来自客户的褒奖与认可，是律师获得的最暖心殊荣。是什么成就客户眼中的理想律师？服务好客户，最难或颇具挑战的方面有哪些？带着这些问题，ALB采访了今年上榜的几位首选律师。
中国的律师总数在2021年已经达到约53万人，这一数字还在以每年数万计的速度快速增长。在竞争愈发激烈的法律服务市场如何保持优秀？如今，越来越多律师倾向于回归这一职业的本质：专业服务的提供者。
今年的客户首选律师调查中，我们收到了近2000份答卷，有趣的是，客户们似乎不谋而合，也从“专业”和“服务”两个角度对他们的律师伙伴做出了评价。
当然，和往年相比，客户们的考察角度也出现了微妙变化。过去，客户对律师专业能力的认可表达偏向笼统，如今却能更为精准地表述一位律师的优异之处，例如“能够对案件法律问题抽丝剥茧”“多次参与立法研讨，对领域研究透彻” “能够穿透人性进行商业谈判”等。
而在服务层面，在这个强调体验感的时代，客户对律师的期待也越来越多元。律师除了要“速度快、效率高、有耐心”，还要“沟通能力强、很友善”，有人则指出律师应该能够“想客户之所想，急客户之所急”，甚至要求律师是个“正直的人”。
对于这些要求，律师们自己又怎么看？他们如何在这个瞬息万变的时代保持精进，又如何思考专业服务的本质？或许正如今年的上榜者之一、竞天公诚律师事务所合伙人叶玉盛律师所说，“律师提供给客户的服务，本质上都是把专业的法律知识，定制成为解决客户特定问题的内容”——能力和态度，一个都不能少。
变化从不缺席
如果用一句话形容过去一年的后疫情时光，或许是“一切坚固的都烟消云散了”。从政治、政策环境，到经济、社会生活，每个人都身处始料不及的变化之中，律师也同样如此。但他们也需要在法律这个相对固定的框架内拥抱变化，寻找新方法。
大成律师事务所高级合伙人杨辉律师是西安人，过去近20年一直在为西安及周边地区的不动产业务提供服务。他告诉ALB，疫情、律师工作方式的变化，以及以“房只住不炒”“三道红线”为代表的强管控政策风向，都给地产律师带来不小挑战。
关于如何用新思路应对变化，杨辉律师举了个例子。去年，他和团队将很多精力花在了并购业务争议解决上，为保障项目不因为诉讼陷入行政处罚和长期无法上市的窘境，律师“需要采取多种策略，包括和法院进行充分的市场特征沟通”。
在一宗金额达数亿元的纠纷中，正是借由这样的沟通，“审判庭做出了一个创新型保全裁定，既对项目采取了保全措施，同时可以进行除土地招拍挂之外其他手续的办理，这在陕西省属于首例。这些措施让客户项目通过诉讼，达到了解决纠纷并且尽快入市的双重目标”，他说。
阳光时代律师事务所合伙人张建来律师是工程建设和环保领域专家，在他看来，变化的后果有好有坏——例如疫情后中国对内循环的强调为基建业务带来更多机会，与此同时做国际工程的律师就面临了更多挑战；但总体上对律师行业好处大过坏处，因为“环境的变化，一定会带来更多的不确定性，带来更多的经营风险，客户会更加重视法律风险的防范，更加需要律师解决法律纠纷，对律师的需求会更大一点”。
谈到律师如何在变化中提供有弹性的服务，张建来律师坦言，“出于法律服务特性，律师自身很难创新，更多是要关注客户、市场的变化和各种交易模式的创新……律师可以在现有法律体系下对创新交易模式进行法律评价，防范法律风险，并通过合同、制度等形式，对创新的交易架构提供法律保障”。此外，更进一步，优秀的律师还可以通过“参与立法或政策研究等方式，提出保障创新的立法建议，真正促进社会进步”。
在消费金融行业专家、上海正策律师事务所高级合伙人官振鸣律师看来，变化练就的则是律师敏锐的眼光，尤其是疫情，作为“试炼场”，让律师能够操练对客户在不同时间段需求的识别和分析能力，提供“先人一步”的服务。
官律师举了个例子。疫情刚爆发时，隔离和停工停产导致一批在贷用户还款能力受到影响，存量贷款到期无法清偿，预估到这种情形，律师就应该和客户及时沟通，了解客户的后续处理意见。
而到了疫情受控、社会恢复稳定时，消费贷开始成为大家进行资金周转的重要工具，消费金融行业也在拥抱互联网，进一步降低用户取得消费贷的时间和交易成本，这时律师就该提前意识到叠加效应所可能带来的风险放大，“对所服务金融机构在后续展业、获客、金融营销等各阶段的产品合规性进行着重审查和提示，协助客户降低后续展业过程中的具体风险”。
