On September 10, 2025, American Lawyer Media (ALM) announced the winners of The Asia Legal Awards 2025. Zhong Lun secured three honors, both for the firm and for lawyers.

Awards

Investment Funds Firm of the Year

As a pioneer in providing professional legal services related to private equity funds in China, Zhong Lun has long maintained a leading position in the market. The firm’s keen insights and strategic acumen enable it to accurately identify the diverse legal needs of clients in the face of new economic forms. Its services cover the entire lifecycles of investment funds, ranging from fund manager registration, fundraising, and fund establishment, to operation and management, liquidation and dissolution, private equity investment and financing, and project exit. Zhong Lun has represented many well-known enterprises in a series of landmark domestic and overseas listing, M&A, and fund investment projects that set industry benchmarks, earning an excellent market reputation. Over the years, leveraging big-picture grasp of Chinese and foreign legal systems, in-depth understanding of regulatory environments, sharp insights into industry development trends, and accurate comprehension of clients’ business needs, Zhong Lun has consistently provided clients with customized, strategic, and actionable legal services through its one-stop platform. Relying on its visionary mindset and full-industry-chain service matrix, the firm offers solid legal support for Chinese enterprises’ global expansion.

Jun Cheng

Projects Lawyer of the Year

Mr. Jun Cheng has long focused on overseas investment, financing, and M&A of minerals, energy, and large-scale infrastructure by Chinese enterprises. He holds legal practice qualifications in both China and France and provides professional legal services in multiple languages including English, French, and Spanish. His business covers more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, with a diverse client base including central state-owned enterprises, large state-owned enterprises, major banks, investment funds, and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). In recent years, Mr. Cheng has led the mandates for dozens of Chinese enterprises in their overseas acquisition of mineral projects involving "copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium" – metals critical to energy transition. A number of these transactions have been recognized as "Deals of the Year" by authoritative international legal media and rating agencies. Boasting a substantial track record, Mr. Cheng has been highly recommended for years by Chambers and IFLR1000 in categories such as Energy & Natural Resources, and Corporate & M&A. He has also been selected into the "Belt and Road" Cross-border Lawyer Talent Pool of the All-China Lawyers Association and the National Foreign-related Lawyer Talent Pool of the Ministry of Justice.

Leo Li

ESG Lawyer of the Year

With over 20 years of practice experience, Leo Li (Qimao Li) has been committed to research on sustainable development (encompassing social sustainability, corporate sustainability, and family succession). He has conducted extensive cutting-edge academic research and also amassed innovative practice experience in the fields of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and green sustainable development. His services cover ESG-related areas such as identification of corporate stakeholders and material ESG issues, ESG strategic planning and compliance system development, corporate supply chain ESG management, and ESG due diligence and risk assessment. He also assists enterprises in completing ESG integration and disclosure during IPO, M&A, and restructuring processes. His clients include large state-owned enterprises, multinational corporations, listed companies, and technology innovation enterprises. As a pivotal contributor, Leo played a crucial role in drafting China’s T/TMAC 100-2024 Group Standard "Corporate ESG Ecosystem Development Guidelines", which addresses the gap in domestic standards for ESG ecosystem construction and provides comprehensive technical specifications for corporate ESG governance.

The Asia Legal Awards is organized by Law.com International, a subsidiary of the renowned international legal media American Lawyer Media (ALM). It aims to highlight law firms and lawyers that have demonstrated outstanding performance in the Asian region over the past year.