Zhen Ye.jpg

Dr Zhen Ye

Year of Call: 2016
Email Address: [email protected]
Telephone: 020 7583 8055

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Clerks Details

  • Clerk Name: David Fielder
  • Clerk Telephone: 020 7583 8055
  • Clerk Email: [email protected]

Overview

Dr Zhen Ye has a busy advisory and court practice specialising in commercial, insolvency, company, construction and property law.

Zhen regularly appears in the High Court and County Court, acting for a wide range of clients. She is gaining recognition for her compelling and efficient advocacy, consistently demonstrating meticulous preparation. Her clients comment that Zhen is a “skilled advocate”, she is “diligent, intelligent and pragmatic as ever in difficult circumstances”, “exceedingly thorough, and “excellent…… both in preparation and in court”. Zhen is appraised for her “exemplary handling” of dispute and “meticulous preparation and command of the brief was masterful''.

Zhen is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese and proficient in Cantonese Chinese and is especially in demand by China and South East Asia clients who value her approachability and attention to details.

Outside her busy work diary, Zhen’s interests are reading, especially Chinese literature, and hot yoga.

Publications

These include Controlling insider dealing through criminal enforcement in China, Journal of Financial Crime and Regulation of Insider Trading in China, Research Handbook on International Financial Crime.

 

Expertise

  • Commercial
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    Zhen Ye has a busy commercial practice focusing on commercial contracts, company law and insolvency. She regularly advises and represents clients in disputes involving complex, multi-party and cross-border arrangements, including manufacturing agreements, franchises, corporate governance, partnerships and joint ventures.

    She acts as both sole and junior counsel in the County Court, High Court, Commercial Court and arbitral proceedings, and advises on litigation in specialist international courts, including the DIFC Courts. Her recent work includes a manufacturing and intellectual property dispute involving claims exceeding £200 million, a multi-million-dollar international franchise dispute, and urgent High Court freezing injunction proceedings.

    Zhen’s practice encompasses shareholder and partnership disputes, unfair prejudice petitions, disputed guarantees, insolvency proceedings and asset realisation. She acts for and against directors, shareholders, insolvency practitioners, trustees, creditors and debtor companies. Her experience includes applications concerning liquidators’ investigatory powers, pre-action disclosure, statutory demands and winding-up petitions, together with company matters involving financial regulation.

    Zhen has a particular interest in cross-border commercial disputes and international arbitration, informed by her academic background in comparative competition law and financial regulation. She has experience of jurisdiction challenges, cross-border service and disputes involving overlapping contractual and corporate structures.

    Recent and notable commercial cases

    • Smarter Applications Ltd v H&T Intelligent Control Ltd – Acting for a UK consumer technology company in a manufacturing and intellectual property dispute with its Chinese manufacturer concerning the production of 30,000 “FridgeCam 2.0” units. Claims exceed £200 million and raise issues concerning cross-border service, contractual obligations, confidentiality and non-compete provisions. Led by David Parratt KC (Scot).
    • 21 SID Property Ltd v Philip Charles Pearse – Acting as sole counsel for a property buyer in High Court proceedings involving suspected impersonation of the seller and a subsequent sale to another purchaser. Obtained interim and continued freezing relief tailored to the sale proceeds and drafted the Particulars of Claim.
    • Innovative Production Group FZE v Innovation Factory Royal Investment Group LLC – Advising the exclusive rights holder of the Lanka Premier League in a multi-million-dollar DIFC franchise dispute. Drafted pleadings and advised on successfully resisting a jurisdiction challenge involving UAE entities, Sri Lankan subject matter and disputed franchise agreements.
    • Smartcitiesabc Ltd v Dinis Guarda & Ztudium Ltd – Successfully acting for the applicant on a pre-action disclosure application concerning transfers of company funds to a connected company under an Innovator Visa investment structure. Obtained staged disclosure directions and £12,000 in indemnity costs.
    • Andrew Little & Gillian Margaret Sayburn v The Registrar of Companies – Successfully acting in a Companies Court application concerning the validity of creditors’ voluntary liquidation filings by an authorised payment institution. The application addressed the consequences of failing to comply with FCA notification and statutory standstill requirements.
    • Joint Liquidators of Brenig Construction Ltd v Poole Dick Associates Ltd – Acting for joint liquidators in a High Court application for documents and examination under sections 234, 236 and 237 of the Insolvency Act 1986, arising from a terminated construction contract and disputed access to project records.
    • S & Ors v T – Acting for overseas trade creditors on a contested bankruptcy petition based on a personal guarantee, raising issues of duress, consideration and disputed evidence.
    • P Ltd v S – Acting for a company seeking to restrain a threatened winding-up petition arising from a disputed share buy-back. The matter settled without a petition being presented or advertised.
    • Eco Green Management Ltd t/a Yorkshire Gas & Power v American Sweets Ltd – Successfully defending a contractual claim following default judgment and High Court enforcement. The Court found that no electricity supply contract had been formed and ordered repayment of the enforcement payment.
    • Dennis Galley v Carlton Fogarty & Clearbank Ltd – Successfully acting for Clearbank in setting aside an irregular judgment entered before service of the claim, obtaining an order for the bank’s costs.
    • GLAS SAS (London Branch) v European Topsoho SARL & Ors – Acting in a Commercial Court claim concerning non-payment of €250 million secured exchangeable bonds, arising from a contested battle for control of a luxury fashion company listed on Euronext Paris. Led by Francis Tregear KC. Also acted on a related Norwich Pharmacal application, led by Seb Oram.
    • SX v [M]QM & CTMH Ltd & Ors – Defending a complex unfair prejudice petition seeking changes to company management and alleging corporate misconduct. Led by David Berkley KC.
    • Unfair prejudice petition – Successfully acting as sole counsel for the petitioner in High Court proceedings.
    • Multi-jurisdiction franchise dispute – Acting for a franchisor in proceedings concerning alleged fee violations and contractual breaches across multiple jurisdictions. Led by David Parratt KC.
    • A T I & E C Ltd – Advising on a challenge to an LMAA arbitration award under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996. Led by David Parratt KC.
    • Broderick – Assisting David Parratt KC in a £5 million partnership dispute involving a world-famous sculptor, including issues concerning the continued use of artistic moulds and asserted intellectual property rights.
    • Phones 4U Ltd (in administration) v EE Ltd & Ors – Acting in a junior capacity, instructed by Mishcon de Reya for Telefónica, in proceedings alleging conspiracy between major telecommunications providers and their parent companies.
    • Toucan Energy Holdings Ltd & Anor v Wirsol Energy Ltd [2021] EWHC 895 (Comm) – Assisting in a £7 million Commercial Court dispute in the energy sector, instructed by Enyo Law.
    • Partnership and joint venture disputes – Advising on a partnership dispute arising from cross-border joint venture arrangements.
    • Insolvency injunctions – Successfully acting as sole counsel in applications restraining the presentation and advertisement of winding-up petitions.
    • Bankruptcy and asset realisation – Acting for joint trustees in bankruptcy in proceedings to realise estate assets, successfully representing a debtor on an application to set aside a statutory demand, and advising on proposed Individual Voluntary Arrangements.
  • Construction and engineering
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    Zhen Ye has a busy construction practice and is regularly instructed by individuals, commercial clients, and insurers to represent them in court, adjudication and arbitration, and advise them on a wide variety of construction and engineering disputes.

