中国的大型律所正前所未有地重视青年律师的力量。在培养青年、助其成长的同时，这些律所也因此焕发出更多活力，以更广阔的法律服务网络纵深国内、走向国际。
今年最大三十家律所的前五名与去年一样，分别为盈科律师事务所、大成律师事务所、京师律师事务所、德恒律师事务所、锦天城律师事务所。蝉联榜首的盈科合伙人数量增长百分之23.84，律师总人数增长百分之17.4，达11390人；德恒律师事务所律师总人数从2790上涨至3665，由去年的第五名升至第四。
排名第六的炜衡律师事务所是此次榜单的新入选所，律师总人数为3006。中伦文德律师事务所律师总人数从去年的1435增至2160，涨幅超过百分之50，排名从去年的第13升至第9。另外两家总人数大幅上涨的律所分别是段和段律师事务所（百分之57.49）、华商律师事务所（百分之74.25），段和段由去年的第18名升至第15名，华商则从第24名攀升至第17名。
我们与部分上榜律所的合伙人聊了聊他们对于“规模”一词的看法以及作为规模大所在发展过程中的策略与经验。
人才策略
拥有又多又好的律师人才是律所走向规模化的必要前提，但这并不等同于盲目的人海战术。在采访中，我们发现几家受访律所的人才引进与培养有着各自多角度的考量，但同时，他们又有着一个共同特点——相信青年的力量，并助其壮大。
盈科律师事务所中国区董事会主任、中国区执行主任李正律师告诉ALB，专业律师的吸纳，尤其是在某一专业领域里已经十分优秀的律师的横向引进，对盈科的专业化建设来说是至关重要的。为此，盈科专门推出了相关策略，包括为青年律师提供免费“共享工位”、对女律师减免业绩考核、提供信息化扶持等。此外，对执业于IPO领域的律师，盈科在他们成功办理上交所、深交所、纳斯达克、纽交所、伦敦交易所、深圳交易所的首次公开募股业务时给予免收管理费、提供业务奖励的优惠。
盈科还给予年轻律师宽广的施展舞台和充分的成长空间，通过各个专业委员会、专业部门提供内部培训，共同提升律师的专业能力。李正律师坦言：“作为一个非常具有包容性的平台，我们一直不拘一格、大胆使用人才，只要优秀的年轻律师有想要有所作为的激情，盈科就会提供这样的机会。”
华商律师事务所近年来积极引进传统专业领域的顶尖人才和新兴专业领域的研发型人才，并且，随着海外布局的加速，华商还引进了五名涉外法律高端人才开拓北美市场。
华商的人才培养以专业能力为核心，且颇具“内生式”的特点：他们为多个业务领域成立专门的专业研究院，其中既有资本市场与证券、房地产与工程这类传统优势领域，也不乏数字经济、城市更新与棚改等新兴领域，与深圳这座走在科技前沿的城市相得益彰。这些研究院由资深律师牵头领导，帮助青年律师成长为中坚力量。华商首席合伙人高树律师表示，在前段时间召开的合伙人会议上，有12位律师晋升为高级合伙人、21位晋升为合伙人，其中九成是华商从律师助理或实习律师一路培养起来的。
“律所要立足于自己多培养一些新人，而不是仅仅引进外部人才。培养人才是一个正向的人才发展方向，假如律师界都不愿自己培养新人，那法律服务市场将陷入混乱。28年来，华商这样内生式的人才培养体系成本相对较高，看上去有些吃亏，但从律师行业长远发展和平稳发展来看，我们认为是一件好事。”高树律师坦言。
广东广和律师事务所的人才策略也同样注重内部培养。广和首席合伙人、主任童新律师告诉ALB，广和律师人才主要是以内部培养为主，横向招聘为辅，围绕重点业务领域培养专业人才，无论是青年律师还是资深律师，都要做到不断进步。此外，广和还根据律师所处不同阶段、其市场拓展的业务能力处在不同层面的实际情况进行分类，用不同途径和方法使他们获得提高。
例如，对于刚入行的年轻人，广和着重培养他们成为初级律师所必备的素质与技能，养成良好的职业习惯，完成从法学生变为“法律人”的转变；对于执业一到三年的青年律师，广和制定了一套制度：由资深律师带队，有针对性地交付部分案件给年轻律师承办，帮助他们直接获取案源的同时为其传授执业技能，让年轻律师在实践中学到真本领；对于执业三到八年、执业能力逐步提升的专业律师，广和设立青年律师工作委员会，提升他们的专业技能、拓宽客户群体。
