Steven Yu

Hiways Law Firm, whose international practice is led from Shanghai by senior partner Dr Steven Yu, has been named Investment Treaty Arbitration & Trade/Customs Law Firm of the Year in China at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. The recognition reflects the firm's strength in trade, investment and customs matters and Dr Yu's standing as one of China's leading practitioners in cross-border trade law.

Hiways is a large, full-service Chinese law firm operating a broad network of offices across China and internationally, with locations that include Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen alongside overseas offices in cities such as Seattle, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Sydney, Madrid and Tokyo. This footprint supports the firm's work across some sixteen professional areas, including finance and securities, corporate and commercial, international law, dispute resolution and data compliance, and underpins the international, cross-border character of its trade practice.

Dr Steven Yu leads the firm's international practice and is a senior partner based in Shanghai. He began his private practice in the early 2000s, focusing on trade law, foreign investment law and customs law. Earlier in his career he served at the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Centre, the first Chinese body dedicated to World Trade Organization matters, where he advised government agencies, enterprises and industry associations on trade compliance following China's accession to the WTO. That grounding informs the firm's work on the international rules governing trade and investment.

The award-winning practice represents Chinese clients seeking to safeguard their trade and investment interests across jurisdictions, including the United States and the European Union, and advises on the customs and trade-remedy issues that arise in international commerce. Investment treaty arbitration and trade and customs law sit at the centre of this offering, an area demanding both technical command of international economic law and practical experience of how disputes and compliance matters are handled across borders.

Dr Yu's professional standing is reflected in his wider roles, which include serving as an arbitrator at the Shanghai Arbitration Commission and as a legal adviser to commerce authorities, alongside recognition among China's leading lawyers in successive years and appointments as an adjunct professor at respected Chinese law schools. Being named Investment Treaty Arbitration & Trade/Customs Law Firm of the Year in China at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards affirms the standing of Hiways and Dr Steven Yu in this specialised field.