而在德和衡律师事务所高级合伙人张泽贤律师看来，变化的环境促使律师不断练就新能力，也承担起新责任。他举了两个例子，一个是疫情期间，各级法院开始推行网络庭审，“在网络庭审中，律师如何让法官高效清楚掌握案件事实？如何有效举证、质证？如何通过法律文书充分表达观点？怎么配合法庭提高庭审效率？这都是全新的课题”。
另一个例子，则来自专业实践中对律师职责的思考。作为房地产及建设工程领域专家，过去一年，张泽贤律师观察到疫情在导致中国部分城市房价下跌的同时，也暴露了许多此前被房价上涨所掩盖的问题，直接导致房地产领域群体性诉讼数量上升。在这些案件中，律师“一方面要做好本职工作，另一方面，也要担负起化解社会矛盾的责任，重视与对方当事人的沟通交流”。
无形的价值
律师通过专业知识为客户提供解决方案，但在法律知识以外，也输出着其他“无形价值”，这点正越来越被客户重视，今年上榜的律师们对此也感受颇深。
作为资本市场领域专家，竞天公诚的叶玉盛律师首先指出了商业敏感度的重要性。“资本市场律师是商业交易行为的护航者，应当拥有底层商业逻辑，要知道所参与交易的所有内容，以及设计该交易结构的原由，从而更好地从法律上给予商业设计支持和把关。”他说，推而广之，“开拓正确的商业思维，以商业逻辑的闭环展开思考，可以从理解客户、打磨服务、寻找模式、建设团队等方面探索律师商业模式”。
大成的杨辉律师对此也颇有感触，“客户更加看重律师解决实际问题的能力，包括基于法律知识的商业判断能力”。对此他给出的方法是：“不断总结是一个古稀策略，今天依然很有效。特别当客户的规模不断扩大，总结各个公司在经营过程中所犯的错误，是避免其他客户再犯错的有效方法。我们也在实践形成某些领域的标准化法律服务模块，比如销售案场的法律风险控制产品。”
此外，今年上榜的律师还普遍感受到了技术能力对于服务客户的重要性。
“过去一年律师服务方式出现了明显变化。”阳光时代的张建来律师说，“大家开始适应网上工作和生活，便利之处是更高效，同时律师的响应速度、对互联网工具的驾驭能力也要与时俱进”。
叶玉盛律师告诉ALB，疫情下迫不得已的线上营业让律师进行了试手，未来“通过科技智能提供线上服务，将是律师行业的一个重要变化”。他认为这将重塑法律服务中的“服务端”面貌：“律师应当提升线上、线下的客户综合管理能力，加强与客户交流，特别是在资本市场和投资并购领域，会涉及大量境外客户，要注重做好客户线上沟通与服务，提升体验度，形成优质客户的陪伴机制”。
德和衡的张泽贤律师坦言，疫情以来，他和团队已经尝试使用了多种线上办公和会议工具，争取给客户带来更好的体验。张律师发现，线上模式会更“看重律师的线上办公能力和视频镜头前的表达能力，线上办公能力是后疫情时代下案件代理效率、效果提升的基础，视频镜头前表达能力则是代理效率、效果的关键”。
为此，张律师和团队已经着手从线上办公工具角度尝试改变，开始用起“坚果云”“桌面日历”等软件实现共同编辑、云端备份、随时查看等功能，“免去了此前修改文件需频繁在微信或邮件中发送的繁琐流程，大大提升了工作效率和团队协作能力”。
虽然线上沟通好处多多，叶玉盛律师还是根据经验给出了提醒：“线上沟通不足以全面取代传统的面对面方式……律师提供综合性、多样化、个性化的法律服务仍然是法律市场亘古不变的要求。”
当然，追求技术变化的除了律师，还有企业，了解客户采纳的技术手段同样重要。对此正策的官振鸣律师举出了一个典型例子：他和团队成员会定期下载金融机构客户开发的对客应用程序，“通过对应用程序的下载、浏览，能够更好了解客户的产品业务模式，也能通过代入消费者立场，对产品展示、宣传模式等金融行业合规性上的特殊要求，以及是否可能存在侵犯金融消费者权益风险等进行审视”，他说。
更好的自己
过去一年半虽然从很多方面打破了原有生活的常态，律师们却大多发现他们比疫情前更忙碌了。近期多份报告显示，自从沟通转为线上，客户的需求似乎更多更急，律师们也愈发沉重地背上了身心过劳的压力。
“很多时候要把压力作为一种常态，首先从心态上进行调整，保持平常心。”张建来律师坦言，“比如客户有时在周末很晚的时候打来电话，要求又很急，你是本能地抵抗，还是换位思考？作为律师，我们如果站在客户角度思考，客户如此着急地找你，是基于对你的信任，急需你的帮助，你的内心就不会感觉这是压力和负担，而是一份信任和认可。”
