Claudia Ningning Zhao

Claudia Ningning Zhao, a partner at V&T Law Firm, has been named Family Lawyer of the Year in China at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. The recognition reflects her standing as one of the country's leading practitioners in cross-border matrimonial and family law and the international profile she has built in a field that increasingly spans multiple jurisdictions.

Based in Shanghai, Claudia Zhao is committed to cross-border matrimonial and family law and is recognised as the first lawyer from mainland China elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. This distinction places her within a select group of family law specialists worldwide and reflects both the quality of her practice and her role in connecting Chinese family law with the international community of practitioners in the field.

Her practice covers the full range of matters that arise when family relationships change. Drawing on more than fourteen years of experience in international family cases, she advises on matrimonial matters and divorce, children and maintenance issues, property division and spousal support, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, as well as succession. She also acts as private legal counsel to clients, offering discreet, ongoing advice on the legal dimensions of their personal and family affairs.

A defining feature of her work is its cross-border character. She provides legal services to clients from different jurisdictions around the world, guiding families whose lives, assets and relationships extend across national boundaries through the complexities that arise when more than one legal system is engaged. This international focus calls for both technical command of Chinese family law and an understanding of how it interacts with foreign proceedings and arrangements.

Claudia Zhao's professional standing is reflected in her memberships and appointments, which include being a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and of LAWASIA, a director of the China International Private Law Society, a Fellow of the China Law Society and a member of the Shanghai Bar Association. She holds a master's degree in international law from the China University of Political Science and Law. Being named Family Lawyer of the Year in China at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards affirms her reputation as a leading voice in cross-border family law.