Lijun Cao

Practice Areas

Litigation & Arbitration, Compliance & Investigation

Professional Memberships

Member, SIAC Court of Arbitration

Member, CRCICA Advisory Committee

Vice Chair, Arbitration and ADR Committee of ICC China

Vice Chair, Arbitration and Lawyer Mediation Committee of All China Lawyers Association

Member, HKIAC Asian Dispute Review Editorial Advisory Board

Member, Qingdao Arbitration Commission

Former Member, ICCA's Task Force on Standards of Practice (2018-2021)

Former Co-chair, IBA Subcommittee on International Commercial Arbitration Case Law (2019-2021)

Arbitrator, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

Arbitrator, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

Arbitrator, Asian International Arbitration Centre

Arbitrator, International Center for Dispute Resolution

Arbitrator, World Intellectual Property Organization

Arbitrator, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board INTERNATIONAL

Arbitrator, Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration

Arbitrator, Mediator and APEC Neutral, Electronic Business Related Arbitration and Mediation (eBRAM)

Arbitrator, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration

Arbitrator, China Maritime Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, The Arbitration Center Across the Straits

Recommended Mainland Arbitrator, Chinese Arbitration Association, Taipei

Arbitrator, International Arbitration Chamber of Paris

Arbitrator, Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Arbitrator for International Investment Arbitration, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator for International Investment Arbitration, Beijing Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, Qingdao Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, Xiamen Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, Chongqing Arbitration Commission

Arbitrator, Guiyang Arbitration Commission

Personal

With extensive experience in international arbitration and commercial litigation, Mr. Cao has represented clients in arbitrations in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and other jurisdictions, as well as lawsuits before various people's courts in the Chinese mainland. Mr. CAO also handles compliance and investigation matters for both domestic and foreign companies.

Since joining Zhong Lun, Mr. Cao has represented clients in over 200 arbitration cases in the areas of international sale of goods, Sino-foreign joint venture, equity transfer, energy, mining, construction, real estate, and intellectual property under the CIETAC Rules, the UNCITRAL Rules, the HKIAC Administered Rules, the ICC Rules, the SIAC Rules, the LCIA Rules, and the BAC Rules.

Mr. Cao also specializes on treaty arbitration. He was a key member of the legal team that successfully defended the PRC Government in an ICSID case.

Work Highlights

Domestic Arbitration

• Represented a PRC provincial government and its department of transportation in response to an over CNY 5.20 billion CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning a government BOT agreement (also represented the clients in an action before a PRC court to apply for the confirmation of validity of arbitration agreement), with the arbitral tribunal rendering a partial award favorable to the client, and the counterparty withdrawing the remaining claims

• Represented a foreign fund's PRC subsidiaries in a CNY 1 billion CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning a commercial building pre-sale contract (the value of the involved property was about CNY 2.35 billion) and managed to get the counterparty to agree to a settlement under terms favorable to the client

• Represented a major domestic steel company in a CIETAC Shanghai arbitration (involving over CNY 10 billion) concerning overseas share transfer, and secured an outcome to the satisfaction of the client

• Represented a private-sector PRC steel company in a CNY 400 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration (involving over CNY 2 billion economic interests) over a gas supply contract and got the counterparty to agree to a settlement under terms favorable to our client by leveraging the multi-contract feature of the dispute and making changes to the arbitration strategy of the law firm previously engaged by the client

• Represented the PRC subsidiary of a Canadian solar power company in an over CNY 566 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration in Shanghai concerning a sales contract, with all of the counterparty's claims dismissed by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented the PRC subsidiary of a French hotel group in an over CNY 310 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning a hotel management contract and a technique contract with 98% of the counterparty's claims dismissed by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented the Asian subsidiary of a European beer company in an over CNY 270 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration over a joint venture contract and obtained a favorable interim award, with the dispute settled under terms favorable to the client

• Represented INVISTA Technologies S.a.r.L in an over CNY 253 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules over license agreements (and also represented the client in PRC courts for confirmation of validity of arbitration agreement and obtained a favorable ruling), with the case settled under terms favorable to the client

• Represented a BVI company in an over CNY 239 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning a share transfer contract relating to real estate and secured an outcome where the arbitral tribunal rendered the award in favor of the client and dismissed 84% of the counterparty's claims

• Represented a state-owned enterprise in the arms industry in an over CNY 172 million CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning copper cathodes sales agreements, with all of the client's claims upheld by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented the PRC entity of a famous international investment group in an over CNY 130 million CIETAC Shanghai arbitration concerning an asset transfer contract, with almost all of the client's claims upheld by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented a major Japanese integrated trading company in response to an over CNY 116 million CIETAC arbitration concerning an equipment purchase contract, with the arbitral tribunal dismissing most of the counterparty's claims

• Represented the PRC subsidiary of a UK high-end sports club in two arbitrations involving over CNY 70 million in total before CIETAC Beijing concerning a service agreement and a management agreement, with English as the language of arbitration, and had all the client's claims upheld by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented an NYSE-listed PRC company in a CIETAC Beijing arbitration concerning an equity transfer agreement against the founder and related parties of a project company, which was the first CIETAC case involved the validity of valuation adjustment mechanism under an investment agreement and eventually got the counterparty to settle with the client, transferring the equity and paying most of the claimed amount to the client

• Represented a private real estate developer in response to two BAC arbitrations concerning agency agreements with the total disputed amount exceeding CNY 90 million and filed counterclaims on behalf of the client, with 95% of the counterparty's claims dismissed by the arbitral tribunal

• Represented a HK-listed mining company in an over CNY 46 million BAC arbitration concerning a consultancy agreement and secured an outcome where the arbitral tribunal dismissed 98% of the counterparty's claims

• Represented the PRC subsidiary of a top Korean technology company in an over CNY 4 million BAC arbitration concerning a sales contract

International Arbitration

• Represented a subsidiary of COFCO in a CNY 3.2 billion HKIAC arbitration under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules concerning disputes arising out of a subscription agreement, with PRC law as the governing law and Chinese as the arbitration language, and secured an outcome where the arbitral tribunal rendered a partial award, upholding almost all of the client's claims; also represented the client in response to another HKIAC arbitration concerning share repurchase disputes initiated by the counterparty and assisted client in obtaining a favorable settlement, where the parties agreed to terminate the first arbitration case and the counterparty withdrew the second arbitration case

• Co-represented with a foreign law firm a HK company in a USD 20 million HKIAC arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules concerning a joint venture agreement, with PRC law as the governing law and English as the arbitration language, and got the counterparty to seek settlement with the client

• Represented an overseas fund and its affiliates against an offshore subsidiary of a Chinese company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of a New York-listed company) in two conjoined arbitrations under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules concerning two related equity transfer contracts, with PRC law as the governing law was PRC law and English as the arbitration language, had the case settled under terms favorable to the client with the counterparty paying most of the claimed amount

• Represented a multinational hotel management company against a PRC owner in an over USD 4.7 million HKIAC arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules concerning a hotel management agreement, with PRC law as the governing law and Chinese and English as the arbitration languages and had the case settled to the satisfaction of the client

Mr. Cao ’s bio can be found here: https://en.zhonglun.com/team/anthonyzhao.html.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

PRC Bar

New York State Bar

Languages Spoken

Chinese

English

Experience

Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm

Deputy Director, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) Foreign-Related Department, Beijing