Wilson is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm. He received his LL.B. degree from the University of International Business & Economics in Beijing in 1994 and an LL. M. degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in the United States in 2001. He was licensed to practice in the PRC in 1998. Prior to joining Zhong Lun as a partner, Wilson worked in a state-owned import and export company as legal manager and in prestigious American law firms as senior associate for a number of years. He is fluent in using English as working language and to conduct hearing in English. His practice focus includes resolution of foreign-related/overseas disputes and banking/financing disputes as well as white collar crime & criminal compliance. Wilson is an arbitrator of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Guangzhou Arbitration Commission, Harbin Arbitration Commission, Chongqing Arbitration Commission, Langfang Arbitration Commission, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC, also listed as HKIAC Panel of Arbitrators for Financial Services Disputes, i.e., the FSD Panel), the American Arbitration Association International Dispute Resolution Center (AAA-ICDR), the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) and etc. Wilson is the General Secretary of China Forum of Financial and Investment Disputes (CFFID). He is also the Founding Member and Country Convenor of ARIAS, a non-profit organization that promotes improvement of the insurance and reinsurance arbitration and mediation process for the international and domestic markets. He has been recommended in the dispute resolution area by both Chambers Global and Chambers Asia Pacific as “Leaders in Their Field" and by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Greater China Region with high ranking for consecutive years. He has also been rated repetitively by EuroMoney as the Benchmark Asia Pacific Local Dispute Star, and as the Best in Financial Service Disputes – China. 

Wilson has backgrounds and expertise in both transactions and dispute resolution matters, which have provided him with a solid basis as a representing lawyer, an arbitrator, and an expert witness, and empowered him to steer the negotiation with sophisticated skills combing the ADR approaches including mediation/reconciliation, or debt-restructuring and other means to achieve the utmost client interests and to resolve the disputes with the most efficient timeline and the least costs. 

Wilson has been representing arbitration cases ranging from domestic and overseas institutional arbitration to Ad Hoc arbitration and treaty-based investment arbitration such as ICSID cases. These arbitration cases include not only a large volume of “onshore arbitration" in the mainland of China, but also countless “offshore/overseas arbitration" as the mainland of China companies go abroad under the initiative of “One Belt One Road (OBOR/BRI)". 

Wilson has been active to represent clients to litigate, take interim measures and initiate special procedures on various levels of the People’s Court, from the municipal/district court to the Supreme Court of China. In addition to civil proceedings, Wilson also represents his clients to respond to or launch criminal proceedings, so as to protect clients’ interests to the maximum.

Based on his extensive experiences, Wilson has proposed his new theories of dispute resolution namely “Smart Dispute Resolution" and “Arbitration Plus", i.e., prioritizing the formulation and customization of dispute resolution strategies and management of procedures, highlighting the use of arbitration as the basis while taking advantages of other remedies and applying various resolution methods to resolve disputes systematically and efficiently, emphasizing the responsive and effective communication with the clients, adjudicators and even the counterparties, and promoting lawyers from the mainland of China to “take the lead" in overseas cases, etc.

Wilson’s dispute resolution practice has features in the field of banking, finance, asset management, trust, insurance, and bond default. Moreover, he has been representing clients in cases related to domestic and overseas investments, “OBOR/BRI" and in the industries of oil and gas, energy, steel and iron, food and beverage, shipping and shipment, tele-communication, chemicals, machinery, trade, construction, sports and etc. His clients include domestic state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, FIEs and MNCs. He also has highlighted examples of recognizing and enforcing international arbitration awards in the mainland of China. 

Making full use of his profession, social duties and influence, Wilson is devoted to spreading positive energy of dispute resolution and developing a Chinese style dispute resolution culture featured with “Equality, Communication, Transparency and Justice". Meanwhile, Wilson believes that being deeply rooted in the Greater China area with an eye on the global developments of dispute resolution shall be his viewpoint whilst introducing China practices to the world as well as bridging the world into China shall be his duties.

