Shawn Yang is a partner of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and registered foreign lawyer, based in the Hong Kong office. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group. Mr. Yang’s practice focuses on private equity fund formation, secondaries and select investor-side representations.

Mr. Yang’s recent experience includes representing clients such as Advantage Partners, EQT, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, HarbourVest Partners, Morgan Stanley, KKR, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and HongShan (formerly Sequoia China).

Mr. Yang has been named in Private Equity International’s “Future 40 Leaders” list, and is named as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific – Greater China (2024) for Investment Funds. The guide describes him as “very detail-oriented and hands on” with “solid technical skills.” He has also been described as “very calm, commercial, able to think outside-the-box and to provide solutions.” Clients have also noted that he is “an excellent lawyer, exceptionally hardworking and very efficient.” Mr. Yang has been named by Asian Legal Business (2022) as one of Asia’s 40 Under 40 Lawyers and by IFLR1000 (2024) as a Rising Star in Hong Kong for Private Equity Funds.

Mr. Yang received a J.D. in 2012 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Managing Board of the Virginia Law Review, and a B.A. from the University of Southern California in 2008.

Mr. Yang joined the firm’s New York office in 2012 and transferred to the Hong Kong office in 2013. He is a member of the Bar of the State of New York.