Recently, the international legal research institution Lexology officially released the 2026 Lexology Index: IP rankings. NTD attorneys Christopher Shen and Nathan Yang have been both named to the “Thought Leaders” list for trademark in China. Under the ranking’s tiered system, “Thought Leaders” status is awarded to only approximately 25% to 30% of listed practitioners. The simultaneous recognition of two NTD attorneys not only highlights their profound expertise and top-tier professional standing in trademark prosecution, complex dispute resolution, and global brand strategy, but also serves as strong recognition of NTD’s outstanding talent development and professional service capabilities. This honor further affirms NTD’s deep foundation, strong capabilities, and broad industry influence in the international trademark legal services market as a leading comprehensive IP service institution in China.
Lexology Index, formerly known as Who’s Who Legal, has been conducting research on the global legal services market for more than 25 years. Its annual research covers over 25,000 interviews, collects and compares more than 250,000 third-party recommendations from in-house counsel, clients, and senior practitioners, and cross-verifies these with datasets such as case records and practice histories. According to its published methodology, all of the world’s top 100 law firms by size participate in the research, and more than two-thirds of the world’s largest companies submit feedback each year.
Christopher SHEN
Christopher Shen joined NTD after graduating from Renmin University of China in 1998 and started his profession in intellectual property. Afterwards, Mr. Shen received advanced education in the United States and earned a LL.M. degree in Intellectual Property Law from the George Washington University Law School. Mr. Shen has been qualified to practice law in both China and New York State since 2000 and 2005 respectively.
Mr. Shen concentrates his practice in IP strategy counseling, foreign-related IP litigation and administrative enforcement. Mr. Shen has 30 years of experience in representing many famous domestic and foreign companies in lawsuits and arbitrations with respect to patent, trademark, copyright and unfair competition disputes. Mr. Shen also has been invited to attend International IP Symposiums many times to deliver speeches in respect of China IP Protection and has been establishing extensive connections with foreign IP attorneys.
Mr. Shen has received numerous honors during his career, such as Chambers and Partners ranked lawyer for “Intellectual Property: Litigation” in Greater China Region every year from 2025 to 2026, WTR 1000 Recommended Individual every year from 2019 to 2025, Lexology Index: IP 2025 report- Trademarks Thought Leader, Trade Mark Star every year from 2022 to 2025 by IP STARS, WIPR Insights Trademarks Rankings 2024-2025 (China) Hall of Fame in both Contentious field and Non-Contentious field, Top 100 IP Experts (China) every year from 2021 to 2025 by Asia IP and Thought Leader (individuals who have performed especially well, around 25-30% of listed practitioners) on Trademarks in China by Who's Who Legal every Year from 2009 to 2024.
Nathan YANG
Nathan Yang graduated from the University of International Business and Economy with a Master of Law in 2008, and then joined NTD to engage in intellectual property legal services. Later, he went to Chicago-Kent College of Law and earned LLM degree.
Mr. Yang focuses on Trademark, anti-unfair competition, copyright, litigation and administrative enforcement, arbitration, investigation, customs detention, contract and negotiation, domain name dispute resolution, enterprise IP strategy and general legal consultancy.
The cases represented by Mr. Yang have successively won such honors as the Top 10 Typical Intellectual Property Cases in Servicing and Safeguarding High-Quality Development of Technological Innovation (2022-2025) by Hangzhou Court, 2024 Typical Intellectual Property Cases by Shenzhen Court, 2024 Typical Anti-Unfair Competition Cases for "Maintaining Fair Competition and Optimizing the Business Environment" by Shenzhen Court, 2022-2023 Typical Trademark Cases by China Trademark Association, 2021 Top 10 Trademark Litigation Cases by Beijing Trademark Association, 2021 Best International Legal Service Cases by Beijing Bar Association. He was selected as 2024-2026 Chambers and Partners ranked lawyer for “Intellectual Property: Litigation” in Greater China Region, Lexology Index: IP 2025 report: Trademarks Recommended Individual, 2025 INTA Rising Star, 2022-2025 WTR 1000 Recommended Individual, WIPR Insights Trademarks Rankings 2023-2025 (China) Highly Recommended Individual on Contentious field, 2025 Beijing Trademark Association 30th Anniversary Celebration: Leading Figure in Trademark Legal Services.
Mr. Yang has been interviewed by NPR about Trump's trademark protection in China, and by CCTV2 and CNR about bad faith filings and geographical indication protection.
