Kangda Law Firm

Civil and Commercial Dispute Resolution

Partner

Mr. Zhang Zhiguo comes from a family of judges and previously served as a judge and integrity supervisor in Beijing, where he adjudicated over a thousand civil and commercial cases and was recognised with honours including "Case Handling Expert" and "Outstanding Civil Servant."

In the field of dispute resolution, he excels at combining judicial thinking with lawyerly advocacy, identifying key moments in court proceedings and anticipating the direction of judgments. He is skilled at identifying critical issues in disputes, exploring solutions from civil, administrative and criminal perspectives to reverse difficult situations and deliver practical outcomes. Clients commonly describe him as having "a big-picture approach, judicial reasoning and professionalism" in handling matters.

In terms of industry focus, he has for many years cultivated deep expertise in construction engineering. He has provided legal services to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, China State Construction, MCC, China Railway Construction Corporation and China National Aviation Fuel Group, among other government bodies and central state-owned enterprises. He authored the ministry's cutting-edge research topic "Research on Litigation Risk Management in Administrative Licensing for Construction Enterprise Qualification" and represented the Ministry in discussions on draft judicial interpretations including the Supreme People's Court's "Interpretation (II) on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Construction Contract Disputes". He has provided full-process legal solutions (from cooperative development to property management) to numerous real estate companies including Pearl River, Jinke, Aoyuan, Guorui and Sino-Ocean.

Representative Achievements:

Dispute Resolution Cases:

• Represented in an investment agreement arbitration case involving over RMB 1 billion.

• Represented in a dispute concerning the validity of investment repurchase clauses and guarantee provisions, involving over ten investment entities (including overseas parties).

• Represented a university in a Supreme People's Court retrial case seeking to invalidate a property sales contract between a developer and a third party.

• Represented Guorui Real Estate in a sales contract dispute with UK-based R Company, obtaining arbitration support.

• Represented Guorui Real Estate in an equity dispute appeal, securing a reversal on appeal.

• Represented a Beijing real estate company in a creditor subrogation dispute against an urban construction company, prevailing.

• Represented Pearl River Real Estate in a property sales contract dispute.

• Represented Sino-Ocean Group in a series of construction cases.

• Represented Shiliu Real Estate in a series of cases.

• Represented a Qinghai power company in an EPC contract dispute for a solar power project, obtaining arbitration support.

• Represented an MCC subsidiary in an EPC contract dispute for a steel plant project.

• Represented an MCC subsidiary in an EPC contract dispute for a new environmental protection equipment (waste heat power generation) project.

• Represented an aviation fuel company in a construction contract dispute for oil storage tanks; prevailed in arbitration agreement validity dispute, leading to settlement.

• Represented an MCC subsidiary in a construction contract and guarantee liability dispute with the Hulunbuir Agricultural Reclamation Group, securing a full reversal on appeal, upheld by the Supreme People's Court on retrial.

• Represented a Inner Mongolia expressway company in a construction contract dispute with Fujian Construction Engineering Group.

• Represented a Henan expressway company in a construction contract dispute with Guangshui Second Bureau.

• Represented a China Railway subsidiary in a financing sales contract dispute (involving criminal offences including forgery of seals and contract fraud).

• Represented a China State Construction subsidiary in an equipment and materials procurement contract dispute.

• Represented Jiada Company in a project settlement dispute against a construction engineering group, prevailing.

• Represented a mining machinery company against Donghua Tairui, securing support after retrial on remand.

• Represented an automation equipment company in a work contract dispute with Shanghai A Company, prevailing.

• Represented a supermarket in a decoration and renovation case, successfully using litigation to facilitate settlement.

• Represented a Sichuan materials company in a construction dispute retrial against an international engineering company.

• Represented a Xi'an university in a Supreme People's Court retrial case, prevailing.

• Represented Century Wen Company in a series of contract disputes against cultural authorities in Henan, Shandong and other provinces, prevailing.

• Represented a China National Chemical subsidiary in a construction contract case.

Non-Litigation Projects:

• Long-term legal counsel to a real estate company, participating in resolving over one hundred disputes relating to daily operations including equity disputes, property sales disputes, debt assignment disputes, enforcement objection disputes, administrative reconsideration and litigation, covering dozens of case types across criminal, civil, administrative, enforcement and notarial matters.

• Provided legal advisory services on criminal and civil liabilities concerning investment, executive liability, capital withdrawal and fictitious transactions for a large Beijing state-owned enterprise.

• Provided a special legal services proposal for a state-owned enterprise regarding investment funds from a real estate cooperative development project that had been outstanding for over ten years.

• Provided legal advice on equity structure design for a real estate company.

• Provided legal advice to Gezhouba Group Power Company on project settlement disputes in wind power generation projects.

• Represented a state-owned enterprise in the full-process participation in the series of bankruptcy and restructuring cases of Dongbei Special Steel Group Co., Ltd. and its affiliates, a nationally significant case, recovering hundreds of millions of yuan in losses.

• Provided a special legal proposal for a real estate development dispute between Gezhoudong City Government and a real estate development company.

• Provided special legal advice to a well-known domestic consulting institution on bid-rigging issues.

Enforcement Projects:

• Assisted multiple enterprises in resolving issues related to being listed as judgment debtors.

• Successfully obtained a freeze on a real estate company's primary bank account and a seizure of its well-known commercial complex in Beijing, facilitating settlement.

• Successfully revived multiple "closed enforcement cases" to secure the realisation of creditors' claims.

• Successfully completed the transfer of enforcement jurisdiction from the first-seizing court and facilitated the auction of properties, concluding enforcement cases that had remained unresolved for years.

Chinese (Mandarin)

• Bachelor of Laws, China University of Political Science and Law

• Master of Criminal Law, China University of Political Science and Law

Professional Publications

• Principal contributor to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development research topic "Research on Litigation Risk Management in Administrative Licensing for Construction Enterprise Qualification".

• Represented the Ministry in discussions on the Supreme People's Court's draft of "Interpretation (II) on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Construction Contract Disputes".

• Participated in discussions on the Ministry's 2017 "Construction Contract (Model Text)".

• Represented the Ministry in discussions on the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Agreement Cases" (draft).

• Represented the Ministry in discussions on the draft "Contract Compilation of the Civil Code".

• Independently authored the "Meeting Minutes on Property Sales Contract Disputes" for standardising adjudication criteria.

• Independently authored the "Meeting Minutes on the Validity of Lease Contracts for Buildings Involving Unauthorised Construction" for standardising adjudication criteria.

• Editor-in-chief of "Statistical Analysis of Legal Issues in Rural Housing Ownership Transfers", awarded Third Prize in the 2014 Beijing Courts Outstanding Judicial Statistical Analysis.

• Independently authored multiple case analyses including "The Distinction Between Work Contracts and Employment Relationships Based on Long-Term Cooperation Should Be Based on the Specificity of the Work and the Subordination of Working Hours" and "Developers Do Not Hold Property Rights Over Roads for Which No Property Ownership Certificate Has Been Obtained", selected for the "Beijing Courts Annual Case Selections".