: Zhou Yuan, Senior Director
KEY POINTS: In November 2022, coinciding with the 2022 G20 Bali summit, Cansino Biologics entered into a collaboration agreement with Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia on the development of inhalable tuberculosis vaccine technology and meningitis vaccines. A few months later, Convidecia, the world’s first inhaled covid-19 vaccine, developed by Cansino, was approved for emergency use by the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority, with Etana charged with domestic commercialisation.
The extensive collaboration includes joint platform setup, strategic investments, vaccine commercialisation, technology R&D and clinical trials, making it challenging to bridge the agreements between projects and design the legal document system. Market entry and regulatory standards in China and Indonesia are also quite different. Therefore, the legal team kept in close contact with local lawyers through an efficient communication mechanism.
Wang Jing, chief commercial officer of Cansino, praises the legal department for its “ability to respond quickly and handle professional matters effectively, which greatly facilitates the smooth progress of projects”. “They also help the business side to quickly clarify ideas and grasp key transaction points, ensuring the successful execution of projects and the achievement of our commercial goals,” she adds.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Compliance Department at Cansino Biologics
TEAM LEADER: Zhou Yuan, senior director
KEY POINTS: Cansino Biologics entered into a strategic partnership with Ocugen, a US clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, in 2019 to tackle rare diseases. Under the partnership, the companies developed the production technique and quality control system for gene therapy product candidates OCU400 and OCU410, the former designed to treat inherited retinal diseases, and the latter targeting geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration.
According to the legal team, the partnership was not limited to the usual license-in model and one-time payment but encompasses a full-cycle business model including licensing, R&D, supply and commercialisation. Besides the pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) framework, it also pre-sets Cansino’s right to exercise as a global biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organisation (CMO). This facilitates subsequent discussions on exercising rights through “options” and exploring commercialisation co-operation.
COO Chao Shoubai praises the project for not only enabling the company to achieve technological leaps, but also making strides in its international expansion. As for the deeply involved legal and compliance department, he acknowledges that the project demonstrated their legal expertise and market sensitivity, as well as their ability to align with commercial needs.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Affairs Department of Luk Fook Holdings (International)
TEAM LEADER: Irene Cheung, senior legal counsel
KEY POINTS: Gold and silver products are widely favoured due to their high and consistent value, as well as rich symbolism. However, existing domestic methods for producing electroformed hard gold products still have technical shortcomings, such as being time-consuming and limited in size.
Innovatively, Luk Fook Group created a solid gold ornament, which includes a wax model and a matte hard gold layer, using a sealed electroforming method with gold wire cathode conduction. The ornaments thus produced possess both collectible and decorative value, and with the same gold weight, their size is about double that of traditional electroformed gold products.
The invention patent application for such ornaments and their electroforming method required counsel to not only be familiar with the application process but also possess expertise and technical innovation capabilities. The legal team needed to communicate closely with tech personnel to ensure that the drafted technical solution reflected innovation and uniqueness. They also meticulously prepared application materials such as the claims, specification, abstract and drawings, while engaging in repeated communication with the authorities. Even the slightest error could result in application failure.
The successful implementation of this patent greatly enhances production efficiency and resource utilisation while reducing raw material and energy consumption. The group’s chairman and CEO, Wong Wai Sheung, comments: “Obtaining this invention patent affirms the group’s innovative technological prowess and strengthens its core competitiveness, further consolidating our leading position in the industry.”
WINNER REMARKS: Luk Fook Group principally engages in the sourcing, designing, wholesaling, trademark licensing and retailing of a variety of gold and platinum jewellery and gem-set jewellery products, with more than 3,400 points of sale worldwide.
The group’s legal affairs department is composed of the mainland China and Hong Kong SAR teams, led by Irene Cheung, senior legal counsel. The mainland China team has branches in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, and is mainly responsible for legal affairs in the mainland, while the Hong Kong SAR team primarily accounts for the company’s legal affairs in all business expansion areas. The department has 32 people safeguarding the company’s global business operation.
The department has won several in-house counsel awards by China Business Law Journal for four consecutive years from 2020, including in the consumer and retail, as well as IP (trademark and copyright) categories, highly recognising the team’s legal knowledge and expertise in relevant legal fields.
LEGAL TEAM: IP Transaction Department at the Legal Centre of Shengqu Games
TEAM LEADER: Ronnie Lu, director of IP transaction
KEY POINTS: The dust has finally settled on a 20-year-long battle over the IP rights of the Legend of Mir (LoM), a popular series of multiplayer online role-playing games in China. In August 2023, Century Huatong’s subsidiary, Actoz Soft, reached a new agreement with developer WeMade’s subsidiary, Chuanqi IP, under which Actoz obtained an exclusive five-year copyright licence for the LoM series of games. A month later, Shengqu Games’ subsidiary, Lansha Information, signed agreements with both Actoz and its spin-off, securing the complete exclusive rights to the LoM IP in mainland China.
The project agreement required meticulous design of the transaction structure, encompassing rights over the original game, derivative games, service tools, and film and television products, laying a foundation for future development. Additionally, the legal differences across various jurisdictions, the rapidly evolving gaming industry, and the dozens of prior related lawsuits all contributed to the exceptional complexity.
Wang Ji, chairman and CEO of Century Huatong and chairman of Shengqu Games, says that this transaction resolved a 20-year-long IP dispute that had plagued the company, “achieving the unification of the LoM series IP in mainland China”. She says that the company integrated the domestic LoM market through licensing, publishing and development, bringing foreseeable growth to its gaming division.
WINNER REMARKS: Shengqu Games is a leading global online game developer, operator and publisher. Its legal centre’s IP transaction department consists of members who graduated from top-tier domestic or overseas law schools. With extensive experience in the game industry, the team provides comprehensive legal support and guidance for the company’s global IP licensing and transaction affairs.