“缓解压力，只能不断学习，尽最大限度具备前瞻性的服务意识。”杨辉律师说，“当然，具有一个被虐幸福感的乙方心态也很重要，这是一种重要的能力。”
而应对压力的另一种方法，张建来律师指出，是意识到“你不是一个人在战斗”。张律师讲了不久前发生的一件事：6月初广深地区经历新一轮疫情反弹，有位客户在石家庄突然有个非常着急的项目，要当天就赶过去，而他和团队又无法离开广州。
“本来都打算放弃了，但考虑到事情的重要性，最后想办法协调了北京的同事过去，客户很感动，觉得受到了重视，感受到阳光的团队力量。”他说，“疫情让我们感受到，很多时候个体是很渺小的，如果没有团队的保障，个体是很难对抗大形势的变化。另外，有一支队伍能够一起作战，律师会更有归属感，就能更好地释放压力。”
的确，没有人是一座孤岛，“律师行业也是同理，没有哪个律师、哪个律所能够以孤岛的姿态单打独斗”，叶玉盛律师说。律所内的互相支撑外，叶律师也指出了探寻创新跨平台合作模式的重要性。“不同专业领域、地区、细分领域的律所和律师都应当创新合作模式，加强合作，以团结的姿态应对变革。”他说。
在进行调整与合作的同时，律师们也意识到：“律师”之外，还有“自我”，对人格完全的探索将帮助自己抵达更高的职业高度。
杨辉律师告诉ALB，在律师之外，他现在还在尝试学习成为一位天使投资人。“我已经尝试投资了几家涵盖大数据、互联网、防务领域的初创公司，并以此为契机学习到更多的行业知识。重要的是这些小投资为我带来关注的乐趣。”
除此之外，“和儿子的作业不断斗争挺有意思，可以培养人控制情绪的能力；学习摩托驾照并拥有摩托车也是不错的选择，这让你忘记了自己已经不是少年”，他说。
官振鸣律师则说，律师之外，他的追求很简单，就是做个“普通人”。“我看到很多律师工作强度过高，最终带来工作压力，甚至身体疾病。一个‘普通人’应该在工作之余不忘家庭活动、业余爱好、日常娱乐、朋友社交，以‘普通人’的身份关注生活，也能为后续投入工作带来活力。”他说。
当然，律师在心态上也要向“普通人”靠拢，“我周围部分律师虽然也参与不少业余活动，心中却仍担忧着顾客提出的需求是否能及时完成。我建议律师也要让自己有‘普通人’的心态，要更充分地参与到生活中，真正收获身心放松带来的效果”。
“最近流行一个词‘内卷’，其实律师也容易产生焦虑的情绪。”叶玉盛律师说，“但我还是很乐观。因为律师是知识手艺人，天然抗风险能力较强，律师职业进可攻退可守，晴耕雨读，不用慌，慌也没有用。”
后疫情时代，叶律师说自己现在更加追寻起“inner peace”（内在平静），“通过徒步、阅读等方式解压，扎扎实实读几本好书，研究一下自己平时感兴趣却没来及深入研究的领域，根据专业方向，做更深入细致的设计和规划。管理好情绪和时间，平衡好工作和生活的关系”。
挑战与期许
上榜意味着获得客户的嘉许，但在律师们看来，前进的脚步却一刻不容停下。他们当下面临着哪些挑战，对未来又有何期许？
张建来律师目前面临着两点挑战——或许很有代表性。一个是“法律服务市场越来越激烈，引发了低价竞争”。他坦言：“法律服务行业标准化程度较低，到底什么是‘好的法律服务’，绝大多数客户还缺乏判断标准”。公司化律所面对价格竞争其实很有压力，“像一些新能源领域的投资并购项目，最初还有十几万的收费，现在有的市场报价已经降到两三万，甚至连差旅费都不够，怎么能有时间、精力、动力提供更好的服务？”
另一个挑战则来自团队建设。“律所最核心的资产是人，相较于以前，现在招到优秀人才的难度越来越大。”张律师说，“此外还有留住人才的问题。如何培养青年律师，给他们提供更大的发展空间，让他们有长远的职业发展，这需要所有律所合伙人的共同努力。目前我在团队建设方面投入了较大的精力，希望尽可能地帮助我们的青年律师快速成长。”
张泽贤律师对于“人”的问题也颇有感触。“客户委托代理的重大疑难复杂建设工程、房地产、土地、投资融资案件数量越来越多，对律师团队要求越来越高”，与此同时，“如何高效提升团队服务能力？如何确保每一个案件处置都高水平、高质量？如何在案件取得好的结果之外，让客户在案件代理全过程有很好的体验感、不焦虑？”这些都是他在积极思考的问题。
