On March 26, 2026, following extensive research, China Business Law Journal announced the China practice edition of "The A-List 2025-26: Rising Stars", which includes 100 lawyers who practice Chinese law, as well as 20 lawyers from foreign law firms or who work overseas. Four Han Kun lawyers, Cheng Chen, Xiayi (Clara) Liu, Mingdong Qiu, and Yilun (Allen) Zhang (listed alphabetically by surname)—were selected for their excellence and contributions.
Cheng Chen
Mr. Cheng Chen specializes in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, foreign direct investment, and onshore and offshore public offerings and restructurings. He has served numerous private equity funds, start-ups, high-growth enterprises, and listed companies across industries such as new energy, mobility, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer goods, e-commerce, semiconductors, and gaming. Mr. Chen has led cross-border restructuring, financing transactions, IPOs, M&As, spin-offs, and reverse merger and NewCo projects. Mr. Chen has designed innovative deal structures in complicated investment and financing as well as M&A transactions. He also provides strategic suggestions to companies and the boards of directors on difficult issues arising during corporate management. Mr. Chen's honors and awards include: Next Generation Partner in Private equity (Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2020-2026), China Regional Ranking: Yangtze River Delta Rising Lawyers (ALB, 2025), and Elite 100: Corporate and Commercial (LegalOne, 2025).
Xiayi (Clara) Liu
Ms. Liu began her legal career in 2010 and is a partner at Han Kun. She focuses her practice on venture capital and private equity transactions, outbound investment, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets, among other areas. Ms. Liu has represented diverse clients that include many investment funds, well-known companies, and start-ups. She has accumulated rich experience in assisting clients to complete numerous complex transactions in many industries, including internet, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, insurance, consumer goods, and energy. Ms. Liu's honors and awards include: Recommended Lawyer in TMT (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2025), Top Ten Outstanding Young Lawyers (CLECSS, 2024), and being named by the Beijing Lawyers Association to its 2025 list of foreign-related legal case experts.
Mingdong Qiu
Mr. Qiu's practice focuses on IP litigation and dispute resolution, covering disputes over patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, unfair competition, and antitrust. Mr. Qiu also provides clients with legal services in intellectual property strategy planning, licensing transactions, commercial negotiations and due diligence.
Mr. Qiu has been engaged in front-line trial work before the Beijing Intellectual Property Court for many years and has participated in the trial of more than 800 civil and administrative cases on intellectual property. Many of his cases were selected as "Top 10 Cases in China Trial 2022", "Top 10 Nominated Cases in Promoting the Rule of Law in the New Era 2022", "100 Typical Cases for the Fifth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court". Mr. Qiu has participated in and completed a number of research projects, including major projects of the Supreme People's Court. As a lawyer, Mr. Qiu has successfully handled many difficult and complex projects for many well-known domestic and foreign enterprises in the fields of telecommunications, internet, chemical industry, biomedical industry, etc., providing high-quality IP litigation and non-litigation legal services.
Yilun (Allen) Zhang
Mr. Zhang has been focused on the debt capital markets practice for more than ten years. Mr. Zhang has advised issuer and underwriter clients on more than 200 different types of debt securities transactions. He has extensive experience in structuring and advising on different types of debt capital market products with a deep understanding of his clients' commercial needs. Among these deals, Mr. Zhang has structured and advised on a number of high-profile "first-of-its-kind" transactions, such as the first Yulan bond, the first MCSD-cleared bond, the first Blue bond in Asia, the first sustainability-linked loan relinked bond, the first bond transaction to be cleared through both CMU and Euroclear, the first SONIA-linked pound sterling-denominated floating rate note issued by a non-sovereign issuer, and the first-ever offshore bond issued by a PRC local government.
As the lead lawyer, Mr. Zhang has advised the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China on all its overseas bond offerings for six consecutive years, as well as the People's Bank of China on the first establishment of a central bank bill offering program in Hong Kong and the issuance of central bank bills for many years. He has also taken the lead in all the overseas bond offerings by the Shenzhen Municipal Finance Bureau, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance, and the Hainan Provincial Department of Finance, namely the first and all the offshore bond deals by PRC local governments, for three consecutive years. He has also advised Bank of China Limited on its GMTN updates and dozens of drawdowns of market-leading and innovative bond transactions for four consecutive years.
Mr. Zhang has also advised a number of central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, financial institutions, and private enterprises in their bond offerings. Mr. Zhang's honors and awards include: Recommended Lawyer in PRC Firms in Hong Kong (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2025-2026), Rising star partner in Capital markets: Debt (IFLR1000 Hong Kong, 2025), and Hong Kong Rising Stars 2025 (ALB, 2025).
China Business Law Journal's The A-List 2025-26: Rising Stars spotlights a new wave of elite lawyers who are recognized as the most acclaimed legal professionals in the Chinese market. Armed with solid professional competence, sharp industry insight, and an open, innovative mindset, they are demonstrating distinctive value across complex transactions, compliance, and dispute resolution. By earning market recognition and client trust, they are injecting fresh vitality into China's legal industry and expanding its possibilities. The final list is the aggregate result of market nominations, the candidates' own submitted supporting information, and independent research conducted by the editorial team.
