Biography
Professional Profile
Mr. Leon Zheng is an experienced practitioner specializing in insurance law and marine insurance law. He currently serves as Director and Managing Partner of Shanghai Horizon Law Firm; Chair of the Supervisory Board and Chief Mediator of the Shanghai Yangpu Xiehe Civil and Commercial Dispute Mediation Center; a board member of the Shanghai Pudong New Area Huafu Social Service Center; a director of Hola Claim Service Pte. Ltd. in Singapore; a director of Rich Fun Group in Thailand; an arbitrator; and an external postgraduate supervisor.
Mr. Zheng earned a master's degree in international law from the School of Law, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. Throughout his career, he has focused on legal matters involving international trade, shipping and insurance. He has extensive experience in cross-border legal cooperation and is particularly familiar with the laws and policies governing corporate matters, trade and investment in New Zealand and Thailand.
Mr. Zheng previously worked for several leading Chinese insurers. At different stages of his insurance career, he served as a Senior Claims Examiner at head office and as Head of Claims of a business division. His responsibilities included managing head-office claims and legal departments, a shipping business division and branch business departments. He has a deep understanding of China's insurance industry and extensive theoretical and practical experience in insurance and insurance law, shipping and maritime law. His current clients include numerous insurers and a number of shipping companies in mainland China.
Mr. Zheng has focused on insurance litigation for more than 20 years. His practice covers contentious and non-contentious matters across all classes of insurance. Before joining Horizon, he practiced for many years as a Senior Partner at Shanghai Rolmax Law Office and was personally involved in more than 1,000 major, difficult and complex insurance claims disputes.
The insurance law team led by Mr. Zheng has become an influential participant in China's insurance, marine insurance and reinsurance legal-services market. The team has acted in numerous industry-significant appellate and retrial proceedings before provincial high courts and the Supreme People's Court. Representative matters include Supreme People's Court Civil Retrial Case (2018) Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 453, selected as one of the Supreme People's Court's Ten Typical Maritime Trial Cases of 2018, and Shanghai Financial Court Civil Appeal Case (2025) Hu 74 Min Zhong No. 135, selected as one of the Ten Typical Property Insurance Dispute Cases released by the Shanghai Financial Court in 2026.
Legal Technology and International Collaboration
Mr. Zheng is also an early pioneer in China's legal-technology sector. He has long researched and applied internet and big-data technologies in conventional litigation services. In 2015, he founded Shanghai Fayan Data Technology Co., Ltd. and the legal big-data platform HiWinner. He continues to develop and promote innovative applications and ecosystems for AI-enabled legal services, with a particular focus on the practical use of artificial intelligence in legal work and on collaborative ecosystem development. He has open-sourced Claude-for-Legal (HoriZon), a suite of intelligent-agent plugins designed for Chinese legal practice.
Mr. Zheng also leads the Global Law Connect project and has established an industry-shared Cross-Border Practice Committee. Its cooperating-lawyer network spans 112 countries and regions and connects more than 5,200 overseas lawyers. Through this network, the project offers one-stop, two-way coordination for cross-border litigation, arbitration and non-contentious matters involving corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, taxation, intellectual property, trade, customs, cross-border insurer subrogation recovery, asset preservation and enforcement.
Principal Practice Areas
Mr. Zheng and his team primarily advise on insurance disputes, maritime and shipping matters, international trade and cross-border investment. He has an in-depth understanding of insurer compliance procedures and extensive experience handling disputes involving marine insurance, non-marine property insurance, liability insurance, health insurance, critical illness insurance, medical insurance and personal accident insurance.
His practice also covers insurer subrogation recovery, ship collisions, oil pollution, cargo loss, shortage and damage claims, international trade contract disputes and related legal matters. He is particularly experienced in coordinating with lawyers worldwide on cross-border legal matters.
Selected Publications
- "Defining the Connotation and Extending the Scope of the Concept of 'Holder of a Bill of Lading' under Chinese Maritime Law," World Shipping.
- "The Legal Safeguard System for Receivables Financing in China's International Trade and Proposals for Its Improvement," Practice in Foreign Economic Relations and Trade.
- "An Analysis of the Legal Status of the 'Beneficiary' in Property Insurance and the Balancing of Interests," Maritime Law and Insurance Law Review, Vol. 10.
- A Chinese Lawyer's Self-Study Handbook on Legal AI, Traditional Chinese edition, Amazon KDP.
- Legal AI Hallucinations - Global Case Compilation and Professional Practice Warnings, Traditional Chinese and English editions, Amazon KDP.
- Insurer's Subrogation: Under the Laws of the People's Republic of China, Traditional Chinese and English editions, Amazon KDP.