Vanessa Yanhua Zhang

"She knows all there is to know about Chinese antitrust." Lexology Index 2022

Dr. Vanessa Yanhua Zhang is Head of Compass Lexecon’s Greater China practice and an Executive Vice President based in New York and Beijing. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Market & Regulation Law Center (MRLC) of Renmin University, Vice Chairs of the ABA Antitrust Law Section- Global Private Litigation Committee & International Law Section- International Litigation Committee. Dr. Zhang is an expert in applying economic analysis to competition, mergers, litigation, and damages for clients across numerous industries in the US, the EU and Greater China. She has consulted on projects across numerous industries, such as retails, consumer products, transportation, electricity, chemical, e-commerce, payment card, banking, pharmaceutical, high tech, telecommunication, energy, minerals and natural resources. She has worked on a wide range of matters involving allegations of monopolization, foreclosure practices, vertical restraints, merger analysis and intellectual property.

In China, Dr. Zhang has testified as an expert witness and submitted expert reports before the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), provincial higher courts, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation (SHAMR). She has also assisted SAMR and MOFCOM with economic analysis in their merger reviews, and given antitrust economic trainings to SAMR, local AMRs, and Supreme People’s Court for their capacity building. She has been the founding editor of the Asia Column and served on the advisory board of the Antitrust Chronicle of Competition Policy International. She has also been featured in Lexology (Who’s Who Legal): Competition Economists. In 2025, Dr. Zhang served as a Special Consultant to the World Bank and drafted a background paper on Standardization in China for the World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development.

Prior to joining Compass Lexecon, Dr. Zhang was the Head of the Asia Antitrust & Competition Practice at two international economic consulting firms and worked as a visiting researcher at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. Dr. Zhang holds a PhD in Economics from Toulouse School of Economics, France and a BA in Economics from Peking University.

"Vanessa has an international outlook and genuine expertise." - Lexology Index 2022

"Very thorough, knowledgeable and personable." - Lexology Index 2023

"She impressed us with her professionalism and extensive breadth of experience." - Lexology Index 2023