    Recent cases include:

    • Acting for the developer in an arbitration in a defects claim
    • Successfully acting for the homeowner in a “smash & grab” adjudication
    • Acting for the employer in an arbitration in respect of their termination of the contract
    • Successfully acting for the contractor defendant in relation to allegations of defective works carried out at a dwelling
    • Successfully acting for the contractor claimant in relation to unpaid invoices and defending the defendant’s counterclaim of the alleged defective works
    • Successfully acting for the contractor defendant in an application for security for costs
    • Successfully acting for the homeowner claimant in a restitution claim
    • Advising on recovery where unknown to the parties
    • Advising on the enforcement of adjudication decision
  • Property and Estates
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    Zhen Ye acts for landlords and tenants in both residential and commercial property disputes. She also has significant experience in residential possession proceedings for rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, and claims involving defences of disrepair.

    Zhen also appears frequently in the County Court and First-tier Tribunal on behalf of the landlords and tenants in claims concerning residential and commercial service charges, breaches of covenant and forfeiture proceedings.

    Recent work:

    • Successfully acting for a landlord in a claim against the former tenants for rent arrears and defending the former tenants’ counterclaim for disrepair
    • Successfully defending a tenant in the First-tier Tribunal for alleged breaches of restrictive covenants
    • Successfully acting for a leasee in an enfranchisement claim
    • Successfully acting for the landlord respondent to oppose the tenants’ application for permission to appeal of a possession order
    • Advising a leasee in respect of the landlord’s restrictive covenants
    • Acting for a tenant in forfeiture proceedings
    • Advising a leasee on its ground and ability to terminate the lease and how to protect itself against any excessive dilapidation charges.

     

  • Articles

    • DIFC Courts Confirm Enforcement Principle in Article 31(4) proceedings against Non-DIFC Assets

      20th Apr 2026

      David Parratt KC and Zhen Ye they explore the practical implications of DIFC Courts confirming a defendant who attempted to cancel two court orders, focused on property located in Dubai, an Enforcement Order and a Receivership Order, that had been issued to support decisions made by an English court.

      View Article

    • LLC Eurochem North-West-2 v Tecnimont S.P.A and another [2026] EWCA Civ 5

      5th Mar 2026

      Dr Zhen Ye writes on the recent Court of Appeal case ‘LLC Eurochem North-West-2 v Tecnimont S.P.A and another’.

      View Article

    • Valbonne Estates Ltd v City Value Estates Ltd

      9th Aug 2021

      Valbonne Estates Ltd v City Value Estates Ltd

      Dr Zhen Ye has analysed the impact of this property dispute between two property developers, owned by members of the same ultra-orthodox Jewish community, over a failed purchase of the Beckton Arms in East London.

      View Article
  • Recommendations

    ‘Zhen is perceptive, analytical, and willing to listen to clients and solicitors.’
    Legal 500 2026/Commercial Litigation/South Eastern/Leading Juniors - Tier 1

    ‘Zhen has a very efficient and pragmatic approach to dealing with the technical requirements of the Insolvency Courts. She is exceptionally personable, a pleasure to deal with, and her advice is commercial at all times.’
    Legal 500 2026/Company and Insolvency/South Eastern/Leading Juniors - Tier 1

    ''A heartfelt thank you for your exemplary handling of my dispute.
    Your meticulous preparation and command of the brief was masterful''
    Client

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