In 2023, the company successfully obtained certain exclusive rights to and unification the Legend of Mir 2 series IP in mainland China. The team was involved in the entire process, including the design of the transaction structure and document revision demonstrating professionalism and extensive knowledge, and successfully promoted the smooth execution and implementation of the agreement by all parties. The team’s remarkable contribution in this transaction helped promote the healthy and sustainable development of the Legend of Mir 2?series IP in mainland China.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Shared Centre of Midea Real Estate Group
TEAM LEADER: Shang Dongning, legal director
KEY POINTS: Remac Smart Technology, a subsidiary of Midea Real Estate and provider of smart space solutions, shifted from investment-driven to innovation-driven development through standardised IP management and technological innovation. In December 2022, the company was recognised as a model IP enterprise by the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Protection Association. Furthermore, in December 2023, it was designated as a national IP advantage enterprise by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
The legal department introduced a patent navigation and decision-making mechanism, leveraging industrial and patent data analysis to grasp the technological and market competition dynamics in emerging industries and key regional sectors, thereby advancing the direction of the company’s patent applications. Currently, the company has filed more than 270 patents, with the number of patents growing at an annual rate of 10%.
“The real estate industry continues to decline, and the company needs to transform and explore new businesses and opportunities,” says Liu Jun, office general manager of Midea Group. “This project provides pioneering support for the company’s strategic transformation, helping us capture a larger market share in the target industry while bringing in significant economic value.”
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & Intellectual Property Department of Casio (China)
TEAM LEADER: Wang Wenping, general manager
KEY POINTS: In 2021, under the mediation of the Guangzhou Development Zone Intellectual Property Bureau, Casio reached a compensation agreement with a Guangzhou-based tech company, concluding a design patent infringement dispute that it initiated. The compensation amount of RMB1.7 million (USD230,000) set a record as the highest settlement in a patent administrative adjudication case in the province.
A year prior, Casio discovered that the watches manufactured and sold by a tech company infringed on two of its design patents. The infringing products were widely sold on platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, with total sales reaching RMB30 million.
Initially, the company only agreed to compensate a few hundred thousand renminbi for the infringements identified by administrative authorities. However, the final compensation agreement included both the related entities and the infringing products identified through evidence collection. Compared to traditional litigation, this enforcement approach significantly reduced both time and financial costs.
The case took less than six months from complaint filing to reaching a settlement. Hideyuki Kiuchi, general manager of Casio Group’s legal department, says: “Among all Japanese firms operating in China, I truly sense that Casio China’s legal team is the most outstanding and capable one.”
He praises the team for helping the company establish a dynamic IP protection strategy closely aligned with business needs and China’s market characteristics. The team not only pursued multi-channel rights protection but also “effectively cleaned up the market, providing a favourable environment for genuine products”.
WINNER REMARKS: Casio is a globally renowned consumer electronics company with a product line covering multiple categories such as watches, calculators, electronic dictionaries and musical instruments. Casio (China) has a legal and IP team that plays a crucial role in the overall operation of the company.
The team’s responsibilities include comprehensive risk management, litigation and dispute resolution, data compliance and other legal affairs, as well as representing Casio Computer in fully handling its various IP rights protection work in China. In addition to providing strong protection and support for the company’s compliance operations, the team has also led a series of IP rights litigation cases in recent years, with a winning rate of nearly 100% involving tens of millions of renminbi in compensation. It has been awarded more than 10 representative cases over the years, effectively curbing infringement, comprehensively protecting the company’s intangible assets, and making a wide impact in the industry.
LEGAL TEAM: China Legal Team of Driscoll’s Management (Shanghai)
TEAM LEADER: Leon Li, regional legal manager, Asia-Pacific
KEY POINTS: A trademark rejection notice was issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) against the trademark 素颜草莓 (plain strawberry), a main product of Driscoll’s in China. The rejection stated that the trademark lacked distinctiveness and did not possess the function of trademark identification, making it ineligible for registration as a trademark.
Driscoll’s subsequently filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, which held that the disputed trademark did not directly indicate the function, use or other characteristics of the goods and was sufficient for the public to recognise it as a trademark indicating and distinguishing the source of the goods. Therefore, the court ruled that the CNIPA should re-examine the case.
The CNIPA then appealed to the Beijing High People’s Court, arguing that if the name were used as a trademark on packaging for non-strawberry products, it could mislead consumers, thus violating relevant provisions of the Trademark Law. Ultimately, the Beijing High Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the first-instance judgment.
The case is a rare example in recent years where a first-instance defence succeeded after being accused of falling under article 11 of the Trademark Law, which states that certain marks “shall not be registered as trademarks”, setting a precedent for similar cases in the relevant field.
WINNER REMARKS: The legal team of Driscoll’s Asia plays a significant role in the company’s development by providing crucial legal support and services for the operation of the company in China and the Asian market.
Firstly, in the field of intellectual property, the legal team successfully handled trademark litigation, obtained favorable judgments, and laid a solid foundation for the company’s intellectual property layout in the Chinese market, demonstrating their professional abilities and strategic insight.
Secondly, in the area of data compliance projects, the legal team co-ordinated internal and external teams to ensure the compliant operation of the company’s data project, showcasing the team’s co-ordination and risk management capabilities.