“总想为客户提供满意的服务，可满意总是很难，只能不断学习总结，并且被虐。”杨辉律师说。谈到未来职业愿景，他对自己还有诸多期待，“我想在全新的数据时代，在恰当的阶段勇敢拥抱互联网，将标准化业务与非标化业务通过互联网与大数据，进行更加彻底的市场化”。
张建来律师同样期待在职业路上继续精进。“希望自己在环保、基建领域继续深耕，进一步得到客户和律师同行的认可，促进行业发展。这是做律师的最大价值。”他说。
而在自我进步外，张泽贤律师也期待为团队做更多。“用事业合伙人机制带团队，提升团队律师的获得感、幸福感、成就感。”他憧憬道，“让团队成为处置重大疑难复杂建设工程、房地产、土地、投资融资纠纷案件的明星团队。”
2021 ALB China Client Choice
For lawyers, it is the greatest honour to be recognized and praised by their clients. What factors do clients take into account when choosing their preferred lawyers? In what ways do these lawyers go the extra mile to satisfy their clients? With these questions in mind, ALB interviews a number of lawyers named on this year’s ALB China Client Choice list.
There are about 530,000 lawyers in China in 2021, and this number is expected to grow rapidly by tens of thousands every year. To deliver professional excellence in an increasingly competitive legal service market, more and more lawyers are coming back to the inherent nature of the legal profession: being a professional legal service provider.
From the nearly 2,000 responses to this year's Client Choice survey, we observe that clients also assessed lawyers using two metrics: Professionalism and quality of service.
Compared with previous years, this year's survey sees subtle changes in clients' assessing perspectives. In the past, clients recognized a lawyer's professional competence in a more generic way, but now they are able to pinpoint a lawyer's uniqueness. Some examples include "being able to spin out the logical implications of the legal aspects of a case,” "frequent involvement in legislative discussions, and deep domain area insight,” and "tackling commercial negotiations with an incisive understanding of human nature.”
