Profile

Chen Zhaoli, Level 1 Lawyer (Senior Professional Title), has practiced law for more than 20 years. He specializes in commercial legal services including corporate law & M&A, state-owned asset transactions and compliance management, construction & real estate, and PPP (Public-Private Partnership). He has extensive practical experience in litigation, arbitration and non-litigation matters.
Practice Philosophy: "Preventive measures taken beforehand are the top strategy; negotiation during the incident is the second-best strategy; litigation after disputes arise is the last resort." Always oriented to clients’ commercial goals, he focuses on proactive risk prevention and efficient dispute resolution, striving to maximize clients’ legitimate rights and interests at the lowest cost.

Practice Areas

1. Corporate Law and M&A
Covers protection of shareholder rights such as the right to know corporate information, profit distribution right and preemptive right; identification and revocation of defective corporate resolutions; allocation of burden of proof in shareholder representative litigation; validity determination and performance path of equity transfer, valuation adjustment mechanism and share repurchase; capital contribution defects, confirmation of shareholder qualification, corporate dissolution and liquidation liability, abuse of power by controlling shareholders; as well as transaction structure design for M&A, investment and financing, protection of investor rights, risk prevention for equity holding on behalf and valuation adjustment arrangements, legal due diligence and drafting of transaction documents.

2. State-owned Asset Transactions and Compliance Management
Serves state-owned enterprises, state-owned investment platforms and entities for mixed-ownership reform. Handles compliance procedures for state-owned equity transfer, asset appraisal and trading on designated platforms, application of state-owned asset trading rules, scheme design and compliance review for SOE mixed-ownership reform, special rights arrangement for state-owned shareholders, etc.

3. Construction and Real Estate
Covers complicated disputes over construction contracts, settlement of project payments and priority of claim for construction price, rules for nominal contracting and actual constructors, construction claims and counterclaims, defenses concerning construction period and quality. Also provides full-process legal services for real estate development projects, corporate governance of real estate project companies, disputes over commodity housing sales and second-hand property transactions.

4. PPP (Public-Private Partnership)
He was selected into the PPP Expert Database of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Finance, PPP Lawyer Talent Pool of Jiangsu Lawyers Association, and the first batch of PPP Expert Database of Changzhou City. He has provided special legal services for numerous PPP projects and PPP project companies.

Representative Cases

1. Provided special legal services for a state-owned investment platform’s investment in an industrial park project, including but not limited to legal scheme planning and demonstration, legal due diligence, design, negotiation and drafting of project contracts, and follow-up of contract performance.
2. Provided special legal services for a Wuxi NEEQ-listed enterprise’s private placement of shares, and issued a special legal opinion, which won the First Prize for Civil & Commercial Legal Opinions awarded by Jiangsu Lawyers Association.
3. Issued Legal Opinion on Transaction Structure for Private Placement of Listed Companies for a wholly state-owned company in Wuxi, which won the Third Prize for Civil & Commercial Legal Opinions awarded by Jiangsu Lawyers Association.
4. Provided special legal services for multiple state-owned equity transfer projects in Wuxi.
5. Entrusted by a wholly state-owned company in Wuxi, provided special legal services for social capital’s participation in multiple PPP projects.
6. Represented an overseas Chinese shareholder in a retrial case over capital contribution disputes between shareholders. The original judgment was revoked after seven years of proceedings. This case was rated as an Excellent Professional Case (Corporate Law Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2017.
7. Represented a cable company in a construction contract dispute involving claims of over ten million RMB. After trial of first instance and second instance, most of the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed. This case was rated as an Excellent Professional Case (Construction & Real Estate Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2018.
8. Represented a NEEQ-listed enterprise in an arbitration case over share repurchase arising from acquisition and obtained a favorable judgment. This case was rated as an Excellent Professional Case (Corporate Law Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2019.
9. Represented a large private enterprise in a tort liability dispute (dispute over damage to shareholders’ interests) against an investment company. Favorable judgments were obtained in the first instance at Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, second instance at Chongqing High People’s Court and application for retrial at the Supreme People’s Court. This case was rated as an Excellent Professional Case (Civil Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2019.
10. Represented an electromechanical company in a construction contract dispute with a large construction enterprise. The case was settled through mediation after three years, and was rated as an Excellent Professional Case (Construction & Real Estate Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2020.
11. Represented a securities company in an arbitration case over large corporate bond disputes against an enterprise group and other parties, and all arbitration claims were supported.
12. Represented a state-owned investment platform in a dispute over huge state-owned equity repurchase against controlling shareholders and actual controllers and won the case.
13. Represented a large construction enterprise in a dispute over huge construction project payments against a real estate developer and other parties, involving complicated issues such as project payment settlement, discount interest, book entry arrangement and priority of claim for construction price, and obtained a favorable judgment.
14. Represented a limited partner in a claim dispute against a private fund manager for improper performance of duties and won the case.
He serves as perennial legal counsel for commodity housing projects including Ruicheng Garden, Haishang Yingxiang, Jiacheng International Mansion, Zhongrui Junyuan, Guanshan Mingzhu and Changtai International Community. He provides full-process legal services for real estate development, sales, property management and establishment of owners’ committees, and handles a large number of complicated litigation and arbitration cases over commodity housing sales contracts and construction contracts.

