Staff Profiles
Mr Zinian Zhang
Contact Mr Zinian Zhang (email at zinian.zhang@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
Qualified as a lawyer in 1998, Zinian has worked as a legal practitioner for over ten years, being a senior partner of the regional leading law firm in Zhejiang Province, China. Prior to studying in Durham, he dealt with a great number of company lawsuits ranging from stock transaction disputes and the protection of minority shareholders’ interests.
Rewarded with a Judicial Master degree in Zhejiang University, China, he pursued LLM in Durham Law School in 2008. Then, due to his interest in legal comparison between China and western nations, he seeks to deepen his understanding in respect of western legal theories, continuing to study in Durham as a PhD candidate in 2009.
Current Research
At present, Zinian’s research area is of China’s insolvency law reform, in particular, how to enhance China’s corporate reorganization regime by comparison with the counterparties in the UK and USA. In the UK, creditors, especially banks, are well protected by bankruptcy law; furthermore, the British administration process is pro-creditor. On the other hand, in the USA, it is the debtor who is favoured by the bankruptcy procedures, in particular the reorganization process, on the ground that business failure might mainly result from misfortune and the entrepreneurial spirit should be taken care. In China, the reorganization regime is a relatively new legal device introduced in China’s Enterprises Insolvency Act in 2006. Based on the achievement of the western legal theories, China’s insolvency systems absorbed a great deal of advanced theory in drafting new reorganization provisions. However, it is likely to be a big challenge for legislators to take into account social and cultural differences between China and the western world in transplanting laws in distinctive territories. Zinian’s research aims to improve China’s bankruptcy legal progress, having regard to the western research theories and China’s distinctive legal culture.
Research Groups
Institute for Commercial & Corporate Law
Research Interests
- Company law
- Insolvency law