What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

As General Counsel, I have strategically positioned the legal function as a critical enabler of business growth and a guardian of enterprise value. Over the past year, my leadership has been pivotal in several high-stakes areas:

1. Driving Strategic Growth & Building Future Platforms
I spearheaded the end-to-end establishment of a new, strategically vital fund management entity. This was not merely a regulatory exercise; it was a foundational project to create a next-generation investment platform. I architected its entire governance, risk, and compliance framework, successfully navigating a rigorous regulatory approval process to secure its license. This new platform is poised to serve as the cornerstone for our future fundraising and investment activities. Concurrently, my team’s expert navigation of complex regulatory and structuring issues was instrumental in the successful launch of multiple flagship funds and the closing of strategic investments in core sectors, directly facilitating the firm’s capital deployment goals.

2. Architecting a Proactive Portfolio Governance Model
To manage and de-risk a rapidly expanding portfolio of over 50 entities, I designed and implemented a sophisticated, proactive legal stewardship program. This model moves beyond traditional reactive support, embedding my team as strategic advisors to the investment team. We provide forward-looking risk assessments and strategic solutions that actively contribute to portfolio value preservation and operational maturity. Furthermore, I have overseen the execution of a high volume of complex secondary transactions and LP stake transfers, creating liquidity pathways for investors while ensuring flawless contractual and regulatory compliance.

3. Mastering Complex Exits & Protecting Investor Capital
A key testament to our function’s value is our performance in capital realisation. This year, I led the exit strategy for a diverse range of investments. We executed seamless, efficient exits for numerous early-stage companies and, when required, deployed a robust litigation and arbitration strategy to protect our interests in high-stakes redemption disputes. My direct leadership in several critical arbitrations, including the implementation of pre-emptive asset preservation measures, was decisive in achieving successful outcomes and safeguarding significant investor capital.

4. Future-Proofing the Enterprise Through Governance Innovation
Anticipating the needs of a scaling organization, I initiated and led a full-scale modernisation of our corporate governance and enterprise risk management framework. We engineered a bespoke suite of internal control systems and policies for the group and its new platforms, significantly enhancing our operational resilience and regulatory preparedness. This foundational work ensures the firm is equipped to manage risk and capitalize on opportunities in an evolving regulatory landscape.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

During periods of market instability, my approach to legal risk management focuses on building systemic resilience through three strategic pillars that address fundamental vulnerabilities in China’s private equity sector:

First, we have reconstructed our investor framework to mitigate liquidity risks stemming from macroeconomic shifts. By implementing innovative capital commitment mechanisms and developing comprehensive contingency plans for key institutional partners, we have created a robust buffer against potential funding disruptions.

Second, we developed a sophisticated portfolio triage system that integrates legal indicators with China-specific operational factors. This enables rapid assessment and response to portfolio stress, balancing legal protections with strategic business continuity considerations across our investment spectrum.

Third, we established an anticipatory regulatory engagement model that tracks policy evolution across multiple governance levels. This forward-looking approach allows us to navigate regulatory transitions smoothly, particularly during periods of heightened policy uncertainty, ensuring both compliance and operational continuity.

Through this integrated framework, we have transformed legal governance from a defensive function into a strategic resilience architecture. Our proactive systems not only protect investor capital during downturns but actually create competitive advantage by maintaining operational momentum when peers are constrained by crisis response.

  AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?          

AI has transitioned from a theoretical promise to a practical enabler within our legal function, though its impact has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Our approach has been deliberately strategic, focusing on augmenting professional expertise rather than replacing it, specifically targeting chronic industry pain points.

We have systematically integrated AI across three core domains:

Deal Flow & Document Intelligence: In an industry dominated by high-volume, complex agreements, we deploy specialized AI tools for primary due diligence and contract abstraction. These systems instantly analyse hundreds of pages of investment documents, flagging non-standard clauses, potential liabilities, and compliance gaps. This shifts our lawyers’ role from initial review to strategic risk assessment and negotiation strategy, significantly accelerating closing timelines and enhancing early-stage risk detection.

 Regulatory Compliance & Portfolio Monitoring: Navigating China’s dynamic regulatory landscape is a paramount challenge. We utilize AI-powered regulatory tracking systems that monitor updates from regulatory bodies in real-time. The technology helps us to map new requirements to our internal policies and fund documents, providing actionable alerts. Furthermore, we employ AI-driven analytics to scan portfolio company disclosures and public data, identifying early-warning signals of operational or reputational risk long before they escalate.

 Knowledge Management & Workflow Automation: We have employed a centralized, AI-powered knowledge repository that learns from our past deals, legal opinions, and dispute resolutions. This allows the team to instantly access precedent knowledge and model clauses, ensuring consistency and drastically reducing reinvention. Automating routine tasks (e.g., NDA generation, standard compliance filings) has freed significant bandwidth, allowing the team to focus on high-stakes strategic advisory, complex structuring, and crisis management.

 In essence, AI has become our force multiplier. It has not diminished the need for seasoned legal judgment but has empowered our team to exercise it more efficiently, proactively, and strategically, ultimately strengthening our role as essential partners in driving the firm’s growth and safeguarding its resilience.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?  

Our decision to engage external counsel is guided by a strategic framework that balances cost efficiency, specialised expertise, and risk management. We prioritise matters requiring highly specialised knowledge beyond our core competencies—such as novel financial product structuring, cross-border transactions involving multiple jurisdictions, or complex litigation and arbitration. Additionally, we leverage external support during peak workloads to maintain operational agility without expanding fixed overhead.

In selecting and evaluating external firms, we employ a rigorous multi-factor assessment model. Beyond traditional metrics like cost and responsiveness, we prioritise industry-specific expertise in private equity and deep familiarity with CSRC and AMAC regulatory nuances. We value proactive strategic guidance—the ability to anticipate regulatory shifts and provide forward-looking solutions rather than reactive advice. A critical criterion is their integration capability with our internal processes, ensuring seamless collaboration and knowledge transfer that strengthens our institutional capabilities long-term.

Performance is continuously measured through a scorecard system tracking matter outcomes, cost predictability, innovation in solution design, and their contribution to our team’s professional development. This disciplined approach ensures our external partnerships are strategic investments that enhance both our operational resilience and long-term competitive advantage.