Additionally, in matters of food safety legal issues, the legal team led the resolution of complex food safety issues, providing actionable legal advice for the company’s agricultural production of products and sales, demonstrating the team’s comprehensive understanding and problem-solving capabilities in addressing legal issues throughout the entire chain.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal Affairs Department of Luk Fook Holdings (International)
TEAM LEADER: Irene Cheung, senior legal counsel
KEY POINTS: The Chinese name of Xiliufu is similar to that of Luk Fook, therefore Luk Fook Group filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court against Xiliufu on the grounds of infringing on the exclusive trademark rights of “六福 (Luk Fook)” and “六福珠宝 (Luk Fook Jewellery)”, as well as unfair competition. In the end, the court found Xiliufu to be guilty of infringement and ordered compensation of RMB5 million (USD690,000).
At the time of the lawsuit’s initiation in 2019, Xiliufu had hundreds of franchise stores across 25 provinces. It also claimed to be a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Luk Fook Holdings, which raised concerns about misleading consumers. Determining whether such behaviour constitutes unfair competition requires a full assessment of factors such as the likelihood of market confusion, the infringer’s subjective intent, and the extent to which the infringing actions disrupt market order. Additionally, evaluating the specific losses suffered due to the infringement posed a significant challenge for Luk Fook’s legal team.
Wong Wai Sheung, the group’s chairman and CEO, praises the victory as a significant achievement in the group’s IP protection efforts. He says that it “greatly enhances the group’s confidence and determination in addressing similar infringement cases in the future”.
LEGAL TEAM: Intellectual Property and Legal Department of MGI Tech
TEAM LEADER: Wei Wei, secretary of the board
KEY POINTS: Complete Genomics, a subsidiary of BGI Manufacturing, filed a lawsuit in a US court against global gene sequencing giant Illumina, alleging that several gene sequencers and related reagents used by Illumina and its customers infringed BGI’s US patents. In May 2022, the jury found Illumina guilty of infringement and awarded damages of USD334 million, setting a record for the largest patent compensation won by a Chinese company overseas. In July, the two parties reached a settlement agreement for all pending litigation in the US, with a settlement amount of USD325 million.
BGI’s victory is regarded as a landmark case for guiding Chinese enterprises in overseas patent strategies. The case spanned three years and required frequent remote communication with US counterparts, which tested the efficiency and communication skills of the legal team. Additionally, the use of a jury trial required selecting lawyers with expertise in patent technology to effectively persuade a jury composed of US citizens.
Yu Dejian, president of BGI Manufacturing, compliments the legal team for demonstrating exceptional professionalism and strategic vision in the case. “Their outstanding performance not only reinforced the company’s market position but also set a benchmark for IP protection in the entire industry,” he says.
LEGAL TEAM: Nestlé Zone Greater China (ZGC) Legal & Compliance team
TEAM LEADER: Cai Ping, head of legal & compliance, Nestlé ZGC
KEY POINTS: Nestlé discovered that its composite probiotic solid drink trademarks, “生命花园” and “Garden of Life”, had been pre-emptively registered in China. The company undertook a series of legal actions and, after five years, ultimately won the case. This outcome ensured that Nestlé could freely use the trademarks in question, allowing it to enter and expand the market without interference.
In addition to filing for the cancellation of the existing registrations, the legal team accurately anticipated that the opposing party would lodge malicious complaints on major e-commerce platforms and attempt to transfer the trademarks to delay the trial process. They promptly took measures to prevent such actions.
The team also investigated the registrant’s trademarks in the UK and discovered that it was a shell company. After the trademarks were cancelled, considering the slim chances of success in an appeal, the team proactively initiated contact to facilitate a voluntary transfer of the trademarks without compensation.
LEGAL TEAM: Intellectual Property Department of Siemens China
TEAM LEADER: Jiang Xiangwei, head of intellectual property
KEY POINTS: Siemens has long faced counterfeiting issues in the Chinese market. In 2019, its IP department identified more than 800 counterfeit companies using its name and launched a five-year anti-counterfeiting campaign. During this period, complaints were filed with administrative authorities against 302 targets, 99% of which were either deregistered or listed as operating abnormally.
Siemens also initiated nearly 100 lawsuits against counterfeit companies, maintaining a perfect winning record, with total civil compensation claims exceeding RMB200 million (USD27.5 million). By 2023, the number of surviving counterfeit companies that had not yet changed their names had dropped to single digits.
Several lawsuits from this rights protection campaign were selected as national or provincial Top 10 intellectual property cases of the year. Among them, the unfair competition and trademark infringement case of Siemens v Qishuai, concluded in July 2023, was particularly notable. The case was appealed to the Supreme People’s Court in the second instance, which awarded RMB100 million in damages, setting a historic record for similar cases.
Ingo Gehring, the head of name and trademark law at the company’s Munich headquarters, describes this rights protection campaign as a “highly significant” project. “Our colleagues in China have made tremendous efforts in advancing the project and achieved outstanding results,” he says.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and Compliance Department of Syngenta Group China
TEAM LEADER: Cao Haiyang, general counsel and chief compliance officer
KEY POINTS: In response to severe infringement issues concerning the company’s seeds, Syngenta China’s legal team established a specialised seed rights protection and anti-counterfeiting team. By the end of 2023, the team had filed more than 100 administrative complaints related to seeds, generating cumulative revenue exceeding RMB400 million (USD55 million). In the past three years, the legal team has helped the company avoid or recover direct losses of more than RMB100 million in the seed sector.
According to the team, agricultural IP protection in China started relatively late, and faces challenges such as a lack of specialised talent and corresponding policy support. While leading the company’s rights protection efforts, Cao Haiyang also advocated at the Supreme People’s Court for stronger protection of trade secrets in the seed industry. He proposed increasing infringement compensation amounts, enhancing punitive measures, and optimising evidence collection methods in cases.
