On 2 December 2025, international legal ranking agency LEGALBAND released its “2025 LEGALBAND BOB China Top 30 Lawyers” list. GEN Law Firm is pleased to announce that partner Steve Zhao has been named to this list, in recognition of his market-leading expertise in China’s legal services sector and his strong reputation among clients and peers.

Reason for Recognition

Since the outset of his career, Mr Zhao has acted in a substantial number of high-impact and precedent-setting intellectual property disputes, spanning trademarks, copyright, unfair competition, trade secrets, internet and platform-related matters, new plant varieties, data rights and interests, and artificial intelligence. He is recognised for his sophisticated advocacy and his ability to combine deep technical knowledge of IP law with commercially focused and forward-looking advice. Mr Zhao is particularly adept at rigorously analysing complex facts and evidence and at developing innovative approaches in cases involving novel legal issues. He regularly challenges traditional evidentiary methodologies in cutting-edge disputes and leads his team in deploying agile and creative litigation strategies. His work is consistently directed at comprehensively protecting clients’ legitimate rights and interests, while aligning dispute-resolution strategy with broader business and operational objectives.

Client Feedback

“Mr Zhao has dedicated himself to the intellectual property field for twenty years and has extensive experience in internet, data rights protection and new forms of unfair competition litigation, with strong industry insight and litigation foresight. In an unfair competition dispute against a financial information company, he devised creative approaches to evidence preservation and damages calculation, enabling us to secure an award in excess of RMB 10 million. At an early stage of the matter, Mr Zhao and the GEN team conducted a careful analysis of our business model and proposed enhanced compliance measures, demonstrating their in-depth understanding of the internet industry. We highly value the performance of Mr Zhao and the GEN team and regard them as particularly well suited to handle significant disputes involving internet enterprises, making them our preferred legal service provider.”