中国的青年律师们正以惊人的速度和势不可挡的劲头在各自的领域里大放异彩。他们以专业的高度和革新者的姿态不断创造出具有行业标杆意义的经典案例，在取得了累累硕果的同时依然保持着前进的步伐。此外，他们还勇于担任管理者的角色，为律所的团队建设注入活力。

律师 Lawyer	律所 Firm
陈徐 Henry Chen	贝克∙麦坚时国际律师事务所 Baker & McKenzie LLP
陈敏 Isaac Chen	史密夫斐尔律师事务所 Herbert Smith Freehills
崔强 Cui Qiang	通商律师事务所 Commerce & Finance Law Offices
杜宁 Du Ning	海问律师事务所 Haiwen & Partners
黄华珍 Huang Huazhen	德恒律师事务所 DeHeng Law Offices
黄洁 Huang Jie	天册律师事务所 T&C Law Firm
蒋文俊 Jiang Wenjun	君合律师事务所 JunHe LLP
李剑伟 Li Jianwei	通力律师事务所 Llinks Law Offices
李鹏飞 Li Pengfei	锦天城律师事务所 AllBright Law Offices
卢在光 Lu Zaiguang	汉坤律师事务所 Han Kun Law Offices
舒文 Shu Wen	竞天公诚律师事务所 Jingtian & Gongcheng
王鑫 Wang Xin	金杜律师事务所 King & Wood Mallesons
徐沫 Xu Mo	中伦律师事务所 Zhong Lun Law Firm
杨骏啸 Yang Junxiao	天同律师事务所 Tiantong & Partners Law Firm
张笛 David Zhang	瑞格律师事务所 Ropes & Gray

2020年ALB China十五佳律师新星榜单现已揭晓。尽管今年上榜律师们的平均年龄只有37岁，他们已经在各自的专业领域中取得了惊人的成就。在这些成就里，“革新”似乎成了关键词。律师们利用创新的手段，不断帮助客户成功解决一个又一个复杂案件，多次完成具有行业“首创”意义的项目。

天册律师事务所合伙人黄洁律师拥有跨行业工作背景，在私募基金和并购投资领域拥有多年经验，在众多项目中为包括央企、上市公司、民营企业在内的客户优化全球产业布局提供法律支持。黄律师还特别擅长处理综合疑难前沿性金融项目。近年来，黄洁律师从代表浙江省内某国有企业参与全国私募基金风险处置第一案相关民事纠纷开始，带领团队先后参与了多起综合金融风险处置案件，并参与浙江省内多家网贷平台清退项目，推动创新性刑民交叉处理模式的探索和形成。

2018年至2019年，君合律师事务所合伙人蒋文俊律师先后实施了Mobvista（汇量科技）的港股上市以及优刻得科技股份有限公司的科创板上市。其中，Mobvista（汇量科技）是近年来少有的以适用《国务院关于进一步加强在境外发行股票和上市管理的通知》（俗称“97红筹指引”）之规则登录香港联交所的“大红筹”民营企业，同时亦是当年公司所在省区中唯一一家适用该等规则并取得省政府批文的港股上市公司；而，优刻得作为第一家公有云业务的A股上市公司，是中国资本市场有史以来第一家设置“表决权差异化安排”制度（AB股）的上市公司，同时亦是科创板首批选用可比公司的企业价值倍数（EV/Sales）及市销率（P/S）范围作为发行估值参考的上市公司之一。

在佳辰地板（01937.HK）香港主板上市项目中，中伦律师事务所合伙人徐沫律师担任当时保荐人中国律师中伦团队的主办合伙人。在他的带领下，各中介团队通力协作，在传统“两步走”的基础上采取了境内股权出资的“无现金”重组方案，同时解决了股东现金流和上市前融资的问题，创造了市场“无现金”重组的先河，方案设计执行并在2020年初成功通过，获得客户高度评价。

