Partner
Business & Corp. Law, Business Immigration, Art & Entertainment Law
PDF Resume
Email: xzhao@junwanglaw.com
Ms. Zhao leads the firm’s business immigration service for individuals with high net worth or specialized skills. She has specific expertise and experience in providing legal defense and solutions for challenging business immigration cases, particularly in the EB-1A and NIW categories, including those involving federal court litigations, motions to reopen/reconsider, and appeals with the USCIS Service Centers and its Administrative Appeals Office (AAO).
Ms. Zhao is also in charge of the Firm’s Art and Entertainment Law practice, which is frequently intertwined with her ongoing and successful representations for her business immigration clients – established artists, their studios, or related business entities. These services include assisting clients in establishing the most compatible legal structure and responding to daily legal compliance issues and copyright and trademark protection measures. In addition, she also provides legal solutions for clients in planning and securing work authorizations for cross-border cultural projects and their domestic and international recruitment of foreign workers.
As a recognized professional in her expertise, Ms. Zhao is a frequent speaker and contributor at various industry forums and events, covering maintaining legal immigration statuses, intellectual property, business compliance for start-ups, and career development. Moreover, Ms. Zhao has collaborated closely with policy institutes for immigration policy review and rendering legal advice for leading legal aid and education organizations for art/entertainment law.
Before joining the firm, Ms. Zhao had gained extensive experience in international business and public international law. She had served as a Researcher at the United Nations Codification Division, Office of Legal Affairs in New York Headquarters, and the United Nations International Law Commission in Geneva, where she provided legal assistance to South African and Chinese Commissioners.
Ms. Zhao has made it to the Super Lawyers’ New York Rising Star list by Thomson Reuters for multiple years.
Business Immigration Representative Matters
• Exclusive representation for a world-renowned Japanese artist (photographer and architect) and his creative studio in the U.S. to facilitate their cross-border cultural projects across the U.S., including states of New York, Washington D.C., and California (activities ranging from site-specific arts, and collaboration with Smithsonian Institution, representing the world’s largest complex of museums, education, and research center).
• Successful representations of various investors in winning approvals from the USCIS for long-pending cases by litigating in different federal courts across different federal jurisdictions (jurisdictions such as New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and more.)
• Successful representations of various high-net-worth individuals in their motions to reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions made by the USCIS, particularly in the category of EB-1A and other categories related to “individual of extraordinary abilities,” obtaining favorable results in either direct approval from the Service Center, AAO, or being remanded to the USCIS field office for reevaluation.
• Preferred Attorney and Advisor for various leading Chinese going abroad consulting firms, including one of the biggest national firms with global offices across four continents, responsible for their EB-1A/NIW evaluation and filing programs since 2017.
• Over a decade of providing comprehensive planning and representation for various U.S.-based creative agencies, artist studios, and culinary professionals, along with their investors and their investment institutions, in securing proper US business immigration status for their Founders and Key Executives.
• As a lead legal counselor for several major schools and universities of arts, providing strategic planning and management of their top graduates’ immigration status, such as O-1/P-3.
Art and Entertainment Law Representative Matters
• Comprehensive planning and representation for various U.S.-based fashion and design brands in corporate governance and intellectual property strategies, including trademark applications, copyright protection and advice in brand collaboration projects, angel investment/employee incentive programs, and other external legal counseling for ongoing business operations.
• Exclusive representation for various U.S.-based creative agencies, artists, and emerging art galleries in corporate formation, financing, special projects, and intellectual property protection needs.
• Advise and assist the establishment of Not-for-Profit Organizations (NPOs/NGOs) or Private Foundations and provide legal advice on the most compatible business structure, corporate governance/fundraising, and management issues.
• Advisory and representation on various TV or motion picture series, films, or documentaries on their vetting process against intellectual property usage and licensing, as well as providing liaison support with our firm’s China legal team for the cross-border aspect of those cultural projects.
Bar Admission
New York State Bar
Court Admission
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Education
LL.B. Peking University School of Law
LL.M. New York University School of Law
Professional Certificate in Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design | the New School (Pending)
Membership
New York State Bar Association