Mariana is a partner of Hui Zhong Law Firm based in Beijing. Before joining Hui Zhong, she was a partner of the international arbitration department of a top-tier international law firm.
Mariana specializes in dispute resolution matters including arbitration, litigation, and other ADRs, with a focus on foreign-related, cross-border and international arbitration seated in China and overseas. For commercial arbitration, she has handled many cases before institutions including ICC, LCIA, SCC, SIAC, HKIAC, CIETAC, BAC, SHIAC, SCIA and ad hoc arbitrations seated abroad applying UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. For investor-State disputes arising under international treaties, Mariana previously represented two Chinese investors initiating an ICSID arbitration against a Southeast Asian State. Currently she is advising an investor in an ad hoc treaty arbitration against a State in Asia. Mariana also constantly provides treaty arbitration-related analysis and advice to Chinese and foreign investors.
Mariana also represents clients in Chinese court proceedings, including enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, complex commercial litigation, injunction proceedings related to on-demand bonds. She frequently advises foreign clients on Chinese law-related matters and provides Chinese law expert opinions to foreign court/arbitration proceedings.
Mariana is also an arbitrator. She now serves as the APAC Lead of YSIAC Council appointed by Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), and a member of the Global Advisory Committee of Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA). She was a former ICC YAF Representative for North Asia (2018-2020), a former Executive Member of Beijing International Arbitration Forum (BIAF) (2016-2025), and a former member of the Organizing Committee (OC) of Riyadh International Disputes Week 2025 (RIDW25).
Since 2017, Mariana has constantly received awards and recognitions from international ranking institutions such as Legal 500, Global Arbitration Review, China Business Law Journal, and Benchmark Litigation for Asia-Pacific region. The cases handled by Mariana were recognized as the “Deals of the Year” in at least two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022.
- Mariana has been advising major Chinese State-owned enterprises in several large scale and complex international arbitration proceedings seated in Southeast Asia, and associated court proceedings in both Southeast Asia and China. These disputes involve arbitration claims and counterclaims around seven hundred million USD. The most recent victories that Mariana achieved for her clients include a successful injunction of a foreign owner’s call on the performance bond issued by a Chinese SOE client and back-to-back injunction of the foreign beneficiary bank’s call on the counter-guarantee, both bonds are worth more than one hundred million USD. Mariana also has been advising an investor in a treaty arbitration involving over ten billion USD claims for treaty breaches by an Asian host State.
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Mariana and her team recently secured a quick and successful settlement in favor of her Dutch individual client, a world-renowned celebrity in the sports field, through a three-month period of amicable negotiations and formal legal correspondences. This successful settlement led to the counterparty’s immediate and direct payment of millions of dollars to the individual client, and avoided lengthy and expensive lawsuits.
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In a cross-border assets tracing and enforcement endeavor, Mariana and her team, by working with Australian counsel, recently successfully obtained an Australian court’s recognition of a Chinese judgment. The principal debt and interest accrued under the Chinese judgment are valued at nearly 100 million USD.
- Arbitration
- Commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution
- Energy and construction
- International arbitration
- Construction and materials
- Energy
- Mining
- Natural resources
- Oil and gas
- Utilities
- LLM, New York School of Law, 2012
- LLM, China Foreign Affairs University, 2009
- LLB, China Foreign Affairs University, 2007
- APAC Lead of YSIAC Council of Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), 2024
- Member of the Global Advisory Committee of Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA), 2025
- Member of the Organizing Committee (OC) of RIDW25 (Riyadh International Disputes Week 2025), 2025
- The New York State, 2014
- Bar of the Republic of China, 2010