Professional Memberships
Arbitrator, Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)
Specialist Mediator, Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC)
Arbitrator, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)
National Representative of China, The “Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration” Task Force of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR
Co-Chair of the ESG Committee of WLG (responsible for the Asia Pacific region)
Arbitrator, Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC)
Expert Member, Finance and Compliance Special Committee of Shanghai Arbitration Commission
Member of the Expert Database of the 3rd Party Supervision and Evaluation Mechanism Management Committee for Enterprises Involved in Criminal Cases of Shanghai
Legal Advisory Specialist, Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission
LCIA Database of Arbitrators, London Court of International Arbitration,
WIPO List of Neutrals (the List of WIPO Arbitrators and Mediators)
Panel of Arbitrators, The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
Mediator, Geneva International Dispute Institute
the First Batch of Experts, Shanghai International Commercial Arbitration Expert Database
Distinguished Professor, Lawyer Institute of East China University of Political Science and Law
Council Member of China Academy of Arbitration Law
Member of the Editorial Board, International Bar Association (IBA) Dispute Resolution International
Committee Member, Anti-Corruption Committee of International Bar Association (IBA)
Committee Member, Arbitration Committee of International Bar Association (IBA)
Committee Member, Business Crime Committee of International Bar Association (IBA)
Committee Member, Litigation Committee of International Bar Association (IBA)
Work Highlights
Compliance & Regulatory:
• Airbus – Assisted the client to encounter the joint investigation conducted by British, French and US government. The case is the first major investigation by the French anti-corruption agency and has been aided by the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Mr. Gary GAO serves the client from the perspective of Chinese law. The case has been honored as the Deal of the Year 2020 by China Business Law Journal.
• CAE – Assisted the client to deal with PRC criminal investigation concerning bribery involved with a major state-owned airline as well as the company’s internal compliance investigation. After Mr. Gary GAO’s involvement in the case, he proactively communicated with the procuratorate, and creatively proposed the inquiry being conducted with the judicial assistance from Hong Kong ICAC. Finally, after the endeavor of his legal service team, the assistance from Hong Kong ICAC is successfully acquired and the interview was completed smoothly in ICAC.
• Goldman Sachs – Provided legal compliance service.
• Softbank - Provided due diligence services on data compliance and personal information protection involved in the business operation of target enterprises for Softbank’s transactions and investment projects in China, especially those of high-tech and Internet application enterprises.
• Gopher Asset Management、Noah Holdings Limited - Provided comprehensive compliance legal services for Gopher Asset Management, the top private equity funds management under Noah Holdings Limited which is listed in the US, to deal with the regulatory supervision by the China Securities Regulatory Commission after the promulgation and implementation of the Regulations on Strengthening the Supervision of Private Investment Funds (“Document No. 71"). This case is the first regulatory supervision case after the promulgation and implementation of Document No. 71, which is specific benchmarking and pioneering in the industry.
• PayPal - Provided data compliance legal support for PayPal's acquisition of HNA Alipay.
• A large local comprehensive financial service group – provide legal consultation regarding data privacy and cyber security and issue legal opinion.
• Tsingshan Holding Group-Provided legal compliance service for client's cross-border transaction.
• China Merchants securities- Assisted client to repsonse the cross-border investigation.
• Panasonic - Assisted the client to draft and renew a whole set of Asian Pacific Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption Compliance Policy.
• Baowu Group – Provided the client with legal services for overseas compliance system establishment, including drafting the preliminary overseas compliance system plan and the compliance system and the daily operation guidance of overseas compliance manual covering the overseas data compliance, overseas executive criminal compliance, overseas trade compliance, overseas antitrust and anti-unfair competition compliance.
• Jinjiang Group – Assisted the client to establish a comprehensive compliance system, including improving the compliance management structure, drafting guiding documents, sorting out the legal risk database, and modifying existing rules, policies and regulations of the client.
• eToro- Provided criminal compliance services for Israel's largest U.S. listed Forex trading platform.
• A large State-owned rare metal enterprise - Assisted the client in responding to a criminal case in the federal court of the United States, and provided legal analysis and risk control strategies under Chinese law, especially from the perspective of China's international criminal judicial assistance.
• A famous Spanish chemical engineering enterprise - Provided legal service regarding an environmental protection case and assist the company to communicate with the authority, including the industry park, the local Administration of Work Safety and the local government, in order to mitigate the administrative punishment.
• A famous American chemical industrial group - Assisted the client to encounter the investigation of local fire safety bureau and public security bureau regarding environmental protection and provide legal consulting for the same.
• A large local integrated financial services group-Provided legal consulting on data privacy and network security, and issuing legal opinions.
• Danone - provided compliance consulting services, including internal compliance investigations, legal risks, data privacy, etc.
• eBay - provided compliance consulting services, including internal compliance investigations, legal risks, data privacy, and more.
Dispute Resolution:
• Represented the largest domestic trust management enterprise ,Zhongzhi Enterprise Group to deal with the cross-border business disputes arising from Chinese capital’s investment in overseas on behalf of the client. The subject matter of dispute reaching tens of billions yuan. In the case, Mr. Gary GAO cooperated with international law firms and filed legal proceedings on behalf of clients in PRC, Hong Kong, ICC and Cayman Islands simultaneously. In the PRC legal process, Mr. Gary GAO’s team finally won the victory in PRC legal process for the client, and by seamless corporation with foreign firms successfully recovered all assets plus significant proceeds.
• Successfully assisted ICBC Standard Bank to claim compensation from insurance company through an arbitration conducted in South Africa; Mr. Gao has also worked as leading counsel in a series of litigation in Shandong for declaratory relief over the ownership of disputed cargos, ICBC Standard Bank being the only international bank to have recovered the ownership of the cargos via the litigation process in the 2014 “Qingdao Port Fraud".
• Represented Tasly in a dispute arising out of a license agreement, with the subject matter of the dispute amounting to approximately USD 40 million. A new ADR (i.e., expert determination) was applied in this case to resolve the dispute. Ultimately, Mr. Gary Gao has helped the client win the case.
• Represented Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Group to deal with several cross-border litigation.
• Represented GE Healthcare in a lawsuit over invalidation of contract, successfully safeguarding the interests of the client.
• Participated in the Libel Case, Ba Wang International (Group) Holding Co., Ltd. vs. Next Magazine in HK as a PRC law expert witness,heard by Hong Kong SAR.
• Represented CBRE Global Investors (Asia Pacific) Ltd in the legal proceedings to recover control of the bank account and obtained a freezing order over the bank account and won the case finally. The subject matter of the case was RMB 200 million. The judge in charge of this case wrote an article about the significance and underneath legal theory. The Supreme Court gave an award to the judge which evidence the recognition of the case.
• Represented eBay(China) to participated in a series of IP infringement litigations in China, and established guiding cases on the neutrality of online trading platform.
• Represented the Taiwan-listed company EZCONN to have won litigation concerning international sales of goods.
• Heard disputes as arbitrator in arbitrations conducted under the HKIAC arbitration rules.
Mr. Gary Gao’s bio can be found here: https://en.zhonglun.com/team/gaojun.html
