Overview

Hongjun Zhang, Ph.D. advises clients on a broad range of legal issues including:

  • regulatory compliance and government relation matters in China such as environmental protection, climate change, energy efficiency, chemical management and product stewardship
  • business and regulatory review of cross-border transactional projects in China for the U.S. and multinational corporations
  • business and regulatory counseling of investment and other transactional projects in the U.S. for Chinese corporations and investors

Dr. Zhang represents a number of Fortune 500 and multinational corporations, major industry associations and leading foundations and nonprofit organizations.

In addition, Dr. Zhang has extensive experience on both the industry and government sides of compliance and business-risk management issues facing companies investing in the Chinese market. He routinely brings this experience to bear on emerging client challenges associated with auditing, ensuring facility and supplier compliance with corporate and Chinese standards, and China's rapidly evolving laws affecting laborers, products and supply chains. Dr. Zhang has also advised a number of foundations and nonprofit organizations on their China strategy and operation.

Dr. Zhang currently serves as the board chair of the Energy Foundation China and as a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).

Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Zhang was a legislative director in China's National People's Congress. In this position, he was responsible for drafting national laws such as Solid Waste Law and policy documents such as the national Five-Year Plans, as well as overseeing national and local government implementation of the laws and policies.

During his many years in the Chinese government, Dr. Zhang worked on legal and policy issues with numerous other agencies in the Chinese government such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Dr. Zhang received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Peking University and an LL.M degree from Harvard Law School. Dr. Zhang was the only lawyer who was invited by President Clinton to participate in his Environmental Round Table in Guilin when the president visited China in 1998. He also served as a residential scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy.

In his early years in the Chinese government, Dr. Zhang served as program and compliance officer in China's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

Not admitted to District of Columbia bar; admitted to New York bar.

Credentials

Education
  • Harvard Law School, LL.M.
  • Peking University, Ph.D.
  • Peking University, M.S.
  • Peking University, B.S.
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • New York
Memberships
  • New York State Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
Honors & Awards
  • Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2020, 2021
  • Who's Who Legal, 2011
  • Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship
  • United Nations University Fellowship
Spoken Languages
  • Chinese - Mandarin
  • English

Publications

Speaking Engagements

News