In an era where client experience matters most, clients' expectations for lawyers are increasingly diversified. In addition to "being fast, efficient and patient,” lawyers are also expected to "have strong communication skills and be approachable.” Some respondents expect lawyers to "stand in clients' shoes and anticipate client needs,” and some may even require lawyers to be "of integrity.”
What do lawyers think about these expectations? As Ye Yusheng, partner of Jingtian & Gongcheng, who is on this year’s list, puts it: "The services provided by lawyers to clients are essentially about tailoring professional legal expertise to solutions that address clients' particular concerns.” Professional competence and good attitude are equally important.
EVER-CHANGING LANDSCAPE
If we were to describe the past year of post-pandemic life in one sentence, it might be "All that is solid melts into the air.” From the political and policy landscape to the socio-economic environment, everyone has been in the midst of unanticipated changes and lawyers are no exceptions. However, they need to embrace changes and explore new ways within the relatively fixed legal framework.
Yang Hui, senior partner of Dentons China and a native of Xi’an, the capital city of Shanxi province, has been serving the real estate market in the city and surrounding areas for the past 20 years. He tells ALB that the pandemic, changes in the way of working, and the stringent regulatory scrutiny of "houses for owner-occupation and not for flipping" and "three red lines,” have posed considerable challenges to real estate lawyers.
Yang gives an example of responding to changes with new ideas. In 2020, he and his team made a lot of efforts on M&A dispute resolution. If lawyers are to prevent lawsuits from causing an M&A deal to be mired in administrative penalties and long delays in going to market, they need to "adopt a variety of strategies, including fully communicating with the court in terms of the market landscape.” It is with such communications that in a dispute involving hundreds of millions of yuan, "the trial court gave an innovative preservation ruling, which facilitated the dual goals of dispute resolution and timely market listing for the client,” says Yang.
According to Zhang Jianlai, a partner of Sunshine Law Firm who specializes in engineering construction and environmental protection, changes can be both good and bad. For example, China’s post-pandemic focus on domestic circulation has brought about more opportunities for the infrastructure sector, but at the same time posed increasing challenges to lawyers doing international engineering projects. But ultimately benefits outweigh drawbacks, as "uncertain landscape changes will definitely lead to operational risks, which may eventually evolve into legal risks and disputes, prompting clients to increasingly turn to lawyers.”
Zhang admits that the nature of the legal profession makes it difficult for "lawyers to innovate themselves. Rather, they need to place more emphasis on innovative transaction models by clients or on the market … Lawyers can evaluate such innovative models under the existing legal system, and support innovative transactional structures by contracts or otherwise.” In addition, lawyers may "support innovation by being involved in legislative work or policy formulation to advance social progress.”
To Jeffery Guan, senior partner of Joint-win Partners and a consumer finance specialist, changes can train lawyers to be more discerning to identify and analyze what clients need at different stages, giving them the first-mover advantage.
For example, the quarantine and stop work measures at the outset of the pandemic adversely impacted the capabilities of some borrowers to repay their loans, causing difficulties in paying off existing loans upon maturity. Anticipating such a scenario, lawyers need to promptly communicate with bank clients. After the pandemic has been brought under control and social activities regained stability, consumer loan has become an important financing tool. In response, the consumer finance sector is embracing Internet technology, allowing borrowers to obtain loans faster and at a lower cost. At such a time, lawyers need to predict potential amplifying risks from such synergy.
Meanwhile, Zhang Zexian, senior partner of Beijing DHH Law Firm, believes the changing landscape prompts lawyers to continually upskill and take on new responsibilities. He cites two examples. One is that courts at all levels started to introduce virtual hearings amid the pandemic, and this brings "new challenges to lawyers such as to how to procure judges to have a quick grasp on the facts of a case, how to efficiently adduce evidence and conduct cross-examination, how to prepare well-structured legal instruments to fully express arguments?"