Education Background

● Bachelor of Laws, Southeast University (1999—2003)
● Master of Laws, Southeast University (2003—2006)

Social Positions

● Arbitrator, Wuxi Arbitration Commission
● Arbitrator, Nanjing Arbitration Commission
● Deputy Director, Corporate Law Committee of Jiangsu Lawyers Association
● Member, Corporate Governance & General Commercial Arbitration Committee of Jiangsu Arbitration Association
● Vice President, Southeast University Wuxi Alumni Association

Honors & Awards

● Dec 2025: Awarded the professional title of Level 1 Lawyer (Senior Professional Title)
● Dec 2024: Selected into the Corporate Law Lawyer Talent Pool of Jiangsu Lawyers Association
● Sep 2024: Selected into the professional team for legislation and consultation on women’s rights protection in Jiangsu Province
● Nov 2022: Rated as "Six Excellence" Party Member Lawyer by the CPC Wuxi Lawyers Committee
● Nov 2021: Appointed member of the Legal Service Group for High-quality Development of Private Economy of Wuxi by the United Front Work Department of CPC Wuxi Municipal Committee
● Nov 2021: Appointed member of Wuxi "Eighth Five-Year" Law Popularization Lecturer Group by the Publicity Department of CPC Wuxi Municipal Committee, Wuxi Bureau of Justice and Wuxi Law Popularization Leading Group Office
● Jun 2021: Rated as Excellent Party Member Lawyer in Jiangsu Provincial Lawyer Industry by the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Lawyer Committee
● Jan 2021: Appointed Legal Expert by Jiangsu Information Network Security Association
● Dec 2020: Rated as Excellent Lawyer of Wuxi (2018—2019) by Wuxi Bureau of Justice and Wuxi Lawyers Association
● Jul 2020: Appointed member of Jiangsu Civil Code Expert Lecturer Group by the Publicity Department of Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, Jiangsu Law Popularization Office, Jiangsu Department of Justice and Jiangsu Law Society
● Nov 2019: Awarded the professional title of Level 2 Lawyer (Associate Senior Professional Title)
● Jun 2019: Shortlisted candidate for the 5th "Jiangsu Outstanding Young Jurists"
● May 2019: Selected into the first batch of PPP Expert Database of Changzhou City
● Feb 2019: Rated as Excellent Individual Member of 2018 by Wuxi Lawyers Association
● Jan 2019: Selected into the PPP Expert Database of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Finance
● Dec 2018: Selected into the PPP Lawyer Talent Pool of Jiangsu Lawyers Association
● Dec 2018: Identified as training object of Wuxi Famous & High-quality Lawyer Talent Training Project (First Tier, Commercial Category) of 2018
● Dec 2018: Rated as Excellent Professional Lawyer of Wuxi (Corporate Law Category) of 2017 by Wuxi Lawyers Association
● Sep 2018: Attended the 14th National Lawyers Association Young Lawyers Leadership Training Camp
● Jun 2018: Awarded the title of "Excellent Party Affairs Worker in Provincial Lawyer Industry" by CPC Jiangsu Provincial Lawyer Committee
● Feb 2018: Selected into Jiangsu Provincial Lawyer Training Teacher Pool (Corporate Law, Civil Law)
● Nov 2017: Rated as Excellent Professional Lawyer of Wuxi (Corporate Law Category) by Wuxi Lawyers Association
● May 2017: Awarded the honorary title of Outstanding Young Lawyer of Jiangsu Province by Jiangsu Lawyers Association
● Apr 2017: Awarded the honorary title of Wuxi "Top Ten" Young Lawyer by Wuxi Bureau of Justice, Communist Youth League Wuxi Committee and Wuxi Lawyers Association
● Nov 2016: Identified as training object of Wuxi Famous & High-quality Lawyer Talent Training Project (Second Tier, Commercial Category) of 2016
● Mar 2015: Awarded Certificate of Wuxi Outstanding Legal Talent (Specialties: Intellectual Property Law, Corporate Law, Real Estate Law) by Wuxi Law Society