LEGAL TEAM: Department of Compliance and Legal Affairs at Wang Lao Ji Great Health Industry
TEAM LEADER: Zhao Xiaobo, legal director
KEY POINTS: The longstanding courtroom dispute over the ownership of the 王老吉 (Wong Lo Kat) trademark remains unresolved. However, the legitimate usage rights of this well-known herbal tea brand in Macau have been conclusively determined. Under the unfavourable circumstances of losing in both the first and second instances, Wang Lao Ji Great Health Industry, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, turned the tide by emphasising the legislative intent of trademark Laws and regulations. The Court of Final Appeal of Macau ruled that the two original trademark holders had not “seriously used” the trademark, thereby declaring its registration invalid.
The court stated that if the holder of a registered trademark has the “right” to exclusive use of the trademark, the holder also bears the obligation to use it. Speculative registration merely to prevent others from using the trademark does not constitute serious use. This perspective overturned the earlier view of the intermediate court, which held that renewal of a trademark constitutes serious use.
The company’s executive vice president, Zhao Min, recognises the legal team for “breaking through conventional trial approaches and overcoming the passive situation in the region … laying the foundation for subsequent market sales and actively contributing to the advancement of local IP protection”.
WINNER REMARKS: Wang Lao Ji’s compliance and legal affairs department handles all legal affairs related to Wanglaoji herbal tea. Early on, it curbed the unauthorised use of the brand by third parties through at least 20 lawsuits. Over the past decade, it built the company’s legal framework, set up compliance rules, and protected its intellectual property.
As the company expands internationally, the department has focused on global IP protection, using methods such as “cancellation based on non-use” and “trademark invalidation declarations”. It has reclaimed overseas “Wanglaoji” trademarks, offering practical insights for protecting traditional Chinese brands abroad.
Be Friends levels up compliance capacity of legal team
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & compliance department of Be Friends
TEAM LEADER: Zhang Zhiming, vice president of legal and compliance
KEY POINTS: Be Friends, a leading livestream e-commerce platform, achieved a backdoor listing via CSS Group on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2023. Since then, it has to meet a stricter set of compliance requirements. In response, the legal and compliance team underwent targeted transformations in areas such as organisational restructuring, digital and intelligent development, and capacity enhancement.
This reform focused on restructuring the organisational framework, establishing specialised units such as the live-streaming compliance centre, business support centre, and litigation and rights protection centre. It also involved designing customised transaction structures for major platforms like JD.com, Taobao and Douyin, as well as developing an intelligent legal compliance review and qualification risk assessment system.
Cui Dongsheng, vice president of Be Friends, praises the reforms led by Zhang Zhiming for revitalising the entire department. “Such transformations have not only enhanced the overall efficiency and professional standards of the department but also provided robust legal support for the company’s operations,” he says.
WINNER REMARKS: Zhang Zhiming is vice president and general counsel of Be Friends Holding. With a team of 32 under his wing, he has been pivotal in propelling the company towards becoming a tech-driven leader in the new retail sector, covering compliance, growth, intelligence, investment and financing, as well as team upgrades. During the past 12 months, he has overhauled the legal and compliance department’s organisational structure by setting up five specialised sub-departments, and mapped out a comprehensive plan for team objectives, professional delivery, organisational culture and talent progression.
A departmental culture rooted in “professionalism, respect, communication, trust, and value” has come into its own, fostering an upbeat work environment and a strong impetus for organisational growth. By putting in place multiple career advancement paths and optimising the talent mix, Zhiming has successfully bolstered the team’s vitality and cohesion, making the department more poised and adept at handling intricate challenges.
CICC optimises legal and compliance support system
LEGAL TEAM: Legal & compliance department of China International Capital Corporation
TEAM LEADER: Joe Zhou, chief compliance officer
KEY POINTS: The compliance support system renovation conducted by the CICC legal team includes integrating services with the business front end, implementing an individual accountability system, and assigning personnel to front-end departments to achieve better communication and standardised legal services. The legal compliance department established committees for human resources and digitalisation development to assist in decision making on management matters. A more refined division of duties ensures that every member can engage with secondary market operations. Additionally, an IT compliance group and a domestic international business support group were introduced.
In addition, the department standardised the management of legal expenses by establishing a financial management system. This system enables visualised tracking of the progress of budget execution, helping the company reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Chairman Chen Liang commends Joe Zhou and the department for their efforts in building an industry-leading legal compliance team amid a challenging internal and external environment. “They have actively contributed in key areas such as serving the company’s strategy, supporting business innovation and development, and mitigating major legal and compliance risks, firmly upholding the bottom line of preventing significant legal and compliance risk incidents,” he says.
WINNER REMARKS: Led by chief compliance officer Zhou Jiaxing, CICC’s legal compliance department navigates a challenging environment with a commitment to “prudence, stability and responsibility”. Its goal is to shape an industry-leading legal compliance team. It embraces a “four comprehensive and one innovative” strategy, which enhances its business-integrated frontline services, meticulous process management, comprehensive capability enhancement, and the digital transformation of its international compliance system. This approach has notably strengthened its business support and service quality.
It is also dedicated to refining its departmental management, conducting regular talent reviews, and fostering development to elevate its global team’s internationalisation, professionalism and collaborative capabilities. By actively contributing to the company’s strategic objectives, driving business innovation and managing legal and compliance risks, it ensures the steady and sustainable growth of CICC’s operations.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal affairs, compliance, risk & audit department of CR Capital
TEAM LEADER: Feng Lin, general counsel
KEY POINTS: As the market-oriented investment management arm of China Resources Group, CR Capital established a group-specific CRCL system to strengthen legal and compliance risk control throughout the entire investment process. CRCL refers to compliance, risk, control and legal affairs.
The system includes the establishment of a legal risk database applicable before investment, a contract performance management mechanism applicable during investment, and a dispute management and external counsel management mechanism applicable after investment exit.