Selected Cases

Banking, Financing, Asset Management, Trust, Insurance, Bond Default:

• Representing a banking institution from a large-scale insurance group to take legal actions under a series of complex FOF arrangements by both litigation and arbitration with the overall amount to be more than CNY 2 billion or USD 0.3 billion 

• Providing legal services on behalf of the largest guaranty company in China for the disposal of defaulting corporate bonds issued by a listed company and its controlling shareholders in the inter-bank trading market and the stock exchange, involving recourse, participating in bondholder meetings, dealing with litigation cases brought by bondholders and trustees, enforcement of notarized documents on creditor's rights, rights competition in preservation and execution proceedings, possible bankruptcy and debt restructuring, and other complicated procedures, eventually assisting the client to obtain the right to dispose the pledged shares first among all creditors, and obtained the pledged shares during the delisting period, which granted the client the positive standing when participating in the restructuring of the listed company, with the amount in dispute to be more than CNY 120 million or USD 19 million

• Representing a state-owned financial asset management company and its Hong Kong investment platform against a new energy automobile enterprise in litigation and enforcement proceedings concerning overseas loan under domestic guarantee with the subject amount exceeding USD 100 million, successfully obtaining a property preservation order for the full amount in dispute within a relatively short period of time, forcing the counterparty to request settlement, eventually securing a once-and-for-all settlement agreement and an enforceable civil mediation paper. The client has recovered the first instalment of the repayment, with the rest being repaid without any further hassle

• Representing a state-owned trustee company to reach a “tailor-made" arbitration clause with the defaulting parties during post-dispute negotiation and to obtain an award in favor of the client within only two months with the amount to be CNY 116 million or USD 18 million

• Representing a listed securities company to enforce the arbitral award regarding a pledged-stock-repurchase transaction in the amount of CNY 180 million or USD 29 million and to achieve the cross-province transfer of the seized property; remedying the flaw in relevant transaction rules for pledged-stock-repurchase and eventually persuading the enforcement court to dispose the stocks to fully realize the client’s rights

• Representing a foreign bank to claim its creditor’s rights against the debtor among which right of pledge over the warehouse receipts and cargo stocks in a litigation case in the amount of more than CNY 180 million or USD 30 million; successfully attached the debtor’s cargo stock through court proceedings

• Representing a subsidiary of an asset management company to claim creditor’s rights in the amount of more than CNY 170 million or USD 28 million through CIETAC arbitration and court proceedings, and to intervene and participate in the prior attachment proceedings and enforcement proceedings initiated by other creditors; successfully initiating special procedures, realizing security rights, and reaching settlement with the financing parties at the level of the High Court; reaching an agreement on the transfer of creditors’ rights with the transferee after entering enforcement proceedings

• Representing a securities company against investors in series of “fraud" disputes concerning “umbrella trust" and over-the-counter funding

• Representing a huge bank against a comprehensive insurance company in an arbitration for insurance claim arising from an international sale of goods transaction and export financing in the amount of more than CNY 80 million or USD 13 million

• Representing a large European bank as a “dissenting party" to take part in arbitration and court proceedings in relation to an aircraft after-sale leasing deal; eventually releasing tens of aircrafts from court procedures for attachment and enforcement initiated due to the borrower’s incapacity to pay overdue debts

Domestic and Overseas Investments, Investments under OBOR:

• Representing a leading state-owned metallurgy company in the arbitration proceedings before SIAC against a public-listed steel company in an OBOR country in relation to the disputes arising from engineering and supply of equipment concerning a cold-rolling steel mill, with the amount in dispute to be more than CNY 200 million or USD 27 million, and obtaining a total-winning award for the client, confirming all claims of our party, including legal fees and arbitration fees, and dismissing all counter-claims of the counterparty, which is one of the very few classic examples of Chinese enterprises engaging lawyers from the mainland of China to lead overseas arbitration proceedings with relatively lower costs and less time to obtain a fully satisfactory outcome

• Representing a state-owned financial service company and acting as its counsel in the arbitration proceedings before HKIAC against a Hong Kong investment company owned by a well-known energy industry investment fund in relation to the disputes arising from a financial service agreement under Hong Kong law; successfully obtaining the interim measure order from the court in the mainland of China, overcoming the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the hearing, organizing witnesses to testify and cross-examining the respondent’s witnesses without the support of barristers, and eventually pushing the arbitral tribunal to render the award within two months after the hearing

• Representing a multinational investment group and a foreign natural person in the arbitral proceedings before HKIAC against a well-known education group in the mainland of China and its affiliate under the unfavorable circumstances such as the VIE structure, being the warranty of shareholder’s control, had been broken, with Hong Kong law as the applicable law and involving five jurisdictions, namely, Cayman, Hong Kong, the mainland of China, Bahamas, and Canada

• Acting as representing lawyer in numerous cases before arbitration institutions or PRC courts on behalf of foreign and domestic clients for disputes arising from investment and return, effectiveness of Valuation Adjustment Mechanism clause and profit-sharing clause, interest protection and information disclosure to financial investors or minority shareholders involving Sino-foreign equity joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative joint ventures, PE/VC investment, etc. 