The other example relates to the real estate and engineering construction sector where Zhang Zexian is an expert. He noticed an array of issues hidden behind rising housing prices in the past year despite the pandemic driving down housing prices in some cities, which led to an increase in class-action lawsuits in the sector. In handling such lawsuits, lawyers need to "fulfill their obligations as legal practitioners, but should also take up the responsibility of resolving social conflicts.”
INTANGIBLE VALUE
In addition to providing professional solutions to clients using their expertise, lawyers are delivering "intangible value" beyond the sphere of law, which is increasingly cherished by clients.
A capital markets expert, Ye first points out the importance of business acumen. According to him, "capital markets lawyers need to get fully acquainted with all aspects of a deal they are handling and the grounds on which the deal is structured, so that they may better support business designing from a legal perspective." This approach can be replicated elsewhere. "The right business mindset allows lawyers to explore business models from the perspectives of knowing your clients, honing services, seeking suitable models and building the right teams.”
Yang concurs. "Clients place more emphasis on a lawyer's skills to solve practical problems, including his/her business sense developed on the basis of legal expertise.” To develop such skills, "constant reflection remains an effective way, particularly when clients increasingly grow in size. Summarizing the mistakes made by each client during business activities is an effective way to avoid making the same mistakes with other clients."
The importance of technological literacy in serving clients is also not lost on this year's winners.
"The past year saw obvious changes in the way lawyers serve their clients," says Zhang Jianlai, "we have been increasingly adaptive to working and living online, and this has improved productivity. However, lawyers need to catch up in terms of responsiveness and use of Internet-based tools.”
Ye tells ALB that "providing technology-enabled services online will be an important change in the legal sector" going forward. He believes this will reshape the "service side" of the legal profession: "This requires lawyers to better manage clients both online and offline and build a closer relationship with clients, particularly in capital markets, investment and M&A areas that involve a large number of overseas clients. Smooth online communications and services, and better rapport with clients will be key.”
Zhang Zexian shares that, since the beginning of the pandemic, he and his team have tried various online office and conferencing tools to better serve clients. He observes that "virtual work capabilities and expressiveness in front of the camera play a bigger role for online work. Virtual work capabilities are the foundation for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of case handling, while expressiveness in front of the camera is vital to guarantee such efficiency and effectiveness.”
As lawyers embrace new technology, so do their clients. Therefore, lawyers also need to understand the technologies adopted by clients. Guan gives an example: he and his team regularly download the client-facing applications developed by their financial institution clients. "By downloading and browsing these apps, we can form a better understanding of the clients' business models and can also review the special compliance requirements governing financial institutions and whether there are any potential risks that may infringe upon financial consumers' interests or benefits from consumers' perspectives," says he.
CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT
While the past year and a half has broken from normalcy in many ways, most lawyers find themselves busier than before the pandemic. Many recent reports indicate that following a shift to online communication, lawyers are seeing more urgent requests from their clients, and thus getting increasingly burdened with heavier physical and mental stress.
"Very often lawyers have to change their mindset and normalize such stress in work,” Zhang Jianlai confesses, "For example, a client may sometimes call very late on a Saturday for a very pressing issue. Will you feel upset out of instinct, or will you put yourself in the client's shoes? If a lawyer is very willing to help clients solve problems, and deeply appreciative of the trust from clients, he/she will not feel so stressed."
"To cope with pressure, a lawyer has to keep learning, and keep anticipating and serving clients' future needs to the best of his/her ability," says Yang, "it is also important to develop a sense of happiness in this process."
Another way to manage stress, as Zhang Jianlai points out, is to realize that "you are not alone.” He shares a recent incident: In early June when Guangzhou and Shenzhen saw a new wave of COVID-19, a client in the northern city of Shijiazhuang asked his team to go there immediately for an urgent deal, while he and his team had to stay in Guangzhou.
"We were almost giving up, but finally we managed to send a colleague in Beijing to the client's place, which made the client extremely satisfied," he says. "The pandemic has made us deeply appreciative of the importance of a team. A team enables its members to withstand the changing landscape, and with support from the team, lawyers can better cope with stress."
