The litigation and arbitration department of Guantao Law Firm is widely recognised by its peers. The firm handles a variety of complex disputes matters, being especially known for commercial and transactions-related disputes, such as high-value, complex corporate and commercial disputes, and insolvency, as well as regulatory matters.
Leiming Sheng and Shaosong Sun jointly lead its disputes team, with expertise in commercial and construction disputes as well as antitrust and arbitration. Wei Jiang is also singled out for his work in the construction space.
The law firm is representing the Beijing branch of China Huarong Asset Management in handling 11 litigation and enforcement cases involving financial non-performing debt recovery disputes, loan contract disputes, and enforcement of notarised creditor instruments. The disputed amount in each case exceeded Rmb200 million ($27.4 million), with the highest case involving nearly Rmb600 million.
The law firm is also representing Western Trust in litigation against debtors involving credit assignment contract disputes and subrogation disputes, with Guantao’s Xi’an and Hangzhou offices assisting in litigation preservation measures. A critical challenge in these cases is determining whether the legal nature of the credit assignment contracts is classified as private lending or financial lending, which directly impacts the judicial ceiling for interest and penalty protections.
The firm’s Shenzhen office represents a leading real estate development company in defending against a group litigation case filed by approximately 40 homeowners. The plaintiffs collectively allege damages due to false advertising, losses from prefabricated decoration, and penalties for delayed delivery. The case requires the firm to rapidly gather evidence and formulate defences amid voluminous case materials. A key challenge lies in the legal classification of prefabricated decoration – an innovative construction method with limited judicial precedents.
Key clients include Ping An Property Insurance, Shenzhen Bi'an Trend Technology, SZ DJI Technology and Walmart (China) Investment.
