The third Shenzhen Legal Services Exposition opened on 29 August 2026 at Hall 6 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian. Wang Wei, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen; Chen Yongkang, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director-General of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice; and Xiao Shengfang, Vice President of the All China Lawyers Association and President of the Guangdong Lawyers Association, attended the opening ceremony and delivered addresses. Other attendees included Wang Kun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau; and Tang Huajun, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director-General of the Anhui Provincial Department of Justice and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Anhui legal profession. More than 220 guests took part, representing judicial administration departments, the legal profession in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, universities, businesses and professional institutions.
On the afternoon of 30 August, Dandan Fei, a partner at Guantao Law Firm in Shenzhen, took part in the exposition’s session on “Corporate Legal Risk Management in the Context of International Cooperation” and spoke at the roundtable on “Legal Services Cooperation among APEC Member Economies”.
Held on 29 and 30 August under the theme of integrating services with manufacturing and connecting the world through the rule of law, the exposition was organised by the Shenzhen Lawyers Association with guidance from the Guangdong Lawyers Association. It brought together 178 exhibiting organisations, with 186 booths and ten accompanying sessions.
Advancing regional exchanges and cooperation in legal services
Officials from the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong SAR Government, justice bureaus in the nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area and relevant Shenzhen government departments also attended the opening ceremony, alongside representatives of the legal profession, businesses and professional institutions from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.
The exposition comprised five sections: legal services exhibitions, practical discussions, thematic activities, services for the public and businesses, and recruitment. Exhibitors included law firms and providers of arbitration, notarial services, forensic appraisal, mediation, accounting, taxation and legal technology, offering opportunities for exchanges between businesses and professional institutions in China and abroad.
At the opening ceremony, Xiao Shengfang joined representatives of 12 legal professional bodies in signing the Greater Bay Area Initiative on AI Applications in Legal Services. The signatories included José Antonio Maurellet SC, Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association; Roden Tong Man-lung, President of the Law Society of Hong Kong; and Zhang Bin, President of the Shenzhen Lawyers Association. The initiative addressed lawyers’ central professional role, the review and verification of AI-generated content, and clients’ right to be informed, advocating responsible use of AI in legal services.
The opening ceremony also featured the release of work on international legal services in the Greater Bay Area. The Shenzhen Lawyers Association published “Asia-Pacific Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence: Legal Questions and Answers (Blue Paper)” and “Expanding into the Asia-Pacific: Country-Specific Questions and Answers on Investment, Trade and the Ascertainment of Foreign Law (Blue Paper)” as reference material for cross-border legal services. It also released the “15th Five-Year Development Plan for Shenzhen’s Legal Profession (2026–2030)”.
On 29 August, Huang Huikang, a member of the United Nations International Law Commission, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on International Law of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Supreme People’s Court’s International Commercial Expert Committee, delivered a presentation entitled “Advancing Two-Way Cooperation through the Rule of Law and Supporting Overseas Industrial Expansion through Rules: New Approaches to Coordinated Development between Legal Services and Manufacturing under the APEC Framework”.
International cooperation was a major part of the exposition. An APEC international exhibition area brought together lawyers from 15 APEC member economies to present their professional rules and services and exchange views with legal services institutions in China and abroad. International arbitration institutions, representative offices of foreign law firms in China and overseas service networks of Chinese law firms also participated, discussing practice rules and service arrangements across jurisdictions.
The exposition’s six practical discussions and four thematic activities covered cross-border legal services, legal technology and dispute resolution for businesses expanding overseas. Guests from in-house legal departments, universities, arbitration institutions and law firms discussed legal issues arising in international business operations.
Corporate legal risk management in international cooperation
The session on “Corporate Legal Risk Management in the Context of International Cooperation” took place on the afternoon of 30 August. It was organised by the Shenzhen Lawyers Association and delivered by its Committee for Corporate and Government Lawyers, with special support from the Hainan Arbitration Center of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC). Lou Hong, a council member of the Shenzhen Lawyers Association and chair of the committee, moderated the session.
Liu Weidong, Head of the Lawyers Administration Division at the Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, addressed the session. The session comprised keynote presentations and two roundtables on legal risks arising in international business operations.
Keynote presentations by Li Wen, Vice President of ZTE Corporation; Li Zhiyong, General Counsel of China Construction Science and Industry Corporation; and Mark Feldman, Interim Dean of Peking University School of Transnational Law covered outbound data security management systems and practice, changes in overseas risk management models for construction companies, and cooperation and development in the rule of law between China and the United States, respectively.
The keynote programme also scheduled presentations by Zhang Ying, Deputy Head of the Foreign-Related Rule of Law Division at the Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, on Shenzhen’s development of its international legal framework; Jin Xi, Deputy Secretary-General of CIETAC’s Hainan Arbitration Center, on identifying and managing risks in international trade contracts; and Wang Hao, Deputy Head of the Research Division at the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, on dispute resolution for Chinese businesses expanding overseas and international arbitration practice.
At the roundtable on “Legal Services Cooperation among APEC Member Economies”, Dandan Fei, a partner at Guantao Law Firm in Shenzhen, joined guests from businesses, universities, professional associations and specialist institutions to discuss coordination in cross-border legal services, collaboration among professional resources and corporate risk management. Li Xiaolin, Head of Legal and Compliance at China Railway Southern Investment Group, moderated the discussion.
Coordinating legal services across jurisdictions and disciplines
Fei said that, as economic and trade ties across the Asia-Pacific region deepen, legal services cooperation among APEC member economies should build on exchanges about rules and connections between professional networks. It should develop further into coordinated services across jurisdictions and disciplines to respond to the practical needs of businesses investing and operating internationally.
She highlighted the value of helping businesses understand and navigate the rules of different jurisdictions, translating legal and regulatory differences into practical business conditions that they can assess, act on and manage.
Collaboration across jurisdictions and disciplines can improve predictability for cross-border investment and business operations. Fei called for more stable and efficient professional support for businesses operating internationally and for economic and trade cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The same session also included a roundtable on building international in-house legal teams and managing external counsel. The roundtable invited Zhou Wen, General Manager of the Legal Department at Shenzhen UBTECH Robotics; Zhou Jing, Head of Compliance at Desay SV Automotive; Xie Guohui, General Manager of the Legal and Compliance Center at Sunwoda Electronic; Wang Kun, Deputy General Manager of the Property Rights and Legal Department at Shenzhen Energy Group; and Careen H.Y. Wong, Vice-President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, as invited participants. Yu Minfeng, Head of Audit and Legal Affairs at Shenzhen Railway Investment and Construction Group, moderated the discussion.
Fei and the other participants exchanged views on practical approaches to legal services cooperation among APEC member economies.