• Representing a trans-national energy and mineral investment fund to claim its creditor’s rights against financing parties and guarantors with the overall amount to be more than CNY 1.3 billion or USD 0.2 billion in which numerous large metal mines located in Indonesia and the mainland of China are involved

• Issuing PRC expert legal opinions and providing PRC legal support on behalf of clients in a number of litigation cases before Singapore International Commercial Court and Singapore High Court and arbitration cases before SIAC that involved investments in the mainland of China

• Representing a domestic company to handle disputes concerning project contracting and investment in a country of the “BRI" and to initiate an arbitration before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

White Collar Crime and Criminal Compliance:

• Providing legal services to a well-known entrepreneur for alleged criminal charges and detention by the police regarding concealing proceeds and profits of crimes in relation to an overseas investment project involving approximately CNY 1 billion or USD 150 million, including but not limited to requesting information from the police and public procuratorate, meeting the suspect, applying for bail and submitting legal opinion; with our efforts, the public procuratorate eventually decided not to grant the arrest warrant and changed the compulsory measure from detention to residential surveillance, and the client was eventually released with no any charge within one month after changing the compulsory measure 

• Representing a famous technology group company from Taiwan to deal with a dispute caused by supplier’s commercial bribery through arbitration and court proceedings with the amount of more than CNY 20 billion or USD 3.2 billion

• Representing a Singapore company to deal with a joint venture contract dispute by arbitration and court proceedings as well as criminal proceedings

Bankruptcy, Liquidation and Restructuring:

• Representing a state-owned bank and its investment platform in the bankruptcy restructuring case of a leading food industry company, assisting the client in filing claims, attending creditors’ meetings, representing in a bankruptcy-related litigation, etc. 

• Representing a world-leading energy and petrochemical company in the bankruptcy proceedings of the largest methanol trader in the mainland of China, assisting the client in filing claims arising from purchase and sale contracts and attending creditors’ meetings

• Representing the largest guarantee company in China in the bankruptcy proceedings of a gardening company in Jiangsu, filing claims, and attending creditors’ meetings

• Representing a trust company under a large state-owned group in the bankruptcy proceedings of a real estate company in Fujian, assisting the client in filing claims, etc.

Chemical:

• Representing a French chemical company in an arbitration case before the Arbitration Court of ICC and settling the case through reconciliation

• Representing a prominent chemical manufacturer and trader from Europe to simultaneously response to several arbitrations claims before CIETAC

Environment and Energy:

• Representing a mining company in the administrative investigations of the environment and safety accident caused by geological collapse due to reconstruction of an iron mine in Northeast China in relation to environmental compliance, administrative penalties, and criminal liabilities; representing the client in tort and contractual disputes involving personal and property rights and seeking for damages against counterparties

• Advising a company registered in Hong Kong SAR in negotiation with the world largest semiconductor and solar system equipment manufacturer for matters after the termination of the distribution agreement; preparing for the litigation in China and the arbitration overseas; eventually reaching settlement agreement with the counterparty after over one year and four months of negotiation

• Representing a WOFE in an arbitration case in the mainland of China against a domestic new energy company concerning a slurry supply contract dispute and achieving a complete victory

Oil and Gas:

• Advising a holding company registered in Hong Kong SAR in negotiation with a 500s company manufacturing petroleum equipment in the USA; representing the client in the arbitration process taken before AAA-ICDR; after the counterparty raised the proposal to mediate, eventually reaching settlement agreement with payment of roughly CNY 15.8 million or USD 2.5 million to the client

• Representing a world-famous oil company to claim its creditor’s rights against purchasers in the mainland of China under the contract for international sales of goods

International Trading:

• Representing a comprehensive PRC steel and iron trading company in the arbitration process before DIAC concerning an international goods sale dispute; successfully breaking through the barriers set by the opposing party on the ground of jurisdiction and convincing the tribunal to render an award without hearing process

• Representing a large private chemical company in the mainland of China to respond to court proceedings in Europe against overseas purchaser in disputes concerning the terms of Letter of Credit and the quality of goods; simultaneously initiating parallel proceedings before the court in the mainland of China

• Representing a high-tech company in the field of medical devices in a series of disputes against a listed pharmaceutical company in relation to the sale and purchase contracts of COVID-19 prevention materials

Maritime and Shipping:

• Acting as counsel for a large European food manufacturer and trader to response to court proceedings against claims of default under an alleged charterer party