Qin Feng, general manager of CR Capital, praises the legal and risk control team for “exploring a management model that not only reflects the characteristics of industrial finance in central state-owned enterprises, but also adheres to industry and investor regulatory requirements” during the implementation of this system.
WINNER REMARKS: As a market-oriented investment management institution of China Resources Group, China Resources Capital has higher requirements for strengthening legal, compliance, risk and control in the investment process. Its CRCL (compliance, risk, control and legal) system provides an effective methodology for the company to strengthen its investment management capabilities.
Through its principles – “guided by the spirit of rules of law, driven by professional ability, building a solid bottom line though compliance, preventing and resolving risks, and strengthening and solidifying the foundation of internal control”, the CRCL system horizontally co-ordinates with relevant management functions such as law, compliance, internal control and risk management, and vertically connects the key points of control at all levels to promote the high-quality development of the company’s business.
The system runs horizontally through the three stages of pre-investment, post-investment and exit of investment projects. By identifying risks in advance, discovering and controlling risks during the event, and handling risks after the event, it promotes in-depth co-ordinated operation of the business and safeguards China Resources Capital’s project investments and exits.
TEAM LEADER: Chen Jingjing, director of legal affairs
KEY POINTS: The economic downturn and pandemic have led to increased dispute risks for human resource outsourcing service provider Engma Group, arising from both clients and suppliers. In response, the legal department established a client risk assessment system.
According to the team, the system primarily includes two major functions: risk industry assessment management; and risk client assessment management. Specifically, it features real-time data analysis, predictive modelling, automated report generation and risk capital allocation, helping the company reduce losses by 30%. Additionally, the legal department implemented a risk grading and tracking management mechanism.
Zhuang Zhi, Engma’s president, says that this system “not only improves the efficiency and accuracy of risk management, but also brings new growth opportunities to the enterprise through an innovative service model. [The innovation] has transformed the legal department from a spender into a revenue generator, creating new revenue streams for the company.”
WINNER REMARKS: Engma Group is a leading human resources outsourcing service institution in China. It has a complete product system including business process, human resources and recruitment process outsourcing, management consulting and training, as well as platform economy. With full-chain solutions, personalised customised services, a wealth of service experience, professional delivery teams, a strong operations system, and leading industry standards, it provides high-quality outsourcing solutions according to enterprise characteristics and needs.
As a first-level department of the group, the legal affairs and risk control department focuses on comprehensive enterprise legal services, human resources compliance management services, and comprehensive employee welfare guarantee solutions. It is good at summarising business logic from a legal perspective. The department provides standardised legal services in enterprise operations. In recent years, it has established a customer risk assessment system to reduce risks and prevent disputes. It has also actively explored commercialised legal services to promote the transformation of the legal affairs department to a profit-making department.
TEAM LEADER: Meline Huang, company secretary & general counsel
KEY POINTS: Goldpac Group, a fintech company, received a notice in 2020 from a partnering US software giant stating that a special audit would be conducted under the audit clauses of the software licensing agreement. Goldpac was required to provide a summary and detailed tables of relevant financial business operational data for the past three years within a specified timeframe.
Sensing that the US company may take the opportunity to obtain sensitive Chinese financial data, the Goldpac legal team formulated a strategy. Judging that the demanded data fell under the category of “critical data”, as defined under article 37 of China’s Cybersecurity Law, which requires a national security assessment before being provided overseas, they first reported the matter to the Cyberspace Administration of China.
In addition, the legal team judged that while the US company had audit rights, there was no agreement regarding the scope, subject and confidentiality obligations of the audit. Furthermore, under relevant regulations, the US auditors lacked the qualifications to practise in mainland China as they had not applied for a temporary permit to conduct audit activities. Therefore, they were not authorised to carry out this audit task.
Ultimately, the US company appointed a Chinese accounting firm to sign a confidentiality agreement with Goldpac. The audit was conducted on-site, and an audit report was issued in compliance with the confidentiality requirements.
“Looking back on this incident, the thrills and chills are still vivid in my mind,” says Hou Ping, executive director and CEO. “Equally unforgettable is the outstanding performance of Goldpac’s legal department throughout the entire process.” He particularly commends the team’s ability to navigate negotiations in a complex business environment.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal department of Hive Box Network Technology
TEAM LEADER: Li Qiongjia, head of legal department
KEY POINTS: Hive Box’s legal department established a performance management system and optimised organisational structure to enable department personnel to participate more actively in business development, transitioning the legal team into the role of business partners.
By June 2024, the performance management system had been updated to its third edition. In addition to the original foundational and legal skills, it introduced bonus items such as data handling and crisis event management. Under this system, legal business partners not only provide professional advice but are also required to organise and present it in written documents.
Zhou Xiangdong, head of finance, praises the legal department as a team with a strong fighting spirit. “What is most commendable is its ability to fully understand the uncertainties of the business world, while providing full support and encouragement for the development and exploration of emerging businesses,” he says. “We believe this team is destined to become one of the top legal teams in the country.”
LEGAL TEAM: Legal affairs department of Luk Fook Holdings (International)
TEAM LEADER: Irene Cheung, senior legal counsel
KEY POINTS: The legal team of Luk Fook Group adopted a series of innovative management strategies to enhance the company’s compliance and rights protection capabilities. These include the refined division of labour within the legal department into specialised groups such as the contract group, brand group and project group; the formulation of an operational risk code for operators to guide and encourage supply chain partners to adhere to ESG standards; and the establishment of a detailed risk management system in collaboration with relevant departments, covering key areas such as anti-bribery, data protection and labour laws.
In addition, the team collaborated with business units and law enforcement agencies to combat thousands of infringing trademarks and stores, as well as tens of thousands of online infringing links.