而对于那些经历了前三个阶段的成长，可以成为权益合伙人的资深律师，童新律师表示：“他们往往能够成为某一领域解决疑难法律问题的专家型律师。此时他们需要外移到更高级别的圈子里提升自己，获取更高难度的锻炼机会。对此，广和制定了四个维度的培养方向与培养目标：业务、管理、市场、研究。业务，就是要精于案件的办理，成为冲在第一线的战斗员；管理，就是要学会并参与律所或团队管理，成为组织的建设者；市场，就是要善于进行业务拓展，掌握相关能力和技巧；研究，就是要有深度研究的能力，能将理论学习与实践经验形成文字作品，成为建立个人与律所品牌的研究者。”
建纬律师事务所是中国首家以建筑工程、房地产和城市基础设施建设法律服务为主的专业律师事务所。建纬对人才的引进与培育分为“选、用、育、留”四个阶段。建纬副主任、高级合伙人宋仲春律师表示：“无论是城乡发展综合法律服务中的房地产板块、还是建设工程板块，我们都对每个端口进行业务拓展，配以专业研究力量。与此同时，我们也鼓励内部律师选择不同的细项领域发展，引导律师聚焦专业细项领域并精心钻研。”
在人才培育方面，建纬采用“师徒带教制”，坚持“扶上马送一程”的带教文化，并建立起长期业务培训与交流制度，以资深律师带动青年律师。今年1月，建纬成立青年律师工作委员会，旨在提高建纬青年律师专业素质，促进青年律师相互交流，引领青年律师发展新方向，以期建纬的青年律师能够在成为行业拔尖人才的道路上日益精进，发挥出专业律师的力量。
中闻律师事务所在过去一年中迎来近百位律师的加盟。中闻主任吴革律师告诉ALB，他们重点引进三个方面的人才：（1）北京高校的兼职律师。截至目前，中闻拥有40多位高校的博士生导师在中闻所兼职律师，他们的加盟对中闻整体业务能力、人才培养等方面都起到非常关键的作用。（2）具有公司法务部、公检法司工作背景或来自其他律师事务所的优秀人才。吴革律师认为，人才培养不能局限于在律师事务所，与法律有关的多元化训练经历对律师的成长是大有裨益的。他还表示，对于这类人才，中闻也会给予与其资历相当的优待。（3）以九零后为主体、毕业于国内外知名法学院的优秀高材生。吴革律师坦言，具有中西方双重教育背景的人才对中闻未来走向国际化是必不可少的。
在人才培养方面，中闻专门设立了“中闻大讲堂”，对所内的人员进行培养。在人才管理方面，中闻的公共团队成员被划分为七个级别，相应的晋升通道与明晰的培养机制对内部人才的成长起到较好的作用。结合“中闻大讲堂”，有针对性地对人才进行培养，促进律所整体的专业化发展。
总分所管理
在过去一年中，广和新成立了长沙、乌鲁木齐、赣州三家分所。在分所管理上，广和特别强调要发挥派驻分所合伙人的主体作用，分所可以制定切合当地市场特色与自身业务的拓展方式。同时，广和“平台化、团队化、公司化”模式将强化总所对分所的管理，让总所与分所逐步走向“一体化”。
建纬也十分重视总分所一体化发展，他们将此作为2021年最重要的战略规划。2020年底，建纬总分所主任与合伙人已达成一致，结合总分所共同参与的特殊的普通合伙改制，在总分所层面建立共同的决策机制——全国管委会。全国管委会下设六个专门委员会与研究院：风险控制委员会、品牌运营委员会、市场拓展委员会、财务预算委员会、职业发展委员会、建纬研究院。宋仲春律师告诉ALB，这六大板块是当前建纬发展中最迫切的需求，每个分所在每个板块都必须有至少一个合伙人负责，同时，有一个管理职能的合伙人负责所内与总所及其他分所的对接，作为委员会的委员。此外，建纬还将设置总分所的权益合伙人，将总分所更密切地绑定在一起。
“全国管委会将构建起建纬上海总所与全国近30家分所的协同管理体系，实现总分所的协同发展，包括客户共享、资源共享、业务协同、建立知识库……最终实现总分所一体化发展。” 宋仲春律师说。
后疫情时代的国际观察
今年8月，盈科官宣了德国杜塞尔多夫办公室的成立。盈科律师事务所国际创始合伙人、全球合伙人、全球董事会执行主任杨琳律师告诉ALB，盈科德国合伙人律师由经验丰富的盈科中国律师、德国本土律师以及持有中德双证的华人律师组成。未来随着业务的发展，盈科德国也可能会在其他城市设立分支机构，比如柏林、慕尼黑、汉堡、法兰克福等。
盈科布局德国是近年来中国律所国际化发展的一个亮点，不过，在后疫情时代的大背景下，更多的律所不得不放缓了国际化发展的脚步。华商高树律师表示，出于疫情影响及其他因素，他们与国外律所之间的沟通与联系变得不那么频繁。中闻吴革律师也指出，原有的海外分支机构设立计划也因为疫情受到了影响。