Publications & Research Papers

● Chen Zhaoli: Analysis on Directors’ Liquidation Liability under the new Company Law, won the Third Prize in the Symposium on Directors, Supervisors and Senior Management Legal Liability under the Background of the new Company Law held by Jiangsu Lawyers Association in 2024.
● Chen Zhaoli: Research on Difficult Legal Issues of Valuation Adjustment Mechanism, selected into the Proceedings of the 8th Wuxi Lawyers Forum and won the First Prize of Wuxi Lawyers Association with presentation; selected into the Anthology of the 6th Yangtze River Delta Arbitration Lawyers Forum with presentation.
● Chen Zhaoli: Legal Risks and Suggestions on Equity Repurchase by Valuation Adjustment for State-owned Enterprise Equity, won Excellent Paper Award in the 2022 "SOE Mixed Reform and State-owned Assets Supervision Compliance" Essay Contest organized by Wuxi Lawyers Association.
● Chen Zhaoli: Analysis on Validity of Corporate Resolutions Formed by Capital Majority Rule, won Excellent Paper Award in the 2021 "Company Law Revision and Corporate Legal Practice" Essay Contest organized by Jiangsu Lawyers Association.
● Chen Zhaoli, Zhou Wei: Big Data Report on Corporate Dispute Cases of the Supreme People’s Court in 2019, included in BeiDa FaBao WenCui: Legal Research and Application (Vol.8), Peking University Press, October 2021.
● Chen Zhaoli: Reconstruction of Real Right Act Theory and Impacts on Related Systems, published in Internet + Legal Big Data Application — BeiDa Legal Information WenCui (2016—2017), Peking University Press, December 2017; won Excellent Professional Paper Award (Construction & Real Estate Category) of Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2018.
● Chen Zhaoli: Review on Normative Function of Article 74 of Company Law — Also Comment on Retrial Cases of the Supreme People’s Court, published in Corporate Legal Practice for Lawyers: Innovation and Cases written by Corporate Law Committee of All China Lawyers Association, Peking University Press, July 2015; won Excellent Professional Paper Award (Corporate Law Category) of Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2017; included in the series Qiushi Pioneer — Theory and Practice in China’s New Era of Reform and Opening-up in 2018.
● Chen Zhaoli: Risks and Prevention of Companies Becoming General Partners by Investing in Partnership Enterprises, published in Civil Lawyer Practice (Vol.5) — "Civil Commercial Lawyer Practice" Series No.19, China Legal Publishing House, October 2011.
● Chen Zhaoli: New Breakthroughs and Judicial Application of Security Interest Provisions in Property Law, published in Civil Lawyer Practice (Vol.3) — "Civil Commercial Lawyer Practice" Series No.12, China Legal Publishing House, November 2008.
● Chen Zhaoli: The Important Role of Lawyers in Compliance Management of PPP Projects, selected into Collection of Papers on Compliance Theory and Practice of Chinese Enterprises "Going Global" (June 2019).
● Chen Zhaoli: Brief Comments on Substantive Amendments and Deficiencies of the new Company Law, published in Wuxi Lawyer (Issue 3, 2024), internal journal sponsored by Wuxi Lawyers Association.
● Chen Zhaoli: Conflicts and Application of Law between General Principles of Civil Law and Company Law, shortlisted in BeiDa Legal Information Network’s most popular "Articles" list of 2017; won Excellent Professional Paper Award (Corporate Law Category) of Wuxi Lawyers Association in 2018.
● During the legislation of General Principles of Civil Law, he submitted Several Revision Opinions on the Draft General Principles of Civil Law (Second Review Draft) (shortlisted in BeiDa Legal Information Network’s most popular "Articles" list of 2016) and Thirty-nine Revision Suggestions on the Draft General Principles of Civil Law (Third Review Draft), and submitted revision suggestions many times through the National People’s Congress website, among which eight suggestions were directly reflected in the General Principles of Civil Law adopted on March 15, 2017.
● During the sixth revision of the Company Law, he kept tracking four reviews and put forward revision suggestions on three drafts for comments, at least more than ten suggestions were reflected in the provisions of the new Company Law.