Lianjun Li
Senior Partner
Reed Smith Richards Butler LLP
Founding Member and Honorary Legal Advisor
Hong Chamber of Shipping
Lianjun has been a partner at Reed Smith Richards Butler since 2004. In Hong Kong, he serves as a senior partner and heads the commercial and transportation litigation practice. Lianjun is qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong, the Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area of China, and England and Wales. He has also been appointed by the Ministry of Justice of the PRC as a China-Appointed Attesting Officer.
Lianjun has extensive experience in dealing with legal issues and disputes relating to international trade, commercial transactions, transportation, shipping, cross-border investments, shareholders’ agreements, bond issuance, litigation and arbitration. His clients include well-known domestic and foreign enterprises and organisations.
Lianjun is also an experienced arbitrator in international commercial and maritime arbitration. He has been appointed by his clients or arbitration institutions as an arbitrator in institutional or ad hoc arbitrations. Lianjun has been a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2002 and a panel arbitrator of the Law Society of Hong Kong since 2017. He is also a panel arbitrator for many well-known arbitration institutions including the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), China International Economic Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC), Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
He also serves as a member of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He is a visiting professor to some well-known law schools and is also a member of Hong Kong Election Committee elected by the Hong Kong Legal Subsector, LMAA Supporting Members Liaison Committee (Asia Pacific) of LMAA, the Transport and Logistics Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong and the SCMA Procedure Committee. From 2016 to 2022 and 2021 to 2024, he served as a member of Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board appointed by the Hong Kong Government and of the Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration of Hong Kong Department of Justice, respectively.
Lianjun has been recognised by Chambers, The Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal as a leading individual in the shipping transportation industry for many years. He was also listed by China Business Law Journal as one of China’s Elite 100 lawyers (Foreign Firms) for 2019 to 2023 and in the A-List: Visionaries (International) 2023-2024.
Lianjun came to Hong Kong in January 1993. Before that, he taught at Dalian Maritime University for four years. He also spent a total of four years studying and working at the World Maritime University and Stockholm University, both in Sweden.
