On December 18, 2025, renowned legal directory LEGALBAND announced its "2025 Client Choice: Top 15 IP Lawyers". The ranking spotlights 15 exceptional IP lawyers in mainland China. Han Kun lawyer Dr. Ying Li was named to the list.
Reasons for selection: Dr. Li possesses a dual educational background in law and pharmacology, with extensive theoretical research and practical experience in intellectual property legal matters within the chemical and life sciences industries. Her services encompass patent filing and invalidation, patent litigation, intellectual property system construction, trade secret protection, IP due diligence, FTO analysis, patent transactions, IPO advisory, and pharmaceutical compliance. Notable projects she has led in recent years include providing IP legal services for the Hong Kong listings of HighTide Therapeutics, Inc. and other enterprises, patent portfolio strategy and filings for numerous biotech startups, and facilitating major licensing deals between global pharmaceutical leaders and domestic companies. Facing the highly specialized nature of healthcare and life sciences and stringent regulatory requirements, Dr. Li has consistently led her team to efficiently complete critical tasks such as IP due diligence within tight timelines, delivering key support for clients' business decisions and ensuring successful project execution, demonstrating exceptional legal expertise at the intersection of intellectual property and the pharmaceutical sector.
Client's testimonial: "Ms. Li has provided our company with intellectual property legal services on multiple occasions, including some highly challenging projects involving new technologies and novel compounds with complex technical details and uncertainties. Ms. Li consistently conducted in-depth analysis by extracting critical information from extensive literature and delivered the most accurate assessments."
Lawyer's profile: Dr. Li has long specialized in intellectual property and transaction services in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. With 20 years of experience in serving both domestic and multinational clients, she has assisted numerous industry-leading companies in securing patents and completing transactions in China. Dr. Li provides comprehensive intellectual property legal services, including IP system development, patent portfolio strategy and prosecution, patent searching, drafting, office action responses, third-party observations, invalidation proceedings, and patent litigation. From the perspective of IP transactions, she also conducts in-depth due diligence including freedom-to-operate (FTO) analyses, assists parties in structuring transaction frameworks and negotiating transaction terms, identifies IP-related risks for clients, proactively devises solutions to clear IP obstacles in transactions, and has served as an IP advisor enabling several clients to successfully complete initial public offerings.
Dr. Li received a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Biochemical Pharmacology in 2005 from the Institute of Medical Biotechnology, Peking Union Medical College. Prior to that, she received both her bachelor's degree and MSc in Microbiology and Biochemical Pharmacology from Jilin University and Shenyang Pharmaceutical University as part of a joint program in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
