Paul Zhou

Practice Areas

Attorney Paul (Bo) ZHOU started his practice as a lawyer in 2000. He has 20 years of experience in multiple practice areas covering Finance, Insurance, and Corporate fields.

Attorney ZHOU became an arbitrator in 2014. He has participated in over 300 arbitration cases over company equity, asset management, funds, trust, insurance, real estate, and construction at CIETAC, SHIAC, and SAC.

Since his practice, attorney ZHOU has always followed the development of the industry, focusing on dispute resolution, and discovered the business opportunities in the insurance field when the industry was still in its infancy, and plunged into it. Later, in the process of continuous practice, attorney ZHOU was convinced that the insurance field had a certain lag compared with the capital market and investment and financing fields, and the number of professional lawyers had shown a relatively saturated trend, so he steadily grasped the insurance practice while challenging other financial fields such as funds and trusts again.

Career

Attorney Paul (Bo) ZHOU is the director of the National Executive Committee of SGLA Law Firm (“SGLA”), also serves as the director of the Management Committee of SGLA Shanghai Office, the head of the Financial Dispute Resolution Department and senior partner. Since starting his practice in 2000, attorney ZHOU has been focusing on the corporate/commercial field, winning recognition from many well-known overseas rating agencies. In 2023, he has continuously been recognized by Chambers & Partners, ranked Band 2 in Insurance 2023 and has been named a recommended practitioner in both insurance and B&F by The Legal 500. In addition, he has been listed in China Business Law Journal “The A-List Legal Elite” list of the top 100 lawyers in China for many years, and has been named by LEGALBAND as a Band 1 lawyer in the field of insurance law, by Corporate INTL magazine as one of the best lawyers in banking and finance in 2021, and by Insurance Business Asia magazine as one of the five-star insurance lawyers in China as well.

In addition to working as a lawyer, attorney ZHOU also holds membership in professional associations such as an arbitrator of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Shanghai Arbitration Commission, and Nanjing Arbitration Commission, handling more than hundreds of arbitration cases in the fields of insurance, investment and financing, and funds. The dual identity as an arbitrator and a lawyer enables attorney ZHOU to interpret the focuses of disputes in cases in a comprehensive and in-depth manner when handling cases so as to protect the rights and interests of clients to the greatest extent.

Publications

“Law and Practice China, Insurance & Reinsurance”, Chambers Global Practice Guide 2019.

“The Difference Making-up Clause and Compliance Risks”，China Business Law Journal, 6th issue, 10th series, June 2019.

“On Liability Bearing of Insurers in Litigation Property Preservation Liability Insurance”, Shanghai Lawyer, 10th issue, 2018.

“On Domestic Trade Credit Insurance and its Legal Risk Prevention”, A Commercial Law Response to Risks in Corporate Management, Shanghai Sanlian Press, December 2017.

“On Domestic Trade Credit Insurance and its Legal Risk Prevention”, China Business Law Journal, 4th issue, 7th series, 2016.

“Humanism in Insurance Law”, co-author, Law PressChina, 2012.

Professional Memberships

Arbitrator, CIETAC, SAC, SHIAC, CMAC, Nanjing Arbitration Commission

Mediator, Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center

Board Member, Insurance Law Committee of China Law Society

Chairman, Shanghai Pudong Association of Legal Service

Adjunct Professor, East China University of Political Science and Law

Off-campus Advisor for Graduate, Koguan School of Law, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Part-time Researcher, Insurance Law Research Centre of Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Work Highlights

Attorney Paul (Bo) ZHOU has actively provided non-contentious legal services to companies expected to step up their business market expansion in the post-epidemic recovery phase, while also handling various contractual disputes arising from the epidemic closure and control for various clients. Currently, attorney ZHOU’s representative practices include, but are not limited to:

Provided legal services for China Merchants Securities in a dispute over a stock pledge contract against Great Tiancheng Investment Holdings Co., Ltd. and other companies, overpaying the client up to CNY 240 million, which even exceeded the amount of the huge subject matter of CNY 230 million, with the fact that one of the defendants included an offshore company, attracting considerable attention in the financial industry and among the investor community;

Provided legal services for the case of Rongsheng Property v. Shanghai Hongkou Government over the unit construction land use right grant contract dispute, helping the client to recover CNY 348 million despite the lack of evidence. The case not only had a huge amount of subject matter, but also involved important matters related to Shanghai’s urban development policies such as property project development and compensation for demolition and relocation, having a great social impact;

Represented Cathay Insurance Co., Ltd. in handling its dispute over reinsurance with Yong An Insurance Co., Ltd. The case was won after going through the first instance of the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court, the second instance of the Shaanxi High People’s Court and the retrial of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, prompting the Supreme People’s Court to confirm the Follow-the-Fortunes in the field of reinsurance for the first time;

Provided specialized legal services to China Continent Insurance & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd., issuing multiple legal opinions regarding insurance claims related to the Tianjin explosion case in 2015. The “8-12” Tianjin explosion case received significant attention from society, and the case involved a subject matter value of nearly CNY 1 billion, which had a significant impact on the client.

Personal

Senior Partner/Head of SGLA Executive Committee,SGLA Law Firm Shanghai Office

Clients

Attorney ZHOU’s clients mainly consist of state-owned enterprises, central enterprises, and large-scale group companies, with scale effect, and the clients have high loyalty and are willing to develop long-term and in-depth cooperation with them. With solid professional capabilities and a high level of service, attorney ZHOU acquired a group of high-quality clients in 2022 alone, including but not limited to:

Insurance Industry: Guohua Life Insurance Company Limited, Chubb Insurance Hong Kong Limited, China Life Property & Casualty Insurance Company Limited, Dajia Property and Casualty Company Limited, Asia-Pacific Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd Shanghai Branch, and Allianz China Life Insurance Company Limited, etc.;

Real Estate Industry: Shanghai Shangbei Property Co., Ltd., Shanghai Colliers International Property Services Co., Ltd., Shanghai Fushikang Co., Ltd., Shanghai Lujun Property Co., Ltd., etc.;

Languages Spoken

Mandarin, English

Industry Sector Expertise

The development of technology and socio-economy will inevitably bring about updates in industry patterns. Currently, AI technology is rapidly advancing, and new transaction models are emerging one after another. Relevant legal systems such as data protection, personal information security, cyber security law, e-commerce law, criminal law, consumer rights protection law, anti-unfair competition law, and anti-monopoly law are also constantly improving, resulting in impacts and reshaping of business forms. Given this, attorney ZHOU’s team is timely adapting to changes in these legal systems and is intensifying its research on the aforementioned system changes, actively establishing close cooperative relationships with more enterprises, law firms, and third-party organizations, and working to attract clients from new areas in conjunction with the firm’s branding on the internet.

To establish a professional reputation and enhance clients’ stickiness, attorney ZHOU attaches great importance to cultivating the team’s client management capabilities. The entire team insists on long-term communication with clients, providing timely feedback, and offering personalized legal services. To continuously improve their services, attorney ZHOU’s team pays close attention to client feedback and adjusts their services accordingly. It is due to their collaborative partnership with clients, keen judgment, close internal cooperation, and continuously optimized service solutions that attorney ZHOU’s team is always able to provide efficient legal services and receive consistent acclaim in the market.

Awards