The group’s chairman and CEO, Wong Wai Sheung, expresses his appreciation for the legal team: “The legal department has achieved remarkable success in several key areas, demonstrating extraordinary capability and forward-looking vision.”
WINNER REMARKS: Luk Fook Group principally engages in the sourcing, designing, wholesaling, trademark licensing and retailing of a variety of gold and platinum jewellery and gem-set jewellery products, with more than 3,400 points of sale worldwide.
The group’s legal affairs department is composed of the mainland China and Hong Kong SAR teams, led by Irene Cheung, senior legal counsel. The mainland China team has branches in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, and is mainly responsible for legal affairs on the mainland, while the Hong Kong SAR team primarily accounts for the company’s legal affairs in all business expansion areas. The department has 32 people safeguarding the company’s global business operation.
The department has won several in-house counsel awards by China Business Law Journal for four consecutive years from 2020, including in the consumer and retail as well as IP (trademark and copyright) categories, highly recognising the team’s legal knowledge and expertise in relevant fields.
Midea Real Estate enacts legal affairs shared management
LEGAL TEAM: Legal affairs sharing centre of Midea Real Estate Group
TEAM LEADER: Shang Dongning, legal director
KEY POINTS: Previously, Midea Group’s legal team had issues such as uneven personnel distribution, high reliance on individual capabilities and significant costs due to extensive outsourcing to external lawyers.
As part of this management reform, the legal personnel structure and human resource management authority were centralised at the group’s headquarters, legal expenses and outsourcing across all units were brought under unified management, dedicated personnel were assigned to oversee the standardisation of all documents and training at the group and regional levels, and the self-management of cases was actively promoted.
In 2023, following the completion of the reforms, despite only a 15% increase in the number of legal personnel, the self-handling rate of cases surged from 10% to 90%, with the volume of self-handled cases increasing by 763%. This saved the group more than RMB30 million (USD4.1 million) in legal fees.
Liu Jun, the office general manager of Midea Group, points out that after the establishment of the shared legal management system, the legal team developed a systematic operational capability. “Self-handling of cases not only saved the company legal fees but also allowed in-house lawyers to gain practical experience,” he says.
LEGAL TEAM: Zone Greater China (ZGC) legal & compliance team of Nestlé (China)
TEAM LEADER: Cai Ping, head of legal & compliance, ZGC
KEY POINTS: Nestlé Greater China’s legal team (ZGC) utilised technological tools to enhance work efficiency and drive the department’s digital transformation. This includes the implementation of electronic signature systems, contract management systems, litigation case management systems, and legal service tendering and price comparison systems. The online management model enables full traceability and visual management of legal matters, aiming to control budgets while improving efficiency.
In addition, the team adopted the group’s unified litigation guidelines and advanced litigation management system, facilitating collaboration among business leaders, in-house legal advisers and external counsel. According to the team, the efficient handling of cases translated into a very high success rate.
WINNER REMARKS: Nestlé Zone Greater China’s legal and compliance team is dynamic with solid professional experience as well as a diverse educational and industry background. It serves as the legal custodian of Nestlé’s business, assets, culture and values. The team fosters a corporate mindset, and aims to help Nestlé’s business grow faster and sustainably in the region’s exciting and challenging market, with pragmatic and rigorous management of legal and compliance risks and opportunities, as well as timely, sound, effective, value-added and tailored legal and business solutions. To adapt to the fast-evolving environment and support the digital transformation of Nestlé China, the team has also embarked on a journey to upgrade and innovate with new processes and digital tools that enable an efficient and effective service. The team has been a top winner of the Nestle Group Legal Award for successive years.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and compliance team of Ping An Healthcare Diagnostics
TEAM LEADER: Zeng Ni, director of legal and compliance department
KEY POINTS: Ping An Healthcare Diagnostics incorporated compliance and internal control KPIs into its annual assessment metrics to clarify the compliance responsibilities of each department and enhance compliance awareness. To achieve this, the legal compliance team first needed to communicate with and secure the support of the management.
The department ensured that the assessment criteria were aligned with the company’s strategic objectives, measurable and actionable, covering aspects that could cause substantial losses or disrupt normal operations. The extent of proactive rectification by departments was also included in the evaluation.
The company’s general manager, Yang Xiaoyan, says the evaluation system has achieved excellent results within the company. “This set of indicators, developed and dynamically adjusted based on our goals and actual business operations, has effectively standardised the work behaviour of various departments, reduced the occurrence of negative incidents, and improved the company’s management system,” she says.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and compliance department of SonoScape Medical
TEAM LEADER: Hans Wang, legal director
KEY POINTS: SonoScape Medical’s legal and compliance department independently developed and implemented a one-stop legal workbench and AI legal robot, driving the intelligent transformation of corporate legal and compliance management. The team introduced two intelligent tools, AI Legal and Legal GPT, enabling functions such as intelligent legal education, legal translation and contract assistance, improving the legal team’s work efficiency by 30%.
The team also integrated a contract template library, Tianyancha entity screening tool, and global sanctions list query system, automating the contract management process. This improved contract execution efficiency by 40% and saved the company more than RMB30 million (USD4.1 million) in legal and compliance costs.
These innovative tools helped SonoScape avoid potential losses of more than RMB20 million and reduced compliance incidents by 20%. Amber Sun, the deputy sales director, praises this innovative initiative as “not only having a profound impact within the company, but also setting a benchmark for intelligent legal services in the industry”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal and compliance department of SonoScape Medical
TEAM LEADER: Hans Wang, legal director
KEY POINTS: SonoScape Medical’s legal team established a global compliance management system covering export controls and international sanctions.
