Edward Ma_Edward Ma Attorney Profile_Edward Ma Attorney Contact Information

Edward Ma is a Founding Partner of Beijing Guozun Cathay Associates, focusing his practice on corporate and commercial law, trade and maritime law, and cross-border dispute resolution. With law degrees from both China and the UK, Mr. Ma has over 30 years of experience in foreign-related legal services. He is well-versed in international legal regimes across various sectors including corporate, trade, shipping, investment, insurance, financing, and insolvency, and possesses extensive experience in handling overseas legal risk management. With over a decade of in-house counsel experience at state-owned enterprises and more than twenty years of legal practice, Mr. Ma has extensive expertise in handling complex and major cases. He has led dozens of domestic and international litigation and arbitration cases with disputed amounts ranging from hundreds of millions to tens of billions of RMB, and excels in handling cross-sector and cross-border complex cases. He is known for his outstanding strategic vision and keen judgment, capable of accurately grasping the direction of complex cases and proposing creative overall plans and unique, in-depth insights. He consistently achieves unexpected and superior results even in difficult situations, and has been described by Chambers as being "very analytical and very, very thorough and precise" in case handling.

Work experience

▪ Partner, King & Wood Mallesons ▪ COSCO Group, China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association

Representative cases

▪ Represented clients in the public interest litigation regarding the Penglai 19-3 oil spill accident; keenly identified the legal conflict between Article 58 of the "Environmental Protection Law" and Article 90 of the "Marine Environmental Protection Law," creatively proposed that the national marine regulatory authority possesses exclusive right to claim for marine environmental damage, which promoted the Supreme People's Court to issue relevant judicial interpretations. ▪ Represented SK Hynix in a reinsurance contract dispute regarding a fire accident; promoted the Supreme People's Court to clarify the judicial standard for "establishment upon consensus of intent" in reinsurance contracts, changed the overall understanding of the Chinese reinsurance industry regarding original international trading practices, and facilitated the insurance industry association to issue the "Reinsurance Business Management Specifications," reshaping the legal compliance risk control system for domestic reinsurance transactions. ▪ Represented foreign banks in litigation regarding the Dezheng Group Qingdao Port fraudulent financing case involving false warehouse receipts; innovatively designed a full-chain solution of "overseas arbitration for rights confirmation + domestic court recognition and enforcement + criminal procedure for cargo rights locking" under the condition that warehouse receipts were governed by foreign law, effectively resolving the obstacle of applying foreign conflicting civil and commercial laws in domestic criminal proceedings, achieving seamless connection between overseas arbitration and domestic criminal-civil procedures, and solving the difficulty of cross-border cargo rights disputes. ▪ Assisted Sinosure in completing restructuring, reorganization, bankruptcy liquidation, and asset disposal for multiple overseas projects including Korea Pan Ocean Shipping, Singapore SOC Company, India Reliance Telecom, South Africa Cell C, and Hong Kong Crown Shipping; formulated risk disposal plans, participated in overseas restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings, completed creditor claims and cross-border asset disposal, and constructed effective creditor protection paths in complex legal jurisdictions. ▪ Represented a domestic private steel enterprise in UK Lloyd's salvage arbitration and appeal proceedings; led the team to appear in court independently facing salvors, shipowners, and British Queen's Counsel representing other cargo owners, with all claims supported by the arbitral tribunal; relied on key evidence obtained through arbitration proceedings to overturn the shipowner's exemption claims in domestic litigation and completed high-difficulty loss recovery. ▪ Represented a large overseas container leasing company in applying to Chinese courts for recognition and enforcement of a US ICDR arbitral award, participated in domestic bankruptcy proceedings, and responded to avoidance action lawsuits filed by the bankruptcy administrator to achieve creditor distribution. ▪ Represented a domestic petroleum company in handling tariff disputes arising from foreign vessels entering the country for operations, responded to customs administrative penalties, participated in customs administrative reconsideration proceedings, and ultimately avoided massive administrative penalty fines.

Edward Ma

Honors and duties

Personal introduction

Work experience

Representative cases