Recently, Asian Legal Business (ALB) released its 2025 ALB Asia Dealmakers and ALB Asia Litigators of the Year lists, with four partners from Zhong Lun Law Firm making the prestigious rosters.

ALB Asia Dealmakers of the Year

Mr. Jun Cheng has long specialized in cross-border investment, financing and M&A transactions in the mineral, energy and large-scale infrastructure sectors for Chinese enterprises. Qualified to practice law in both China and France, he provides professional legal services in multiple languages including English, French, and Spanish, with his practice spanning over 100 countries and regions worldwide. His clientele includes central state-owned enterprises (“SOEs”), other large SOEs, major banks, investment funds, and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), among other institutions. In recent years, acting as lead counsel, Mr. Cheng has guided dozens of Chinese enterprises through their overseas investment and acquisition projects involving metal minerals, hydropower stations, and port terminals. Many of these transactions have been named "Deals of the Year" by leading international legal media and rating agencies. Endowed with extensive practical legal experience, he has been consistently recommended by Chambers and Partners and IFLR1000 in practice areas such as Energy & Natural Resources and Corporate & M&A for consecutive years. He is also in the Cross-border Lawyer Talent Pool for the Belt and Road Initiative of the All China Lawyers Association and the National Foreign-related Lawyer Talent Pool of the Ministry of Justice.

ALB Asia Litigators of the Year

With over three decades of focused practice in commercial dispute resolution, bankruptcy liquidation and reorganization, Mr. Jingtao Liu’s expertise covers civil and commercial litigation and arbitration, insurance disputes and recovery, non-performing asset disposal, cross-border bankruptcy, and debt restructuring of distressed enterprises. With a career built on consistently rigorous professionalism and pragmatic approach, coupled with a forward-looking, internationally-minded outlook, he delivers tailored, highly efficient commercial legal solutions that precisely address clients’ needs. A number of commercial insurance cases represented by him have been included in Guidelines for the Trial of Foreign-related Commercial and Maritime Cases and the People’s Court Case Database compiled under the auspices of the Supreme People’s Court. They have also been selected as model cases by maritime courts including Nanjing Maritime Court and Qingdao Maritime Court. Recognized for his outstanding performance in foreign-related legal affairs and insurance law practice, Mr. Liu was named China’s Leading Commercial Lawyer of the Year 2020 by Lawyer Monthly. He has also been listed in The Legal 500’s Recommended Lawyers in the Asia Pacific Insurance Law sector for four consecutive years. Meanwhile, he serves as an arbitrator at multiple arbitration institutions and has been honored with titles such as "Outstanding Arbitrator of Shandong Province" and "Top Talent of Qingdao", earning wide recognition from the legal industry and the society at large for his professional capabilities and contributions.

Mr. Mingcheng Yan holds legal practice qualifications in China and in Singapore as a foreign lawyer. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from China University of Political Science and Law, and master’s degrees from Renmin University of China and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. From 2004 to 2013, he served at the Economic Crime Investigation Bureau of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, where he was primarily responsible for investigating financial and securities-related criminal cases. Since transitioning to legal practice in 2013, he has focused on cross-border dispute resolution matters in China’s mainland, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore, with particular expertise in handling complex, challenging disputes and cross-border enforcement cases in the financial and securities sectors. Over the years of his practice, Mr. Yan has acted as a retained legal counsel for numerous financial institutions. He has represented a host of various clients, including financial institutions such as CCB International Holdings Limited, China Resources Shenzhen International Trust Co., Ltd., Cinda International Securities Limited, Zhongtai International Securities Limited, China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank, Minsheng Bank, Hualin Securities Co., Ltd., and Zhongshan Securities Co., Ltd., as well as listed companies including Chow Tai Fook, Samsung Group, and LG Chem, in a wide range of litigation, arbitration, and enforcement cases. His practice covers multiple specialized areas such as corporate equity disputes, securities investment disputes, trust contract disputes, bond acceptance disputes and futures contract disputes, accumulating substantial practical experience.

Mr. Baosheng Zhang specializes in securities compliance, securities litigation, securities crimes, and corporate litigation. As one of the pioneering Chinese lawyers dedicated to securities compliance and securities litigation practice, he has assisted clients in handling over a hundred securities compliance cases involving violations of information disclosure rules, insider trading, market manipulation, and other irregularities. These include China’s first securities administrative settlement case, the first securities administrative party commitment case, the first case of illegal punishment for over-the-counter margin trading, and the first batch of ETF market manipulation cases. He has represented nearly a hundred listed companies, securities firms, and other capital market entities in successfully addressing a large number of securities misrepresentation civil lawsuits initiated by investors. These landmark cases include China’s first model judgment case for securities disputes, the first representative action case for bond misrepresentation, the first misrepresentation lawsuit involving a STAR Market-listed company, and the first settlement case for securities special representative litigation. Many of these cases have been recognized as China’s Top 10 Most Influential Lawsuits and the Top 10 Commercial Cases of People’s Courts. In recent years, Mr. Zhang has concentrated his practice on securities crime cases, handling a series of major criminal cases involving crimes such as insider trading, market manipulation, illegal disclosure or non-disclosure of important information, and breach of trust damaging the interests of listed companies. He has also made remarkable achievements in the field of corporate litigation, excelling at providing clients with innovative and effective dispute resolution solutions amid complex corporate disputes.

Asian Legal Business (ALB) is a cutting-edge legal publication under Thomson Reuters and one of the most influential legal media outlets globally. Against the backdrop of rapid development of the market economy, ALB’s annual Asia lists focus on outstanding lawyers in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to recognize legal professionals who have delivered exceptional performance over the past year.