Profile

John Zeng is a seasoned lawyer specializing in cross-border litigation, arbitration, and criminal defense. With over two decades of legal practice, John provides strategic counsel to multinational corporations, high-net-worth individuals, and government entities on complex commercial disputes, foreign-related transactions, and criminal defense. His expertise spans civil, administrative, and criminal litigation, with a proven track record of securing favorable outcomes through meticulous legal analysis and innovative strategies. 

John is recognized for his ability to navigate intricate legal frameworks, including PRC law, Hong Kong regulations, and international arbitration protocols. He is adept at leveraging procedural nuances and legislative principles to protect client interests, often achieving groundbreaking results that influence judicial reforms. 

John accepts appointments as arbitrator.

John is appointed by Shanghai Songjiang District Government as an External Legal Counsel, he regularly provides legal insights to the governments.

Prior to joining this Firm, John has been setting up a law firm in Shanghai for 15 years. He regularly conducts legal training sessions at business and legal institutions.

---

Admissions and Memberships

Education

Peking University Law School

Master of International Business Law

---

Articles

• “Legal Protection of Works: A Perspective from the J-10 Model Case” – Procuratorial Daily, 21 June, 2014
• “Qiong Yao Wins Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Yu Zheng: Authorization Required for Adapting Original Works into TV Dramas and Films” – Procuratorial Daily, 27 December, 2014

---

Notable Cases

Commercial Litigation & Arbitration

• By grasping the punctuation errors in the VAM agreement, Mr. Zeng proposed a new interpretation of the terms of the agreement through legal principles, forcing the counterparty to withdraw the arbitration application and avoid a huge loss of the client.
• The client signed a betting agreement for investment, and the actual controller of the company then transferred the property to the wife of the outsider. Mr. Zeng elaborated on the legislative purpose of marriage law and company law in combination with the principles of law, and the client’s arbitration request that the counterparty’s wife should take responsibility was fully supported.
• Mr. Zeng advised a BVI company in SHIAC arbitration over a share transfer dispute and helped the company win the case.
• After in-depth analysis of the legal system on the scope of mortgage registration, Mr. Zeng wrote an agency opinion with tens of pages, and finally obtained a reversal in the second-instance judgment. This judgment has promoted the reform of mortgage registration in Shanghai. (2016)沪02民终6902号
• The agreement on the transfer of a huge number of shares was unclear, and the judges of the first and second instance confused meaning of the terms of Conditions and Obligations, Mr. Zeng explained the distinction to the judge of the high court and secured a retrial, resulting in a revised judgment. (2020)沪民申725号
• The party to the most tragic house purchase case in Shanghai, which caused a sensation in the country, found Mr. Zeng through a search on the Supreme Court case website, and carefully prepared an application for retrial, and with Mr. Zeng’s careful preparation, the case has now been accepted by the Shanghai High Court. (2022)沪民申905号
• When the client was accused of equity transfer fraud, Mr. Zeng devised a three-steps litigation strategy, proposing that the identity of the transferee should not be notified of the equity transfer, and the relevant agency opinion was adopted by the court of second instance, and this opinion was consistent with the view afterwards expressed by the Supreme People’s Court in the Guidance for the Trial of Company Cases (2018). (2017)沪01民终9557号
• The real estate sales company was ruled to bear joint and several liabilities, and Mr. Tsang successfully obtained the judgment of the second instance on the basis of the relativity of contract and the transfer of creditor’s rights, and the judgment of hundreds of similar cases was also reversed. (2018)沪01民终8826号
• In the appeal of an administrative dispute over the rejection of a company’s trademark application, Mr. Zeng emphasized that the registration of the cited trademark had been revoked and no longer constituted an obstacle to the right to apply for registration of the disputed trademark, and finally the High Court changed the judgment in the second instance. (2019)京行终8420号
• After the client lost the first instance of the loan dispute litigation, the parties found Mr. Zeng to represent the second instance by searching for cases, Mr. Zeng redesigned the proof logic by applying for an evidence investigation order, and the second instance of the court changed the result of the first instance. (2016)沪01民终10742号
• The logistics company owed RMB150 million for the project, and Mr. Zeng carefully sorted out the list of evidence and forced the other party to settle and pay the project payment in full. (2016)沪仲案字第2016号
• After intervening and thoroughly understanding the case facts, Mr. Zeng fully discussed the validity of the board of directors’ resolutions through new evidence, and successfully overthrew the case. (2015)沪一中民四(商)终字第2459号
• In the dispute between the construction company and the employer, Mr. Zeng convincingly argued that the staff of the employer was authorized to represent him, and the court accepted all evidence provided. (2017)粤01民终19787号
• In the case of a traffic accident dispute involving a foreigner, the original invoice for the huge medical expenses has been submitted to the foreign insurance company, so the traffic police department cannot determine the amount of compensation for the accident. Mr. Zeng argued that the company should bear the liability for compensation. Finally, the court supported a satisfactory compensation for the client, adopted the method proposed for determining the amount of medical expenses. (2015)闸民一(民)初字第2683号
• In the jurisdictional objection dispute, Mr. Zeng accurately grasped the understanding and application of Article 34 of the Civil Procedure Law, and strongly refuted the opponent’s claim of limited interpretation, and the court of second instance adopted the agency opinion. (2019)苏01民辖终555号
• The client’s investment in the fund company failed and suffered heavy losses, and Mr. Zeng seized on the fund company’s procedural violations and recovered most of the losses for the client. (2019)沪贸仲裁字第1289号
• In the copyright dispute, Mr. Zeng presented the facts and evidence of the counter-party’s infringement, and the court finally rejected the other party’s request. (2014)深中法知民终字第695号
• The client was involved in a divorce litigation dispute, and due to the division of real estate, equity, debts, child custody and other matters, Mr. Zeng strategized to help the client eliminate debts and responsibilities and obtained ownership of all the real estate and custody of the child. (2013)沪二中民一(民)终字第1688号
• Advised on cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards. 
• Represented clients in trademark administrative appeals, overturning rejections by demonstrating revoked citations. 

