China's Top Private Law Firm Zhong Lun Establishes New York Office to Celebrate 20th Anniversary
Philip Zhang and T.K. Chang Join as Founding Partners
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 23, 2013) - Zhong Lun Law Firm, one of China's top private law firms, with over 700 lawyers in six offices across China and international offices in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, announces the opening of its New York office, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary celebration.
Located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the new office is led by Philip Zhang and T.K. Chang, two senior lawyers who have cumulatively over 50 years of private practice experience with leading international law firms. The office is also supported by over 40 partners in Zhong Lun's worldwide offices who hold U.S. law degrees, and who would be able to provide clients with seamless round-the-clock legal service.
Zhong Lun Law Firm was founded as a private partnership in 1993 as one of the very first private law firms in China to be approved by the Chinese Ministry of Justice. Zhong Lun currently has over 700 licensed lawyers, of whom over 160 are partners.
Philip Zhang is dual licensed to practice law both in China and in the U.S., and holds a JD degree from Columbia and a LLB degree from the China University of Political Science & Law. He has been practicing law in China since 1990, and worked for two years for a top Singapore law firm before enrolling at Columbia. He was one of the first Chinese lawyers to receive a JD degree from a leading U.S. law school, and he was also one of the first China-qualified lawyers to make partner at a major New York law firm. In 2008, Mr. Zhang received the "Outstanding 50 Asian American in Business Award" from the Asian American Business Development Center in New York. He is also the General Counsel of the China Chamber of Commerce in the USA, which is comprised of the U.S. subsidiaries of major Chinese companies.
T.K. Chang holds BA, JD and MBA degrees from Harvard and MA degree from Yale, and has been practicing law for over 30 years in New York, Greenwich, Hong Kong and Beijing. Mr. Chang has been doing business in China since1981, when he signed one of the first fast-food agreements in China with the Beijing City government. He also taught one of the first courses in U.S. law to officials of the then-new Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in 1982.
Mr. Chang has negotiated many other first-of-its-kind transactions in China, including the loan of the two panda bears to the New York Bronx Zoo, the first international hotel management contract in Lhasa Tibet, one of the first international real estate development projects in Beijing and one of the first acquisitions by a PRC enterprise of a U.S. company.
Mr. Zhang stated: "As a licensed Chinese lawyer based in New York, I am in an unique position to be a bridge between U.S. companies and entrepreneurs and their counterparts in China."
Mr. Chang stated: "We will try to be a problem solver for U.S. companies doing business or investing China, and for Chinese companies doing business or investing in the U.S."
Xuebing Zhang, the founding partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm and its Managing Partner stated, "We welcome Philip and T.K. to our partnership, and together, we hope to build a firm that will become one of the best international law firms in the world."
Zhong Lun Law Firm is a full-service international law firm based in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London and New York.
Chambers & Partners, the leading directory of the legal profession, ranked Zhong Lun in 2012 as a top law firm in 23 categories, with the highest Band One ranking in 14 categories, in each case more than any other Chinese law firms. Chambers also ranked 46 lawyers at Zhong Lun as leading lawyers in China, again the most of any Chinese law firm.
Chambers ranked Zhong Lun in the highest Band One in numerous practice areas, including M&A, capital markets and finance, China real estate, environmental law, antitrust and merger clearance, technology-media-telecommunications, international trade, private equity and workouts and bankruptcy.
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