Indeed, no one is an island. "The same applies to the legal profession, as no lawyer or law firm can fight alone as an island," says Ye. In addition to support within a firm, "Law firms and lawyers need to innovate collaboration across different practicing areas, geographical regions and segments, and respond to changes with solidarity.”
At the same time, lawyers are starting to realize that they are not just lawyers in their professional capacity but also individual persons, and exploring one's personality could eventually help with career advancement.
Yang tells ALB that he is learning to be an angel investor currently. "I've invested in several start-ups in big data, Internet and defence sectors, and learnt more about those sectors in the process. What matters is that these investments bring me the pleasure of being super focused."
In addition, "the constant fight with my son's homework is fun and helps me better control my emotions; it's also a good distraction to have a motorcycle driving license and own a motorcycle, as it makes you forget you're not a teenager anymore," he says.
Putting aside his role as a lawyer, Guan just wants to be an "ordinary person.” "I have seen many lawyers working too hard, struggling in work and even suffering from physical illness. An 'ordinary person' should participate in family events, develop hobbies, engage in daily entertainment and socialize with friends after work," says he.
"Many lawyers I know still have work in mind even during leisure activities. I suggest lawyers have an 'ordinary person' mentality so that they can enjoy themselves off work and fully relax both physically and mentally," says Guan.
"Recently 'involution' has become a buzzword, and indeed lawyers are prone to anxiety, " says Ye, "but I am rather optimistic. Lawyers excel because of professional expertise, and are therefore more resilient to risks. Lawyers can have many career choices. There is no need and no point to panic."
Ye says he is now more in search of "inner peace" in the post-pandemic era. "I unwind through hiking and reading, try to be a master of my emotions and time, and hope to achieve a good work-life balance.”
FUTURE OUTLOOK
To the ranked lawyers, winning client praise never means slowing down their pace of moving forward. They are still facing challenges and dream big for the future.
Zhang Jianlai points out two challenges. One is the "low-price competition triggered by growingly intense competition in the legal service market.” He admits that the "legal service industry has not yet formed well-recognized service standards. Most clients have not developed any criteria to measure 'good services.’ Taking M&A deals in the new energy sector for example. Initially, law firms could charge over 100,000 yuan in fees, but now the quotes are down to 20,000 to 30,000 yuan in some cases, which could not even cover travel expenses. How could lawyers afford to deliver good services at such a low cost?"
The other challenge lies in team building. "The core asset of a law firm is its people, and it's getting increasingly difficult more than ever to recruit top talents," he says. "We also struggle in talent retention. I am more preoccupied with team building these days."
Zhang Zexian also has a lot to say about people. "Lawyers are increasingly involved in major and complicated cases in engineering construction, real estate, land and investment & financing, and clients are expecting more from their lawyers.” He is actively probing into issues such as "how to efficiently improve service capabilities of a team? How to ensure each case gets resolved with a high service level and quality? How to bring a better experience to clients and clear their anxieties in addition to delivering good outcomes?"
"I always think of delivering satisfactory services for clients, but often it is difficult to make clients satisfy," says Yang. Talking about the future, he still expects a lot from himself. "I expect myself to fearlessly embrace the Internet at the right time in this digital era, and resort to the Internet and big data to make both standardized and non-standardized practices more thoroughly market-oriented."
Zhang Jianlai likewise looks forward to further advancements in his career. "I want to grow professional expertise in environmental protection and infrastructure and win more recognition from clients and fellow lawyers. This is the greatest value of being a lawyer," says he.
Zhang Zexian hopes to contribute more to his team besides self-improvement. He envisions "building a team using the business partner mechanism so that team members have more sense of gain, happiness and achievement. I look forward to building an elite team in resolving major and complicated disputes in construction engineering, real estate, land, and investment and financing."
THE LIST
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Bi Min Guan Zhenming Hu Qinghai Michael Sheng Sun Dongsong Wang Canzhi Wang Na Wang Yue Wu Bo Wu Jian |
Yang Hui Yang Jinwen Yang Shuguang Ye Shuli Ye Yusheng Yu Dan Zhang Jianlai Zhang Jun Zhang Zexian Zhong Ming |
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