尽管如此，他们还是从另一个角度看到了机遇。高树律师指出：“以前很多企业主要依靠境外律师，在现在这种情形下，过度依赖境外律师其实有很大的风险。以反向思维来看，对中国律师而言，这也是一个机会，将来企业可能要聘请更多自己的律师，尽量降低风险。”
中闻也紧密关注疫情后的业务“蓝海”。吴革律师向ALB分享道，目前不良资产、破产重组、合规、刑事辩护等业务可能是伴随经济动荡而产生的风口业务，中闻注重对于这些领域的业务发展，并已承办相关业务。
“中闻的人员规模优势要转化为业务优势，多专业领域人才的汇聚使我们拥有较高的综合实力，在多业务领域融合的业务中有较强的竞争力。”吴革律师说。
展望未来
对于未来发展，盈科李正律师表示，盈科将继续加大中国区律所和全球法律服务网络的建立。在国内方面，着眼于中国律师行业发展大局，了解并预判中国律师行业的发展趋势，在大局观的指引下做分所规划。
杨琳律师补充道，在国际方面，盈科会考察中国企业“走出去”的重点目标国家都有哪些，然后选择允许外国律所设立分支机构的国家，在当地设立海外直营分所，并遴选优秀涉外律师派驻直营分所，从而建立顺畅、高效的沟通渠道，并同时与当地政府、商会、律所等建立友好的合作关系。此外，他们会继续与外国顶尖律所交流探讨合作事宜，继续在全球范围内向中国企业和公民提供跨语言、跨文化、跨法域的专业而高效的法律服务。
华商高树律师表示，未来，华商首先会在专业方面继续优化企业合规与风控等领域的服务质量；其次，他们还会深化律所管理与服务的融合，助力各业务团队在协同效应下持续打造高水准的专业服务。同时，华商将更加注重品牌推广与市场拓展，努力让更多的客户群体熟知并信赖华商品牌，并且，他们还将在公益法律服务方面加大力度。高树律师说：“我希望华商律师在通过法律创造价值的同时，也能够为社会稳定、维护公平公正贡献出自己的力量。”
广和童新律师坦言，目前广和虽已是千人规模的律所，但是与国内更强的规模化大所相比还有一定差距。因此，未来几年，规模化发展是广和需要继续努力的方向。广和会继续稳健、高标准地设立分所，比如考虑在南京、西安、沈阳、重庆、郑州新设分所，同时积极开展广和分所在大湾区内地城市全覆盖的布局。在国际化发展上，广和将提升在欧美设立分所的数量，以期在未来一带一路业务发展过程中，发挥更大的作用。
建纬宋仲春律师告诉ALB：“未来一年内，建纬的市场定位和律所发展会坚持从行业化到专业化的方向，以上海办公室为龙头，带领全国近30家分所在市场拓展、业务服务、专业课题研究等板块以一体化的运作模式进行整体化的发展。”
宋律师还表示，在拓展新业务方面，建纬将紧跟政府主管部门和行业发展的方向，以数字化、科技化、智能化在建筑行业的运用以及在法律服务板块的延伸拓展和联合运作机制，以“法律+科技”、“法律+绿色”等概念打造智能建筑这一新板块，从行业的未来、从法律服务更高一层级的定位，延伸和拓展建纬的市场定位，并以同样的概念引导、影响建纬各个分所的团队，鼓励并带领他们向智能建造这一新的业务方向进行拓展。
“未来建纬会呈现出多个办公室联合宣传、统一职业和服务标准的面貌，向更广阔的建筑行业的上下游客户提供更为综合的法律服务。”宋律师说。
放眼未来十年，中闻吴革律师表示，中闻将努力在世界范围内取得领先地位。他说：“中闻将继续关注人才、制度、业务与品牌等方面，做到稳步发展。我们认为中闻在全国、全球的办公室都代表中闻律师事务所这一品牌，我们也将坚持‘五化一体’的发展方向，即规模化、品牌化、专业化、一体化和国际化。未来，中闻致力于成为全球的头部律所，要在全球设立分支机构，为走出国门的中国企业在全球范围内提供24小时的法律服务，因此，国际化一定是我们未来发展的重点。 ”
2021 ALB China 30 Largest Law Firms
China's large law firms are paying more attention to the power of young lawyers than ever before. By nurturing young lawyers and helping them grow, these firms have gained more vitality and expanded their legal service networks both domestically and internationally.
