Merits & Tree Law Offices is active in insolvency and intellectual property disputes. Their assets and bankruptcy restructuring team has extensive experience representing asset management companies, financial institutions and social investors in non-performing assets disposal. The IP practice handles disputes in TMT, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, artificial intelligence, chemicals, and materials. Key partners in Beijing include Zheng Li and Shanshan Ren, while construction experts Hong Lu and Chun Gu also contribute to the firm. In commercial disputes, Merits & Tree is representing Huorong Securities in a stock pledge rights dispute involving MCC Meili Cloud Computing Industry Investment, Qtone Education Group, and Nanjing Inform Storage Equipment Group Co. After obtaining the execution certificate, the firm successfully transferred the disposal rights of the sealed stocks from the Haidian District Court of Beijing and the Intermediate People's Court of Huzhou to the enforcement court. Despite the lack of legal precedent in Beijing for selling unrestricted, freely tradable stocks on the secondary market, Merits & Tree persuaded the judge to use this method, maximising the recovery amount. By 2024, the firm had recovered Rmb400 million ($54.8 million), effectively protecting the client's interests.
In another significant case, Merits & Tree successfully defended Sinopec Lubricant (a Sinopec Group subsidiary) in a landmark Rmb20 billion dispute involving a collapsed circular trading scheme orchestrated by HNA Group affiliates. Initially spanning 28 lawsuits across Shanghai courts, the case was consolidated in Hainan under Supreme People’s Court orders due to its complexity, including disguised lending, unauthorised executive actions, and potential criminal forgery. Merits & Tree exposed the "trade-in-name, loan-in-substance" structure, neutralised evolving legal claims, and secured jurisdictional transfer to avoid systemic bias, ultimately shielding Sinopec from liability while setting precedents for SOE defence against cross-jurisdictional financial fraud.
In the construction sector, the firm represented a construction company in a significant dispute related to a shopping plaza, helping the client avoid a substantial Rmb368 million compensation risk.
In 2024, partners Qi Zhang and Dai Chun joined Merits & Tree in Beijing to strengthen the firm’s dispute resolution capabilities, while Jun Sha and his team joined the firm’s Guangzhou office from King & Wood Mallesons to build up the office’s dispute resolution team.