The team also developed a global compliance operations guide map and an AI-driven sanctions screening tool, integrating the laws and regulations of various countries and tracking their changes.
According to the team, since the system’s launch, the company’s global compliance management efficiency has improved by 40%, and the time required to generate compliance reports has been reduced by 50%.
The sanctions screening tool also helped the company avoid 10 potential sanctions violations in the past year, saving about USD5 million in potential fines and losses. Additionally, the time required for the company to enter new markets was reduced by 30%.
Amber Sun, the deputy sales director, praises the system for “significantly enhancing the company’s global compliance management efficiency, effectively mitigating potential risks, and saving millions of dollars in legal costs”.
Taikang Asset Management revs up compliance engine
LEGAL TEAM: Compliance team of Taikang Asset Management
TEAM LEADER: Zhang Ning, executive director
KEY POINTS: The compliance and legal department of Taikang Asset Management developed a digital management tool centred on a self-developed compliance engine. According to the team, this tool enables the entire investment process to be managed online. Compliance documents analysed by AI can generate structured online compliance control plans and automatically produce various compliance reports, significantly improving the efficiency of handling compliance matters on the investment side.
Since its launch, 99% of the team’s over-the-counter instructions have been fully processed online, with business support efficiency improving by more than 70%. Zhou Feng, chief compliance officer, remarks that compliance digitalisation “truly empowers business operations, enhances management efficiency and risk control, and improves collaboration across compliance, investment and sales functions”.
Tongkun Group achieves self-sufficiency in legal services
LEGAL TEAM: Legal department and corporate legal department of Tongkun Group
TEAM LEADER: Yang Yongjun, manager of legal department and director of corporate legal department
KEY POINTS: Led by the legal department, Tongkun Group, a leading manufacturer of polyester and polyester filament yarn, established a comprehensive compliance management system, initiating the transformation from passive to proactive compliance.
In addition to implementing a standardised contract life cycle management and litigation management system, the department also applied to the provincial Ministry of Justice for approval to carry out corporate counsel services. It established a corporate law office and obtained corporate lawyer work permits, enabling the lawyers to represent the group in disputes, saving more than RMB5 million (USD690,000) in legal fees annually.
Fei Miaoqi, the group director, board secretary and chief financial officer, praises the legal department for its innovative initiative in building an in-house legal team, which has played a significant role in litigation, compliance, risk control and management. “[The team] has provided strong support and assurance for the company’s stable operations and development, and has become a core contributor to the company’s value,” she says.
WINNER REMARKS: Tongkun Group, which ranks 145th among the top 500 Chinese enterprises in 2024, is a large private enterprise primarily engaged in petroleum refining, with core competencies centred on the production of PTA (purified terephthalic acid), polyester and polyester filament manufacturing. The group is diversified into sectors such as aluminium processing, advanced packaging new materials, equipment manufacturing, real-estate development, logistics, as well as development and utilisation of new energy sources. Tongkun is committed to fostering national economic growth and enhancing public welfare. Its vision is to “establish a century-old Tongkun and achieve sustainable management”, and make unremitting efforts for China’s chemical fibre industry to take off and the national industry’s revitalisation.
Tongkun’s legal department is a first-level department adhering to the company’s core values, running in parallel with the corporate legal affairs department, through a team of lawyers well-versed in the group’s business. Through innovative methodologies, digital tools and professional team organisation, legal risk-control measures are embedded in the company’s business processes to provide comprehensive support for the group’s domestic and foreign legal and compliance affairs, prevent operational risks, improve the level of compliance management, and guide the group’s stable operations.
KEY POINTS: In March 2024, the legal team of leading online recruitment platform Zhaopin launched iEnjoyLaw, its first AI digital employee, to provide 24/7 online Q&A services, addressing various legal inquiries arising in the daily work scenarios of the group’s employees. The team also developed an intelligent legal system based on digital management and AI applications, covering areas such as case management, contracts, intellectual property and knowledge management.
The company’s technology development expert, Yu Qiang, says that the digital legal assistant “simplifies and streamlines complex legal matters, leveraging natural language processing and knowledge graph technologies to quickly understand and handle various legal issues, greatly enhancing the efficiency of legal work”.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal department of TanWan Games at ZX
TEAM LEADER: Wang Xudong, general counsel of TanWan Games and head of legal department
KEY POINTS: The legal department of TanWan Games led the design and development of a trademark management system, integrating one-stop functions such as trademark registration, maintenance, monitoring and renewal, while ensuring the standardised and regulated management of trademark information.
Additionally, the department collaborated with evaluation agencies to quantify the value of the TanWan series trademarks, providing a basis for trademark usage and rights protection. The team also identified and initiated multiple trademark infringement and unfair competition disputes, several of which were successfully resolved and selected as exemplary cases for local IP protection.
Wu Xuan, co-founder and chief operating officer of ZX Inc and TanWan Games, praises the team: “The independently developed trademark management system has effectively improved the efficiency and standardisation of trademark management.” He also says that trademark valuation and rights protection actions have had a positive impact on the company’s sustainable development and IP protection.
WINNER REMARKS: Founded in 2015, TanWan Games is one of the top 100 enterprises in China with a strong online presence. Its owner, ZX, was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) on 28 September 2023.
TanWan Games’ legal department is affiliated with ZX, providing all-round legal support for the whole company, ranging from contract management to IP rights management, internal control compliance, data protection, litigation and dispute resolution. Particularly, the department helped ZX in its successful SEHK listing, in which it actively participated in the major decision-making process and provided accurate and forward-looking legal opinions and suggestions, guiding the company in its development.
LEGAL TEAM: Legal knowledge management & training department of BOE Technology Group
TEAM LEADER: Wang Ping, legal director
KEY POINTS: BOE regularly conducts training and team-building activities for its legal department, offering specialised training programmes tailored to in-house counsel at different levels of experience.