• Representing a subsidiary of a famous international ship owner to deal with disputes in relation to the return of containers and rentals 

Machinery:

• Representing a major US pump manufacturer in an arbitration; formulating the strategies for reconciliation and arbitration; traveling to Tianjin port for an on-site investigation; coordinating the client, the import agent, the broker, the manufacturer and the end-user for reconciliation; reviewing the qualification of the proposed expert witnesses and making selection and recommendation; and drafting and amending the arbitration response

• Representing a state-owned machinery enterprise against the supplier in an equipment purchase contract dispute regarding the construction of a power station in a jurisdiction under the “BRI" through court proceedings in the mainland of China

   

Steel:

• Representing a subsidiary of a state-owned building materials enterprise to claim its creditor’s right against steel mills in northern part of the mainland of China with the amount of CNY 40 million or USD 6 million

Construction:

• Representing an electric company against partiers in a country of the “BRI" in a general contract and sub-contract dispute concerning construction of a government building with the amount to be more than CNY 80 million or USD 13 million

• In court proceedings representing a foreign retail distribution company against a construction company in Hebei province for claim of quality and fiscal settlement

• In an overseas arbitration representing a company with China background against a company from South Korea under an EPC agreement before Korea Chamber of Arbitration Board

Retailing:

• Representing a world-famous retailing corporation in the arbitration proceedings concerning a lease contract against the landlord for damages and compensation of early termination including anticipated profits; reaching a settlement agreement with the landlord after more than one year of adjudication and mediation

• Representing a world-famous retailing corporation in an arbitration in the mainland of China concerning 20,000 square meters rental properties against the landlord and claiming the loss of expected profits due to the termination of contract

• In court proceedings, representing an international pizza maker and franchisor in a lease contract dispute against the landlord as defendant for alleged damages from early/wrongful termination in the first instance and the second instance, as well as the enforcement proceeding; ending up with no compensation payment to counterparty 

• Representing a well-known health care consumer products company in unfair competition and tort disputes with a food production and sales company and its de facto controller, and assisting the client in dealing with the complaints from consumers and professional counterfeit detectives and investigations by market regulation authorities, and providing legal advice on compliance issues

Technology Equipment and Services:

• Representing a world-famous business technology equipment manufacturer and service provider in numerous arbitrations for service contract disputes concerning strategy consulting and construction of information system

Sports:

• Representing a well-known China Football Association Super League club in the recognition and enforcement of an HKIAC award against two leading European consulting companies in football industry

• Representing a prominent foreign player in a contractual dispute against a well-known China Football Association Super League club

• Advising a China Football League-A player in a labor contract dispute against his club

Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Award:

• Representing a company from the U.S. to recognize and enforce arbitration award made by AAA-ICDR; during the court hearing rebutting the arguments made by the counterparty that no adequate notice and chance to participate in the arbitration proceedings; obtaining a court judgment to recognize the arbitration award within two months; reaching settlement with counterparty to enforce the award

• Representing the world’s largest grain producer and trader in an application for recognition and enforcement of an International Cotton Association (ICA) arbitral award in the mainland of China

• Zhong Lun Advises on the Litigation and Enforcement Proceedings of an Overseas Loan under Domestic Guarantee Case

• Zhong Lun Won a Complete Victory in a Cross-border Parallel Litigation Concerning Contract for the International Sale of Goods

• Zhonglun Successfully Handled a Case Concerning a Huge Bond Default and Judicial Disposal of Pledged Shares of a Listed Company

• Zhong Lun Wins Overwhelming Award in a DIAC Arbitration Case

• Zhong Lun Law Firm Won an AAA Arbitration Case with Payment of Roughly USD2.5 Million to Client

• Zhong Lun Advised on the First Issuance of Bank Bonds by Foreign-funded Bank in China Mainland

• Zhong Lun Advises CITIC Trust on Tong Ying No. 1 Fund

• Zhong Lun Counseled on China Development Bank’s ABS Issuance

• Zhong Lun Advises GMAC - SAIC Automotive Finance on its First Issuance of Auto Loan Assets Backed Securities (“ABS")

• Zhong Lun Advises GMAC - SAIC Automotive Finance on its First Issuance of Auto Loan Assets Backed Securities (“ABS")

• Firm Served ICBC First Credit ABS

• Firm Served First Credit ABS Originated by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank

• Firm Served First Credit ABS Originated by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank

• Zhong Lun Acted as PRC Counsel for CCP’s AIM Listing in London