The top five firms in this year’s Largest 30 are the same as 2020: Yingke Law Firm, Dentons China, Jingsh Law Office, DeHeng Law Offices and AllBright Law Offices. Yingke, which continues to top the ranking, has experienced a 23.84 percent of increase in the number of partners and a 17.4 percent increase in total number of lawyers, which has reached 11390. DeHeng and AllBright switched their rankings from last year after a significant increase in headcount (2790 to 3665) for DeHeng.
W&H Law Firm, a new joiner to our ranking, ranked sixth with a total of 3006 lawyers. We have also seen an more than 50 percent increase in the number of lawyers at Zhonglun W&D Law Firm, which rose from 13th in 2020 to the ninth this year. Two other law firms with more than 50 percent increase were Duan & Duan Law Firm (57.49 percent) and China Commercial Law Firm (74.25 percent), which placed 15th and 17th, respectively.
We speak to the partners of some of the firms in the Largest 30, asking about how their teams have expanded, and how they are planning growth strategy going forward.
TALENT STRATEGY
While having as many good lawyers as possible is a prerequisite for a law firm to grow bigger, it definitely does not mean it should adopt a blind "the-more-the-merrier” strategy. The firms interviewed express their different multi-aspect considerations about recruiting and training talent but share one thing in common – they all think highly of the power of youth, and are willingly help young legal professionals to grow.
Li Zheng, Head of the Board of Directors of China, Executive Director of China of Yingke Law Firm, tells ALB that Yingke attaches importance to recruiting outstanding talent, in particular the lateral recruitment of those who are experts in some practice areas, which is vital to the specialization construction of the firm. To this end, Yingke has introduced some targeted strategies, including providing free "shared workstations" for young lawyers, reducing performance evaluations for female lawyers, and providing them with information support. Furthermore, at Yingke, IPO lawyers enjoy the perk of management fee exemption and other business awards for their successful IPO cases on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Yingke also gives young lawyers a broad stage for displaying their talents and capabilities and offers them sufficient room for career development and personal growth, and provides internal training through various expertise committees and departments to help lawyers grow. "As a very inclusive platform, Yingke gives every opportunity to outstanding young lawyers who have the passion to make a difference, for them to try out various possibilities and find the practice areas in which they want to specialize, to help them excel," Li says.
In recent years, China Commercial Law Firm has been actively recruiting top talent in traditional practice areas and R&D talent in emerging practice areas. Amid its expedited overseas expansion, the firm has hired five high-end foreign-related legal talent to explore the North American market.
The talent development of China Commercial Law Firm focuses on the professional competence development, and is featured by "organic growth,” that is, the firm has established professional research institutions for many of its practice areas, including areas with traditional advantages such as capital market and securities, real estate and engineering, as well as some emerging practice areas such as digital economy, and urban renewal and shed reform, which tallies with characteristics of Shenzhen, a city that is at the forefront of technology. Led by senior associates of the firm, these research institutions aim to help young lawyers to grow and become the backbone of the firm. According to Gao Shu, chief partner of China Commercial Law Firm, 12 lawyers have been promoted to senior partners, and 21 lawyers to partners lately, among whom 90 percent have been working with the firm since they joined the firm as paralegals or trainee lawyers.
"Law firms should stress on training their own talent, rather than always trying to recruit already-well-developed lawyers, which we believe is a positive talent development direction – if no law firm wants to train its own talent, it'll result in chaos in the legal service market. We've been implementing this organic-growth talent development system for 28 years. It may look like that we've doing something a bit costly; but in terms of the long-term and stable development of the legal profession, we believe it's a good thing," Gao says.
