Susan Ning

Practice Areas

Susan Ning is the managing partner of the Regulatory & Compliance Group. Susan’s main areas of practice include cybersecurity and data compliance, antitrust and competition law. In addition, Ms. Ning also practises international trade and investment law.

Career

Susan Ning holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Peking University and a Master of Laws degree from McGill University. She was admitted as a lawyer in China in 1988 and joined King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) in 1995. She currently serves as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Regulatory & Compliance Group.

Her primary areas of practice include antitrust and competition law, cybersecurity and data compliance, as well as international trade and investment law.

Well before the promulgation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (2008), Cybersecurity Law (2017), Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law (2021), Susan actively advised and assisted Chinese government authorities in legislative drafting. Following their enactment, she continued to participate extensively in the development of related regulations, implementing measures and guidelines. Through her long-standing advisory work and rich experience representing clients in antitrust investigations, she has maintained close and constructive working relationships with key regulators in China.

Under her leadership, the KWM cybersecurity and data compliance team participates in the formulation of national industry standards as a member of the Information Security Management Working Group of the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee, the Big Data Standards Working Group of the National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee, and the National Artificial Intelligence Standardization General Group.

Susan and her team are widely recognized as leading practitioners in China’s antitrust and data compliance sectors. She has been consistently ranked as a leading lawyer by prestigious international legal directories for more than a decade. In 2025, she was recognized as an Eminent Practitioner in Data Protection & Privacy and Competition/Antitrust by Chambers Greater China, and was named the only Chinese lawyer in the Global Market Leaders: AI category by Chambers Global. In 2026, she was inducted into The Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Competition Law and Antitrust. She has also received numerous accolades including “Women Lawyer of the Year” by Asian Legal Business (ALB) and “Leading Lawyer in Antitrust and Competition Law” by Chambers Asia Pacific, The Legal 500, IFLR and asialaw.

Professional Memberships

Vice-Chair, ICC Commission on Competition

Co-Chair, ICC Task Force on Competition and Digital Economy

Chair, GCR Connect Law Leaders Asia-Pacific

Advisory Board Member, New Champions Community, World Economic Forum

Antitrust Expert, Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Administration

Former Founding Chairman, Antitrust Committee, Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA)

Publications

Author of China Anti-Monopoly Law Guide (published by CCH)

Recipient of the Antitrust Writing Award 2019 by Concurrences

Regular contributor to leading international competition law journals including Global Competition Review (GCR) and Euromoney Competition & Antitrust Review

Author of China chapters for leading global practice guides:

Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guides:

Cybersecurity (2020–2024)

Artificial Intelligence (2022–2024)

International Comparative Legal Guides:

Data Protection (2019–2024)

Cybersecurity (2018–2024)

AI, Machine Learning & Big Data (2021–2024)

Author of numerous articles on antitrust law, data compliance, cybersecurity, and digital economy published in LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, Competition Policy International, and major Chinese legal journals

Clients

Apple, Nike, Walmart, Adobe, Johnson & Johnson, Morgan Stanley, L'Oréal, Colgate, Volvo, Daimler, Jaguar Land Rover, Roche, Stryker, Ping An, Agricultural Bank of China, China UnionPay, Baidu, Didi, Ant Group, AIA, State Grid, CNOOC, ConocoPhillips, Bain Capital, CICC, Geely Auto, SenseTime, Li Auto, Xiaohongshu, Himalaya, Horizon Robotics, Zhipu AI, DEEPSEEK, MINIMAX, China Everbright Bank, Taikang Insurance, Sany Group, Beijing Capital Airport, Aisino, Qi An Xin, Sangfor, YMTC, UNISOC, LinkDoc, Ruipeng Pet Healthcare, Vetoo Orthopaedics, Huolala, Sun Hung Kai, Link REIT, Joy Group, Aibee, Orbbec

Work Highlights

According to public information, Susan has led a series of groundbreaking cases.

• In 1997, she represented a client in China's first anti-dumping investigation case.

• In 2002, she took the lead in establishing the legal service team for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games project. In the same year, she handled the first lawsuit after China's accession to the World Trade Organization - representing the Ministry of Commerce of China in suing the United States over its steel safeguard measures.

• In 2003, Susan established King & Wood Mallesons' antitrust team (one of the earliest professional teams in China engaged in data compliance business). The following year, she participated in the commercial merger and acquisition case of FedEx's acquisition of Kinko's.

• After the formal implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law, in 2010, she represented the first anti-monopoly lawsuit in China involving a comprehensive analysis of competition law - the case of Qihoo suing Tencent for abuse of market dominance.

• In 2011, she participated in the first anti-monopoly lawsuit in China related to standard essential patents and involving intellectual property rights - the case of Huawei suing IDC for abuse of market dominance.

• In 2013, she represented Saint Ouen in responding to the US 337 investigation and achieved a great victory.

• In 2014, Susan established King & Wood Mallesons' cybersecurity and data compliance team, helping numerous domestic and foreign enterprises to deal with compliance challenges as well as various government investigations and lawsuits (one of the earliest professional teams in China engaged in data compliance business).

• In 2015, she established King & Wood Mallesons' Business Compliance Department (one of the earliest departments specifically engaged in compliance business established in Chinese law firms) and so on.

Languages Spoken

Chinese, English , French

Industry Sector Expertise

Technology & AI, Internet & Digital Economy, Telecommunications, Automotive, Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Goods & Retail, Energy, Manufacturing, Transportation, Aviation, Real Estate, Semiconductors, Cybersecurity

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, United States, European Union, Asia-Pacific

Experience

Specialized in AI, antitrust & competition law, merger control, cybersecurity & data compliance, and international trade. Extensive experience in merger filings, antitrust investigations, cartel leniency, data compliance and GDPR. Advised numerous Fortune Global 500 and leading enterprises across industries. Long-term engagement in legislative and standard-setting work for PRC AI, antitrust and data security laws.

Education