Criminal Defense 

• The police arrested the owner and employees of a biotechnology company across provinces, and 20 people were criminally detained. Through the first round of appraisal, the public security believed that it produced and sold new drugs. Due to the huge volume of production and sales, the main culprits will face the death penalty. Under heavy pressure, Mr. Zeng used his own resources to consult with the appraisal agency to put forward opinions on the original appraisal procedure, and the public security organ adopted the legal opinion of re-appraisal, and based on the new appraisal conclusions, the whole case was not approved.
• The boss of a decoration company has had many physical conflicts with the bosses of other companies in the same industry because of competition and has been characterized as a crime involving underworld crimes, and the parties themselves have pleaded guilty and accepted punishment during the review and prosecution stage. Mr. Zeng still followed the professional ethics of due diligence and upheld a high sense of responsibility to withstand the pressure of the prosecution and defended the client’s innocence throughout the case. By collecting and collecting new evidence and comparing the illegality of the actions of rival companies, Mr. Zeng accurately grasped the logical loopholes in the indictment to defend for the client and forced the prosecution to withdraw the indictment after five court sessions, which is a rare case of acquittal after the trial of the court for underworld crimes.
• In the case of a well-known bureau-level cadre who committed a crime abusing public office, Mr. Zeng carefully read the case file materials, put forward written defense opinions on many occasions around the determination of facts and the application of law, and fought for an effective defense based on reason in court, and finally greatly reduced the sentence for the client.
• The director of the drug rehabilitation center opened a shop in the center and privately distributed the proceeds to all the policemen and was charged with the crime of privately dividing state-owned assets. The director of the political commissar has been detained and prosecuted to the court, and the court has held court hearings many times, and Mr. Zeng repeatedly applied the Supreme Court for verifying the concept of state-owned assets, and the procuratorate withdrew the case in accordance with the law and dealt with it according to discipline.
• The boss of the company falsely issued VAT invoices for his company and faced life imprisonment, but Mr. Zeng defended in detail and proved that the client did not harm the interests of the state by combing and calculating hundreds of chart data, and the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution.
• Internationally renowned enterprises selling expired honey was exposed by the TV station after public opinion was in an uproar, many people in the cooperative enterprise were suspected of producing and selling harmful and toxic food were criminally detained, Mr. Zeng repeatedly communicated with the leaders of state-owned enterprises, the Municipal Supervision Bureau, and the Public Security Bureau, explaining that honey does not exist expired in the sense of criminal law, and finally the whole case was withdrawn, and the personnel were acquitted, while avoiding large administrative penalties.
• The actual controller of the company transferred the investment funds to Hong Kong, and the investors entrusted a number of lawyers to report the case several times without success. Mr. Zeng went to Hong Kong many times to collect evidence and clarify the legal relationship, and finally successfully filed a case for fraud and seized 500 million assets registered in the name of the actual controller’s ex-wife, helping the investor recover all losses.
• Pretty Girl’s relative kidnapped her godfather’s son with a knife and was convicted of kidnapping, Pretty Girl herself fled abroad and married into a wealthy family, returned to China ten years later and was arrested, the wealthy family traveled thousands of miles to save Pretty Girl. Mr. Zeng used the rules of evidence to effectively defend against the suspicion of Pretty Girl, and the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution in accordance with the law after the court held several sessions.
• Employees of the actual construction unit verbally threatened the employer to demand the project payment and were charged with extortion and faced more than 10 years in prison. Basing on the relevant civil judgments, Mr. Zeng pointed out the major contradictions in the victim’s statement, wrote letters to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection several times to explain the situation, and repeatedly communicated with the provincial and municipal procuratorates, and finally the procuratorate withdrew the indictment.
• The adult son was present when the father killed with a knife, and multiple people testified that the son was an accomplice to the murder. Through common-sense reasoning and analysis, Mr. Zeng applied for an investigation experiment to restore the scene of the crime and force the procuratorate to withdraw the prosecution in accordance with the law.