Guangdong Guanghe Law Firm also implements a talent strategy which focuses on internal training. Tong Xin, chief partner and director of Guanghe, tells ALB that Guanghe implements a talent strategy based on internal training, which is complemented by lateral recruitment. The talent training is carried out around the key practice areas of the firm, enabling both young lawyers and senior lawyers to continue to grow professionally. Furthermore, Guanghe provides differentiated training to lawyers in light of their career development stages and business development capabilities to help them excel in their respective areas.
For example, for young people who just start their career as lawyers, Guanghe focuses on coaching them on the competency and skills necessary for them to become junior lawyers, to help them develop good professional habits, and complete the transition from law students to legal professionals. For young lawyers who have practiced law for one to three years, Guanghe implements a system where young lawyers work on teams led by senior lawyers. Senior lawyers would assign some cases to young lawyers, help them directly obtain the source of cases and meanwhile impart them the practice skills, so that the young lawyers could learn the true skills in practice. For lawyers who have been practicing law for three to eight years, and have been continuously improving their practice skills, Guanghe sets up working committees for young lawyers, to helps them to continue to improve professional skills and meanwhile broaden their client bases. And senior lawyers having accomplished the above-mentioned three development stages can become equity partners of the firm. "Most of them have become expert lawyers who can solve difficult legal problems in a certain area. Now they need to have opportunities to train themselves in a higher-level circle to be able to meet more difficult challenges," Tong says: "In this regard, Guanghe sets forth four-dimensional training directions and training objectives: business, management, market and research. Business-oriented people are very good at handling cases efficiently and effectively, so they would do front-line work; management-oriented people will learn to participate in the firm or team management to become the builders of the whole firm; market-oriented people are good at business development, so they would be further trained to master relevant abilities and skills; and research-oriented people are capable to carry out in-depth research, so they would be trained to transform theoretical learning and practical experience into written works, and become researchers to build the brands of individuals and the firm."
City Development Law Firm was among the first batch of law firms in mainland China to specialize in legal services in the areas of construction, real estate, and urban infrastructure construction. The talent strategy of City Development includes four phases: selection, recruitment, coaching and retention. Song Zhongchun, deputy director and senior partner at City Development Law Firm, says: "We endeavour to develop in all aspects of the comprehensive legal services for urban and rural development, from the real estate sector to the engineering construction sector, and try to enhance the professional research strength accordingly. At the same time, we encourage our lawyers to choose to develop expertise in different sub-sectors, and guide them to carry out in-depth research on specific issues."
City Development's talent strategy adopts a coaching plus mentoring system, and implements an on-going business training and communication system to encourage senior lawyers to interact with and help young lawyers to grow. In January this year, the firm established the working committee for young lawyers, aiming to help young lawyers improve their competency, encourage mutual exchanges between young lawyers, and provide young lawyers with career development guidance, so as to help them to become top players in the industry, and create more value for clients.
Nearly a hundred lawyers joined Zhong Wen Law Firm last year. Wu Ge, director of Zhong Wen, tells ALB that their talent recruitment policy focuses on three aspects: (1) Part-time lawyers from universities in Beijing. Up to now, there are over 40 doctoral supervisors from universities who work as part-time lawyers at Zhong Wen. Their joining has played a very important role in improving the overall business capabilities and talent development of Zhong Wen; (2) Excellent talent with the experiences of working at the legal departments of companies, or public security organs, procuratorate organs and courts, as well as excellent lawyers joining Zhong Wen from other law firms. Wu believes that talent development should not be limited to training within law firms, and the legal-related training and work experiences in different sectors are of great benefit to the growth of lawyers. Zhong Wen gives legal professionals with the aforesaid training background or work experiences preferential treatment commensurate with their qualifications, Wu says; and (3) Post-90s generation talented graduates from law schools at home and abroad. Talents with both Chinese and Western educational backgrounds are essential for Zhong Wen's international layout, Wu says.
Zhong Wen has been implementing a talent development system called the Zhong Wen Lecture Hall program for its people. In terms of talent management, Zhong Wen implements a 7-level system for its public team members, with corresponding promotion channels and clear training mechanism, which plays a good role in promoting the career development and professional growth of lawyers. Furthermore, combined with the Zhong Wen Lecture Hall program, the firm carries out targeted training for its people to promote the overall professional development of the firm.
MANAGEMENT OF HEAD OFFICE AND BRANCH OFFICES
Guanghe opened offices in Changsha, Urumqi and Ganzhou last year. Speaking of the management of branch offices, Guanghe stresses in particular on the need of giving full play to the ownership role of the partners assigned to the branches, so that the branches can formulate their own expansion plans that suit the characteristics of the local markets and their respective business lines. At the same time, Guanghe implements a platform-based, team-based, and corporate-type management mode to strengthen the head office's management over the branch offices, so as to "gradually realize the integrated development" of the head office and the branch offices.
