Henry Xiao

Henry Xiao is a Senior Partner at Dacheng Shanghai office and core member of its dispute resolution team. Previously a partner at Zhong Lun Law Firm, he served as PRC legal consultant at Rodyk & Davidson, initially in its Shanghai office and then in its Singapore HQ. His practice covers commercial dispute resolution (litigation/arbitration/mediation), corporate compliance (product regulation/crisis management), real estate, cross-border investment (FDI/overseas), and corporate matters. He excels in complex cases requiring transactional knowledge, negotiation skills, and creative courtroom advocacy.

• Representing a Singapore real estate company in its tort dispute against a third-party payment company: A client company's sales manager forged its seal, applied for a POS terminal under the company name, and set his personal account for settlements. He defrauded homebuyers of >RMB 140 million via this POS before fleeing abroad. Henry represented the client to sue the payment processor for negligently approving the POS and binding it to the manager's account. Courts at both trial and appellate levels ruled in the client's favor, recovering 60% of losses. This case was selected as one of Shanghai Court's "2023 Top 10 Financial and Commercial Cases."
• Representing a leading lighting manufacturer in its contract dispute with a distributor: It is our client's largest AR case across China in recent years. Henry and his team was engaged when the case seemed to be moving towards stalemate and we successfully resolved the deadlock by piercing the corporate veil to add the man behind the scene as an additional defendant, and hence succeeding in having his personal assets seized by the Court, which paves the way to a winning case and a smooth enforcement of the final judgment.
• Representing a Fortune 500 corporation in a product liability dispute with downstream manufacturers: In a product liability dispute involving three global manufacturers, Henry represented the Chinese subsidiary and overseas HQ of a Fortune 500 company against claims by downstream manufacturers. This global supply chain case involved multimillion-dollar liabilities and threatened the client's reputation in the high-end materials market. Henry conducted multi-dimensional legal analysis of parties' obligations and examined product liability elements under Chinese law. After comprehensive case research, he developed tailored defense strategies against each claim. This secured a complete victory for the client at first instance.
• Representing a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in a complex decade-long commercial dispute: The SOE's legitimate creditor rights were obstructed after a debtor colluded maliciously with organized crime affiliates to transfer company shares and mining rights. Henry uncovered critical evidence through field investigations and interviews. He devised a comprehensive litigation strategy encompassing: 1) invalidating the share transfer contracts; 2) filing tort claims; and 3) voiding the mining rights transfer. The first phase – nullifying the share transfers – has achieved success.

• Appellate
• Civil litigation
• Commercial and transactions
• Commercial arbitration
• Corporate governance
• Litigation
• Plaintiff/claimant
• Product liability and recall
• Trade and customs

• Automotive
• Construction and materials
• Consumer goods and services
• Industrials
• Real estate

• BA/LL.B., East China University of Political Science and Law, 1998
• LL.M, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1993