Xinyang ZHANG

Xinyang Zhang is a managing partner of Commerce & Finance Law Offices, one of China's most established firms, based in Beijing. A specialist in the technology, media and telecommunications sector, he was named TMT Sector Lawyer of the Year in China at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2024, recognition that reflects his standing at the forefront of legal practice serving the country's fast-evolving digital economy.

Zhang joined Commerce & Finance Law Offices in 2007 and has built a practice centred on the new-economy industry, private equity, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. His work spans a wide range of technology-driven fields, including e-commerce, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, the internet of things, the sharing economy, new retail, cultural entertainment, intelligent hardware, the knowledge economy and internet healthcare. That breadth allows him to advise founders, investors and established corporates across the full lifecycle of technology businesses, from early financing rounds through to public listings and complex corporate transactions.

The technology, media and telecommunications sector presents some of the most demanding legal questions in the Chinese market, combining fast-moving commercial models with an intensive and shifting regulatory environment covering data, platforms, content and emerging technologies. Advising in this space requires a lawyer to move fluidly between transactional work, such as fundraisings and acquisitions, and the regulatory and compliance analysis on which those deals increasingly depend. Zhang's grounding across private equity, capital markets and the new economy positions him to guide clients through exactly these intersections, helping companies raise capital, restructure and expand while managing regulatory risk.

His reputation in the sector has been affirmed by successive independent rankings. Zhang has been named to the ALB China Top 15 TMT Lawyers list for three consecutive years, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and was recognised by China Business Law Journal among its A-List elite lawyers for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021. IFLR1000 has ranked him as a highly recommended capital markets and private equity lawyer in China for four consecutive years, from 2020 to 2023. Taken together, these recognitions place him among the most consistently acknowledged practitioners advising China's technology and new-economy companies.

Commerce & Finance Law Offices was established in Beijing in 1992 and has grown into a full-service firm operating from multiple locations across mainland China as well as Hong Kong and overseas. The firm is known for its strength in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and investment funds, banking and finance, dispute resolution and intellectual property, and maintains dedicated capability in areas such as cybersecurity, data protection and the new economy. Operating from the firm's Beijing headquarters at the China World Trade Centre complex, Zhang is one of its managing partners, guiding a practice regularly ranked among the leading PRC firms by the international directories. The 2024 Corporate INTL award adds to a substantial body of peer and directory recognition, and confirms his position as a go-to adviser for companies working at the intersection of technology, media and telecommunications.