Merits & Tree Law Offices recently announced the official opening of its Silicon Valley office in the United States and welcomed veteran cross-border dispute resolution lawyer Guanglei Zhang (张光磊) to the firm. Mr. Zhang will serve as the Head of the Silicon Valley office and the Lead Partner for the Cross-border Dispute Resolution practice. Prior to joining the firm Mr. Zhang practiced at Jingtian & Gongcheng where he served as an equity partner. The establishment of the Silicon Valley office marks a further extension of the overseas professional service network of Merits & Tree into the North American market following the opening of its Hong Kong office representing a crucial step in the execution of the global expansion strategy under the Second Five-Year Plan of the firm.
Mr. Zhang has long cultivated deep expertise in major commercial dispute resolution, international arbitration, and cross-border litigation. He has represented domestic and international clients in hundreds of complex civil and commercial disputes before leading arbitral institutions including the ICC, ICDR/AAA, HKIAC, CIETAC, and SCIA as well as before the Supreme People's Court. He possesses a sophisticated understanding of the commercial dynamics of investment and financing transactions with extensive experience handling disputes involving valuation adjustment mechanisms, corporate control, and cross-border parallel proceedings. Notably he has advised leading Chinese companies on U.S. investor class actions, antitrust litigation, and U.S. discovery. In a landmark mandate he submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing U.S. court discovery in aid of a Chinese arbitration advancing a position that was ultimately adopted by the Court.
Mr. Zhang holds an LL.B. and both an LL.M. and a Ph.D. in Civil and Commercial Law from China University of Political Science and Law as well as an LL.M. from The George Washington University. He also served as a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School. He is qualified to practice law in the PRC and is admitted to the bars of New York State and the State of California.
Merits & Tree stated in a press release that the core positioning of the Silicon Valley office is to build a China-US cross-border service hub that combines deep local practical execution with integrated platform consolidation capabilities. The practice will focus on cross-border dispute resolution, corporate and M&A transactions, government regulation and compliance, intellectual property, and hard tech sectors. For specific cross-jurisdictional matters the Silicon Valley office will undertake the professional bridging and project coordination of businesses between China and the US facilitating seamless collaboration between local American professional institutions and the Merits & Tree team in China.
Haitao Long (龙海涛), Chair of the Management Committee at Merits & Tree, pointed out that establishing the Silicon Valley office is a strategic choice made by the firm to adapt to the deepening global footprint of its clients and the evolution of cross-border business. Mr. Long emphasized that this move aims to bridge the physical distance with overseas markets and clients while strengthening the synergy between professional teams in China and the US. He added that the dual legal education background and cross-jurisdictional practice credentials of Mr. Zhang align perfectly with the strategic development plans of the Silicon Valley office.
With the official establishment of the Silicon Valley office Merits & Tree has now deployed a global network of nine offices located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley.