Much like Guanghe, City Development attaches great importance to the integrated development of the head office and the branch offices, and takes it as the most important strategic plan in 2021. At the end of 2020, on the basis of the special general partnership reform jointly participated by the head office and the branch offices, the directors and partners of the head office and branch offices of City Development all agreed to establish a joint decision-making mechanism involving the head office and the branch offices, which is the Nationwide Management Committee (NMC). The NMC includes five special committees and one research institute, namely, the risk control committee, the brand operation committee, the market development committee, the financial and budget committee, the career development committee, and the City Development research institute. Song tells ALB that the five committees and one institute cover six sectors that City Development urgently needs to develop; therefore, at each branch office, each sector must be taken charge of by at least one partner, and meanwhile, one partner with management functions serves as the NMC member, responsible for maintaining the connections between the branch office and the head office and other branch offices. In addition, City Development will also set up equity partners of the head office and the branch offices to ensure a closer bond between the head office and branch offices.
"The NMC will establish a collaborative management system between the City Development's Shanghai head office and its nearly 30 branch offices across the country to realize the coordinated development of the head office and the branch offices, including client base sharing, resource sharing, business collaboration, and knowledge base establishment ... to eventually realize the integrated development of the head office and the branch offices," Song says.
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA
Yingke officially announced the opening of its office in Dusseldorf, Germany, in August this year. Yang Lin, founding partner of Yingke International, global partner of Yingke, and executive chairwoman of global board of Yingke, tells ALB that the partners of Yingke Germany are composed of experienced Yingke Chinese lawyers, local German lawyers and Chinese lawyers with qualifications to practice law in both China and Germany. Yingke Germany will possibly open offices in other major cities of Germany, such as Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt, if the business requires so.
The opening of Yingke's Dusseldorf Office in Germany is one of the bright spots in the international development of Chinese law firms in recent years. In the context of the post-pandemic era, quite some law firms have to slow down their international expansion paces. Gao of China Commercial Law Firm says that due to the impact of the pandemic and other factors, communication and contact between them and foreign law firms have become not as frequent as before the pandemic. Wu of Zhong Wen points out that their previous plan for setting up overseas offices has been affected by the pandemic.
Nevertheless, they see opportunities from another angle. "In the past, many companies mainly relied on foreign lawyers for handling their overseas issues. Under the current situation, excessive reliance on overseas lawyers could actually be very risky. Therefore, thinking about the situation reversely, it can be an opportunity for Chinese lawyers because in the future, companies might tend to hire more Chinese lawyers in order to minimize risks," Gao points out.
Zhong Wen has been closely watching opportunities in the business blue ocean in the post-pandemic era. The areas such as non-performing assets, bankruptcy restructuring, compliance, and criminal defence might become the "eye of storm" areas due to the economic turmoil, Wu tells ALB. Zhong Wen already started the business development in these areas and has been handling some relevant cases.
"Our advantage in human resources has been transformed into business advantage. We have talent in many practice areas, giving us strong comprehensive strength and enabling us to have strong competitive edges in handling cases involving multiple practice areas," Wu says.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
Regarding future development, Li of Yingke says that the firm will continue to step up efforts in the development of the firm in China and the construction of global legal service network. At the domestic level, Yingke will work on the expansion layout in the country, and learn about and predict the development trend of China's legal industry to open offices under the guidance of the outlook of the overall situation.
Yang of Yingke adds that internationally, on the one hand, the firm will research to find out the top investment destination countries of most Chinese companies that are planning to "go global,” set up overseas directly-operated branch offices in the countries that allow foreign firms to set up offices, and dispatch outstanding foreign-related lawyers to be stationed in those directly-operated branches to establish smooth and efficient communication channels, and at the same time build friendly cooperative relations with local governments, chambers of commerce, law firms, etc. On the other hand, Yingke will develop further cooperation with top foreign law firms, and continue to efficiently provide Chinese companies and citizens with multi-language, cross-cultural, and cross-jurisdiction legal services on a global scale.
According to Gao, China Commercial will first continue to optimize service quality in areas such as corporate compliance and risk control; secondly, they will deepen the integration of law firm management and services to help the business teams achieve synergy effects and continue to create high-level professional services. The firm will also pay more attention to brand promotion and market expansion, and strive to make the brand of China Commercial known to more client groups and build rapport with them. Meanwhile, they will increase their efforts in public welfare legal services. "I hope that while creating value for our clients and our people by providing legal services, we can contribute more to the social stability and maintaining fairness and justice," Gao says.
