On April 24, 2026, the “LEGAL VISION 2026 Legal Services Innovation and Development Forum & Benchmark Case Awards Ceremony” was grandly held in Suzhou. At the ceremony, the LEGAL VISION Research Center announced the list of 2025 Paragon Cases of the Year. The case represented by Mr. Lin Jingu, partner of Kingland Partners—“Dispute over the Validity of Partnership Resolutions in Connection with a Fund GP Change”—stood out among more than 3,000 submissions due to its innovative problem-solving approach and its significance to the fund industry, and was successfully selected as a “2025 Paragon Cases of the Year”.
Dispute over the Validity of Partnership Resolutions in Connection with a Fund GP Change:
The core issue in this case concerns whether, in the absence of any stipulated circumstances in the partnership agreement, a General Partner (“GP”) may be replaced without cause through a resolution unanimously approved by the other Limited Partners (“LPs”). In light of the lack of clear statutory provisions and precedents, the Kingland Partners legal team overcame significant challenges and, through innovative legal reasoning and rigorous doctrinal analysis, ultimately secured a reversal on appeal. The appellate court held that a GP change must be based on stipulated circumstances and, accordingly, ruled that the partnership resolution violated the partnership agreement and should be revoked.
This case represents the first publicly available breakthrough precedent addressing whether a GP of a fund may be changed without cause. It provides an important reference framework for internal governance and control disputes in partnership-based funds going forward.
This recognition reflects the industry’s acknowledgment of Kingland Partners’ deep expertise and innovative capabilities in fund dispute resolution. Looking ahead, Kingland Partners will continue to focus on this field, leveraging refined professional skills and forward-looking thinking to deliver higher-value dispute resolution solutions and contribute to the high-quality development of the industry.
Jingu LIN
Partner
Mr. Lin Jingu specializes in handling complex and challenging civil and commercial disputes. He possesses a solid legal foundation and a rigorous approach to case handling. He has been involved in numerous major disputes before the Supreme People’s Court, various High People’s Courts, financial courts, and leading domestic arbitration institutions. Many of these cases have set judicial precedents in China or become representative cases within the industry. He has accumulated extensive experience in areas including corporate investment and financing, private equity and asset management disputes, securities misrepresentation, corporate governance disputes, enforcement-related litigation, and construction engineering.
In the field of investment and financing, private equity, and asset management dispute resolution, Mr. Lin has handled a wide range of disputes, including but not limited to securities misrepresentation, bond defaults, private fund contract disputes, asset management plan disputes, investor suitability disputes, manager liability disputes, valuation adjustment mechanism (VAM) repurchase disputes, entrusted wealth management disputes, stock income right trust disputes, and trust contract disputes. The aggregate value of disputes handled exceeds RMB 10 billion.
In addition, Mr. Lin provides legal services to numerous technology startups and offers labor compliance advisory services to listed companies.
Mr. Lin has previously advised clients including China International Capital Corporation (CICC), CSC Financial, Primavera Capital, Cinda Capital, GSR Ventures, Minmetals Trust, state-owned investment platforms, China Railway Group affiliates, SAIF Partners, Deere Financing, Boeing, Panasonic, Bayer, TPG, ETP funds, Volvo, KKR, J&T Express, Jingwei Hirain, Shougang Group, Country Garden, Nike, and Sinopharm Huahong.
Mr. Lin graduated from the Experimental Class of Law at China University of Political Science and Law and later from Peking University Law School. He is a qualified PRC lawyer. He is a member of the Beijing Trust Law Society and a practice lecturer at Beijing Wuzi University. He has also been recognized as one of LegalOne’s “Top 15 Investment and Financing Dispute Resolution Lawyers.”
LEGAL VISION is an independent third-party information service provider rooted in the legal services industry, focusing on industry trend tracking, professional value assessment, and knowledge dissemination. Its “Annual Benchmark Case” selection is based on a prudent evaluation of case background, handling process, professional judgment, and practical outcomes, identifying exemplary cases with solid reference value in commercial practice, technological application, and social governance. Selected cases reflect the current professional standards of legal services in practice. The results are widely recognized within the industry and provide valuable guidance and methodological reference for legal practitioners.
