△Mr. Zhao Shuzhou (third from right) and Mr. Shen Xiangman (third from left) appointed as pioneer mediators by GICMC

In August 2019, China signed up to the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (also known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation), which will bring a profound impact on China's blueprint of becoming an international commercial dispute resolution center in the future. GICMC, plans to be a diversified settlement platform for commercial disputes based on Guangzhou, radiating the Greater Bay Area and facing the world, is hence established in Guangzhou with an aim to resolve growing commercial disputes, to establish a sound and diversified dispute resolution mechanism, to help Guangzhou build the most convenient city for public legal services, to provide professional legal services for the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and to create a market-oriented, legalized and international business environment.

Jingtian & Gongcheng Guangzhou Office was officially established in the end of 2019. Mr. Zhao Shuzhou, Mr. Shen Xiangman, and other partners joined Jingtian & Gongcheng together with their teams, consisting of about 20 members in total. The legal team has fairly extensive experience in foreign-related commercial areas such as admiralty & maritime, international trade, offshore engineering, cross-border dispute resolution, cross-border investment, finance compliance, and so on. The appointment of Mr. Zhao Shuzhou and Mr. Shen Xiangman as pioneer mediators, both previously awarded as “Elite Foreign Business Lawyers of Guangzhou City” by Guangzhou Lawyer Association in 2018, shows recognition from the legal circle for the professional competence of the foreign-related legal team of Jingtian & Gongcheng Guangzhou Office.