For instance, training camps for junior counsel focus on enhancing legal skills; advanced courses for key legal staff aim to address business challenges; and workshops for senior professionals are designed to foster forward-thinking.
Beyond training, the team also organises regular team-building activities such as baseball, skiing and hiking.
WINNER REMARKS: BOE Technology Group’s legal knowledge management and training department is dedicated to building a legal talent development system and enhancing the professional and managerial skills of legal staff. It adheres to the philosophy of “fusing law and business to shape talents, driving innovation to create value”.
The department has established a legal talent training system that offers stage-specific, targeted training courses for colleagues at different growth stages, meeting their learning needs and providing strong support for career development. In addition to professional training, it regularly arranges a variety of team-building activities, where colleagues can get relief from work pressure, interact and support each other in a relaxed and natural manner, greatly boosting team morale and vitality, and enhancing team cohesion and centripetal force.
LEGAL TEAM: IP team of the legal department of Nestlé (China)
TEAM LEADER: Dennis Wu, head of intellectual property
KEY POINTS: On World Intellectual Property Day in 2024, Nestlé China’s IP team organised a company-wide team-building occasion. During the event, the team reviewed past successful anti-counterfeiting cases and hosted interactive activities such as “genuine versus counterfeit” product comparisons and IP knowledge quizzes.
This event not only enhanced the influence of the legal team within the company, but also improved overall IP awareness across the organisation.
Sina legal team celebrates overseas dispute victory
LEGAL TEAM: Legal department of Sina Group
TEAM LEADER: Helen Gu, general counsel
KEY POINTS: In 2022, after achieving victory in a significant overseas litigation, Sina Group’s legal department held a celebration banquet. The event featured a commemorative video of the case work, customised letters of thanks for colleagues involved in the case, and specially made memorabilia related to the case. The contributions of each participant were specifically recognised and highlighted.
The celebrated case began in 2016, when Dutch company GeoSolutions initiated arbitration against a Chinese legal entity and Sina Hong Kong at the Netherlands Arbitration Institute. The tribunal ruled the Chinese entity and Sina Hong Kong were jointly liable for compensation. Subsequently, Sina filed an application with the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to annul the arbitration award, arguing that it had signed a licensing agreement containing the arbitration clause solely in its capacity as a shareholder of the Chinese entity, not as a contracting party.
Ultimately, the court upheld Sina Hong Kong’s claim. In this case, the use of the term “both parties” in the arbitration clause was pivotal, as it excluded the possibility of applying the clause to a third party.
WINNER REMARKS: Sina Corporation is a leading online media and entertainment company, with a legal department serving the headquarters, local offices and subsidiaries. Under the leadership of Helen Gu, the department renders all-around legal services for Sina, such as investments and M&A, dispute resolution and compliance. In the past year, its specialised counsel teams had some extraordinary achievements. Its litigation team accumulated nearly RMB20 billion (USD2.7 billion) in rights protection income. Its internet and e-commerce team completed an e-commerce compliance system specific to the company’s business model. Its media, entertainment and sports team has promoted corporate data governance, and has built a personal information impact assessment system process.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Michelle Hung
General Counsel & Company Secretary
COSCO Shipping Ports
Iris Kwok
Chief Compliance Officer, General Manager and Head of Legal and Compliance Department
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Hong Kong Branch
Victor Shen
General Counsel (North Asia)
Henkel (China) Investment
Qiao Gangliang
Vice President & General Counsel (China)
Danaher Corporation
Dai Mengyang
Chief Legal Officer
GCL Group
Dai Mengyang started his career as a legal professional practising law for seven years before serving at GCL Group’s legal affairs department for 21 years, heading legal affairs for 17 years. Dai laid the foundation for the group’s legal management system by establishing a legal team culture and formulating various legal management systems. He also created a legal knowledge theory system, which includes a corporate group contract legal practice, contract strategy courses, the “4+1 work method”, contract review guidelines and various contract templates.
In litigation and arbitration cases, Dai has recovered direct economic losses exceeding RMB813 million (USD113.2 million). He has supported more than 36 significant non-litigation projects, including the Hong Kong IPO of GCL Technology Holdings, and the development of core new businesses such as electricity power, silicon wafers and photovoltaic power stations. He has also cultivated 83 legal reserve talents, and more than 20 of them have assumed positions as heads of legal affairs or in management roles.
Shawn Zhao
Vice President and General Counsel, APAC
Aptiv
Shawn Zhao was vice president and general counsel – APAC at global technology company Aptiv (China) Holdings from 2020 to 2023. Prior to this, he held similar positions at Haier, HP, Google and Cisco, and practised at law firm Armstrong Teasdale in the US.
Zhao received his JD from Saint Louis University School of Law in Missouri. He is a member of the Missouri Bar Association.
Joe Zhou
Chief Compliance Officer
China International Capital Corporation
Zhou Jiaxing is a senior legal specialist in the financial market, with about 20 years of legal and compliance experience across multiple institutions. He joined China International Capital Corporation (CICC) Hong Kong in 2009 and was appointed chief compliance officer and global head of legal and compliance in December 2021. Prior to CICC, Zhou served as a lawyer at Slaughter and May then at White & Case, both in Hong Kong. With his extensive professional background and stringent approach to compliance and risk management, Zhou has been instrumental in mitigating risks for CICC, ensuring its stability and growth.
Zhou is an active participant in both domestic and international financial and legal sectors, dedicating his efforts to the advancement of the securities industry. He is vice chairman at the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) and serves as a board director of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Asia Pacific.
He is a qualified solicitor in the People’s Republic of China, England and Wales, and Hong Kong.