• The related party transaction of the senior executives of a well-known Korean enterprise in China caused the company to lose hundreds of millions, and the Korean company entrusted a well-known lawyer to report the case to the police several times without success. Mr. Zeng explained the main points of the case in detail and explained the latest judicial practice, and finally successfully filed the case and recovered the losses for the world’s top 500 companies.
• The client was arrested for being implicated in a fraudulent loan, and Mr. Zeng collected strong alibi evidence to help the client clear his grievances and regain his freedom.
• The two companies clashed over business interests, and the police arrested 13 people for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and even forced the plane to stop and chase down the manager. Mr. Zeng repeatedly explained the competition between the two companies to the secretary of the district party committee, the secretary of the municipal legal committee, and the chief prosecutor, and obtained video evidence deliberately deleted by the other company through various channels, which strongly deterred the other party. In the end, the procuratorate decided not to approve the arrest of the whole case.
• The developer hired triad operatives to evict the workers, and the contractor led people to stop them, but was charged with gathering a crowd to fight and sentenced to years in prison. Mr. Zeng intervened in the second instance, and because the former director of the police station handling the case was involved in crime, the contractor was able to clear his name in the second instance.
• The owner of the start-up company was charged with trade secret infringement when he left the foreign-funded company and took the design drawings with him. Mr. Zeng assisted the client to cooperate with the investigation, and finally the client was acquitted due to insufficient evidence in this case, which avoided the impact on the business of the start-up company.
• The client’s bank loan was not repaid in time and was charged with loan fraud, and Mr. Zeng collected a large amount of key evidence to prove that there was no illegal possession purpose at the time of applying for the loan, and the procuratorate decided not to prosecute in accordance with the law after accepting it.
• An enterprise owner who destroys a competitor’s computer program is charged with the crime of destroying a computer information system. Mr. Zeng consulted relevant experts on computer information system knowledge through multiple channels and clarified that the logic of the accusation was wrong in combination with legal principles and legislative purposes, and the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution in accordance with the law.
• The company was charged with bribery for giving gifts worth 3 million to leaders, and Mr. Zeng pointed out that there were contradictions between the evidence, and the case could not be decided, and the accusation could not be established, and the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution. The company has now developed into a local economic leader.
• Veterans who purchased more than one million pieces of citizens’ personal information were charged with infringing on citizens’ personal information, and Mr. Zeng clarified that incomplete information does not belong to personal information under the Criminal Law. Finally, the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution.
• Mr. Zeng appealed in the Banking Regulatory Commission, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government and other units, and stopped the secretary of the municipal party committee from submitting evidence of corporate claims and debts by waiting for 7 days, and finally the procuratorate returned, the public security withdrew the case in accordance with the law, and the non-bank financial company completely changed its career after the full payment, avoiding the prison disaster behind the boss and employees, and all the investors’ principal was fully paid, which resolved the social contradictions.
• The client was arrested on charges of copyright infringement for peddling pirated CDs, and Mr. Tsang collected several minor crime circumstances, and the procuratorate finally withdrew the prosecution.
• The client’s friend purchased the car for him in his personal name and did not return it, and the client was charged with robbery for organizing his company’s employees to violently retrieve the car. Mr. Zeng submitted new evidence and submitted legal opinions several times, and the procuratorate returned the case to the police.
• The client was charged with fraud for withholding interest in advance of usurious loans, and Mr. Zeng clarified the criteria for determining the crime based on legal principles, and the procuratorate withdrew the prosecution.
• A staff member of the China Banking Regulatory Bureau was charged with illegally absorbing deposits from the public after leaving his post to engage in business. Mr. Zeng rationally explained the facts of the case in court, presented compelling legal arguments, and fought for the client to be exempted from criminal punishment.

---

Languages

Mandarin and English