Cleary Gottlieb Adds Shuang Zhao as Partner in Hong Kong Office

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced today that Shuang Zhao will shortly join the firm as a partner in its Hong Kong office. Ms. Zhao, 45, joins the firm from the Hong Kong office of Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she was a partner focusing on capital markets transactions.

“Cleary Gottlieb has had a continuous presence in Asia for 35 years. The addition of Shuang demonstrates our continued deep commitment to our practice there, and it follows the firm’s launch of a local law practice in Hong Kong in early 2011 and the opening of our Seoul office in 2012,” said Cleary Gottlieb Managing Partner Mark Leddy. “Shuang adds deep China-based expertise and experience to our already internationally recognized global capital markets practice.” With the addition of Ms. Zhao, the firm will have approximately 60 lawyers in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Seoul, including nine partners and two counsel.

Ms. Zhao advises Chinese corporate clients and investment banks on capital markets transactions in the United States and Hong Kong. She also assists Chinese corporate clients on a wide range of legal issues arising out of their operations in China and elsewhere.

Ms. Zhao, a PRC native, received her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. She is a New York and Hong Kong-qualified lawyer and has practiced at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Hong Kong for the last five years.

Ms. Zhao said “Cleary Gottlieb has an outstanding reputation worldwide for providing excellent advice to clients on the most complex and high profile transactions. I am looking forward to working with the firm’s clients and world class lawyers to help build on the firm’s success in this exciting new phase of my career.”

About Cleary Gottlieb’s Asia Practice

Cleary Gottlieb has had an active presence in Asia for 35 years, beginning with the opening of its Hong Kong office in 1980, followed by the opening of its Beijing office in 2006 and its Seoul office in 2012. The firm launched a Hong Kong local law practice in February 2011. One of the first U.S. law firms to establish an office in Asia, the firm has strengthened its commitment to the region over the years and is involved in ground-breaking M&A, private equity, capital markets, restructuring, and sovereign debt matters.

The firm has substantial experience acting as international counsel in capital markets, private equity, and other M&A transactions involving China-based companies. Examples of recent transactions include representing Legend Holdings Corp., a Chinese conglomerate that is the largest shareholder in Lenovo Group Ltd., in its Hong Kong-listed IPO; Morgan Stanley and BOCI in the $2.36 billion Hong Kong-listed IPO of WH Group Limited, the world’s largest pork company; a consortium of Hua Capital Management, CITIC Capital Holdings and Goldstone Investment in the acquisition of Omnivision Technologies; TPG in the going private transaction involving Chindex International, Inc., a leading health care company providing hospital services in China; and Whirlpool in its $552 million acquisition of a 51% stake in Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., a company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

For more information about the firm’s global and Asia practice, please click here.

About Cleary Gottlieb

Founded in 1946 by lawyers committed to legal excellence, internationalism, and diversity, Cleary Gottlieb is a leading international law firm with approximately 1,200 lawyers around the world.