Although Guanghe now has about 1,000 employees, there is still a gap between the firm and other domestic large firms, Tong says. Therefore, Guanghe will continue to focus on growing in size in the next few years. The firm will continue to set up branch offices in a robust and high-standard way. For example, the firm is considering opening offices Nanjing, Xi'an, Shenyang, Chongqing and Zhengzhou. Meanwhile, they will actively roll out plan for the full coverage of mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. Internationally, Guanghe will set up more offices in European and American countries in order to play a greater role in the business development in line with the Belt and Road initiative.
"Next year, the market positioning and firm development of City Development will follow the direction of from industry-orientation to expertise-orientation. With Shanghai Office playing the leading role, City Development's nearly 30 domestic branch offices in China will join efforts to realize the integrated and coordinated development in market expansion, business development, research, and other related sectors," Song tells ALB.
Song also says that City Development will carry out business expansion closely in line with the guidance of the relevant competent departments and the industry development direction. By applying digital, technical and intelligent approaches to the construction industry, and creating coordinated and joint operation mechanisms, the firm aims to build a novel sector of smart construction based on the concepts of "legal plus technology" and "legal plus green.” They will extend and expand the firm's market positioning from the higher-level positioning of legal services, and guide and encourage all teams and branch offices to develop their businesses towards orientation of smart construction.
"In the future, all offices of City Development will carry out joint publicity, and follow the uniform practice and service standards, so as to provide more comprehensive legal services and extend our reach to more upstream and downstream clients in the construction industry," Song says.
Looking ahead, Wu of Zhong Wen says that the firm will strive to achieve a leading position in the world within the next decade "We will continue to pay attention to the development of talent, systems, businesses and brand, to achieve steady development of the firm. We believe that all our offices across the country and around the world represent the brand of Zhong Wen Law Firm, and we will adhere to the coordinated and comprehensive development of the firm in terms of size, branding, specialization, integration and internationalization. Zhong Wen will strive to become among the top-notch law firms in the world and set up offices all over the world to help Chinese companies to go global, and provide them with 24-hour legal services around the world. Therefore, internationalization must be our first priority in the future development," Wu says.
THE LIST
|
Top 30 China Domestic |
||||
|
2021 Ranking |
Firm Name |
Total Partners |
Total Associates |
Total Lawyers |
|
1 |
YingKe Law Firm 盈科律师事务所 |
1366 |
10024 |
11390 |
|
2 |
Dentons China 大成律师事务所 |
2050 |
4730 |
6780 |
|
3 |
Jingsh Law Firm 京师律师事务所 |
318 |
4993 |
5311 |
|
4 |
DeHeng Law Offices 德恒律师事务所 |
648 |
3017 |
3665 |
|
5 |
AllBright Law Offices 锦天城律师事务所 |
792 |
2601 |
3436 |
|
6 |
W&H Law Firm 炜衡律师事务所 |
659 |
2008 |
3006 |
|
7 |
Grandall Law Firm 国浩律师事务所 |
1002 |
1661 |
2709 |
|
8 |
Beijing DHH Law Firm 北京德和衡律师事务所 |
178 |
2282 |
2519 |
|
9 |
Zhonglun W&D Law Firm 中伦文德律师事务所 |
610 |
1550 |
2160 |
|
10 |
Zhong Lun Law Firm 中伦律师事务所 |
365 |
1785 |
2150 |
|
11 |
King & Wood Mallesons 金杜律师事务所 |
454 |
1659 |
2121 |
|
12 |
Tahota Law Firm 泰和泰律师事务所 |
642 |
1350 |
2100 |
|
13 |
Zhong Yin Law Firm 中银律师事务所 |
420 |
1338 |
1765 |
|
14 |
Long An Law Firm 隆安律师事务所 |
411 |
1166 |
1663 |
|
15 |
Duan & Duan Law Firm 段和段律师事务所 |
393 |
1226 |
1619 |
|
16 |
Hui Ye Law Firm 汇业律师事务所 |
367 |
1084 |
1503 |
|
17 |
China Commercial Law Firm 华商律师事务所 |
220 |
1211 |
1502 |
|
18 |
Jincheng Tongda & Neal Law Firm 金诚同达律师事务所 |
420 |
958 |
1411 |
|
19 |
Hengdu Law Firm 恒都律师事务所 |
150 |
934 |
1200 |
|
20 |
Hylands Law Firm 浩天信和律师事务所 |
290 |
852 |
1189 |
|
21 |
Guangdong Guanghe Law Firm 广东广和律师事务所 |
191 |
942 |
1135 |
|
22 |
Hansheng Law Offices 汉盛律师事务所 |
274 |
837 |
1129 |
|
23 |
Tiantai Law Firm 天驰君泰律师事务所 |
347 |
683 |
1109 |
|
24 |
Kangda Law Firm 康达律师事务所 |
182 |
927 |
1109 |
|
25 |
City Development Law Firm 上海市建纬律师事务所 |
290 |
789 |
1092 |
|
26 |
Guantao Law Firm 观韬中茂律师事务所 |
305 |
692 |
1000 |
|
27 |
Hiways Law Firm 海华永泰律师事务所 |
301 |
668 |
1000 |
|
28 |
Sichuan Mingju Law Firm 四川明炬律师事务所 |
125 |
775 |
932 |
|
29 |
Zhong Wen Law Firm 中闻律师事务所 |
417 |
512 |
929 |
|
30 |
Beijing Yinghe Law Firm北京瀛和律师事务所 |
85 |
470 |
922 |
|
Top 30 China International |
|||||
|
2021 Ranking |
Firm Name |
Headquarters |
Total Partners |
Total Associates |
Total Lawyers |
|
1 |
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 富而德律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
24 |
52 |
90 |
|
2 |
Stephenson Harwood 罗夏信律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
29 |
36 |
78 |
|
3 |
Clifford Chance 高伟绅律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
11 |
48 |
72 |
|
4 |
Morgan Lewis & Bockius 摩根路易斯律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
7 |
42 |
49 |
|
5 |
Paul Hastings 普衡律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
5 |
37 |
42 |
|
6 |
DLA Piper 欧华律师事务所 |
UK/U.S. 英国/美国 |
20 |
2 |
41 |
|
7 |
Baker McKenzie 贝克∙麦坚时国际律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
9 |
25 |
37 |
|
8 |
Allen & Overy 安理国际律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
9 |
20 |
34 |
|
9 |
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati 美国威尔逊·桑西尼·古奇·罗沙迪律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
3 |
19 |
34 |
|
10 |
Sidley Austin 盛德律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
4 |
25 |
33 |
|
11 |
CMS |
UK/Germany英国/德国 |
7 |
21 |
31 |
|
12 |
Watson Farley & Williams 华盛国际律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
6 |
11 |
30 |
|
13 |
Bird & Bird 鸿鹄律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
8 |
21 |
29 |
|
14 |
Cooley 科律律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
6 |
22 |
28 |
|
15 |
White & Case 伟凯律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
5 |
23 |
28 |
|
16 |
Herbert Smith Freehills 史密夫斐尔律师事务所 |
UK/Australia 英国/澳大利亚 |
17 |
5 |
25 |
|
17 |
Hogan Lovells 霍金路伟国际律师事务所 |
UK/U.S. 英国/美国 |
9 |
8 |
24 |
|
18 |
Kirkland & Ellis 凯易国际律师事务所 |
U.S. 美国 |
7 |
16 |
24 |
|
19 |
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe 美国奥睿律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
12 |
6 |
22 |
|
20 |
Jones Day 众达律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
9 |
8 |
22 |
|
21 |
O'Melveny Myers 美迈斯律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
5 |
6 |
22 |
|
22 |
K&L Gates 高盖茨律师事务所 |
U.S. 美国 |
9 |
10 |
21 |
|
23 |
Pinsent Masons 品诚梅森律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
6 |
14 |
21 |
|
24 |
Ropes & Gray 瑞格律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
4 |
13 |
21 |
|
25 |
Clyde & Co 其礼律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
6 |
9 |
20 |
|
26 |
Reed Smith 礼德律师事务所 |
U.S.美国 |
4 |
10 |
19 |
|
27 |
Ashurst 亚司特国际律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
2 |
16 |
18 |
|
28 |
Deacons 的近律师行 |
Hong Kong SAR 中国香港特别行政区 |
0 |
17 |
17 |
|
29 |
Eversheds Sutherland 安睿顺德伦律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
5 |
10 |
16 |
|
30 |
Simmons & Simmons 西盟斯律师事务所 |
UK英国 |
6 |
9 |
15 |
To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.