除了业务以外，上榜律师们还积极投身到中国的法制建设之中。天同律师事务所合伙人杨骏啸律师参加了《全国民商事审判工作会议纪要》的征求意见工作，该纪要是近年来最高人民法院民商事审判领域的最为重要的文件之一；徐沫律师多次代表中伦律师事务所参加商务部等部委对新法律法规修改的征求意见座谈会，参与了相关部委对外资战投规定、民促法等修订意见的讨论；德恒律师事务所合伙人黄华珍律师被发改委等立法机构邀请参与多项基础设施立法，为立法机构提出有益的建议并被采纳，例如《关于加强固定资产投资项目资本金管理的通知》、《政府投资资本金注入项目管理办法征求意见稿>》、《中华人民共和国招标投标法（修订草案公开征求意见稿）》、《政府核准和备案投资项目管理条例（征求意见稿）》、《政府与社会资本合作条例（征求意见稿）》等。

此外，不少上榜律师还将多年来的实战经验与理论结合，取得了丰富的学术成果和前沿的研究成果。蒋文俊律师受聘于上海对外经贸大学，担任法学院实验班校外导师；通商律师事务所合伙人崔强律师曾多家法律学术平台发表数十篇论文，涉及领域包括诉讼与仲裁程序、股权投资、商业地产、国际贸易、知识产权与不正当竞争等。

在对上榜律师们的卓越成就表示衷心祝贺的同时，ALB China采访了部分上榜律师，倾听他们分享多年来的工作感悟，成功经验以及他们对青年律师的建议。

不断学习、积极沟通

几乎所有受访律师在分享经验时，都强调了“学习”与“沟通”的重要性。

“对于资本市场律师来说，资本规则日新月异，每周或每隔两周就有新规，哪怕短暂时间不在一线工作，很可能就会跟不上规则的调整。同时，各行各业飞速发展，行业业态层出不同，对于律师也是一个很大的挑战。” 蒋文俊律师说道。

而这种法律快速更新迭代所带来的压力不仅仅存在于资本市场领域。

徐沫律师执业于房地产、资本市场、外资并购等商事领域，他表示：“作为一名涉足多领域的律师，所面对的一大挑战就是不断更新的法律法规和政策。”面对这样的挑战，徐沫律师认为，律师应该不断学习、更新知识库，同时还要必须与时俱进关心一些商业案例和公开市场交易，避免闭门造车。

“律师必须适应时代的变化，而不能妄图让时代适应你，”他说道。

尽管不断学习这一道理浅显易懂，但实际行动起来却并不容易。律师们每天要面对大量的工作，一方面需要做好正在进行的项目或案件中的谈判和文书工作，另一方面还要进行业务拓展，或是参与到团队管理工作中。这些工作占用了大量的有效果工作时间，许多律师面对知识更新时常感到力不从心。对此，徐沫律师分享了自己的学习心得，他说道：“最好的学习方式，除了在平时的工作中培养商业意识、注重积累信息外，还应该多利用网络的强大资源进行信息检索和排查，例如一些行业领军上市公司的招股说明书，又如高科技人工智能软件（比如晓法科技），抑或是一些主流专业机构的微信公众号，都是随时吸取知识养分的土壤。”

竞天公诚律师事务所合伙人舒文律师也同意这样的观点，并采取了这样的方式不断扩充自己的知识储备。他认为，当今社会处于信息爆炸的时代，获取资讯的途径有很多。他本人也关注了红圈所的微信公众号，抽出时间去浏览最新的法规速递和研究文章，在出差途中或者一些碎片时间里“见缝插针”地进行阅读、学习和消化。

“我很喜欢一句话：时间挤一挤总会有的。”舒文律师说道。

如果说学习是修炼“内功”的过程，那么将学习到的信息进行有效的对外输出则十分考验律师们沟通的能力。

 

“诉讼律师面对不同的客户也是对自己能力的一种挑战，这就需要我们准确把握客户的心理状态，有一定技巧地把我们对案件的看法和态度传达给当事人。”

——杨骏啸，天同律师事务所

杨骏啸律师分享道：“就案件而言，我们所接触的案件都是难度大，案情复杂，事实上或者法律上有较大争议的案件，而且当事人往往对这类案件都有着比较高的预期；而就客户来讲，我们的客户很多都是大型机构，也有一些私人客户。不同的客户在案件中有不同的需求，不同的工作习惯。有的客户会比较依赖于我们的专业意见，而有的客户面对案件中的问题则比较坚持自己的主张。因此，诉讼律师面对不同的客户也是对自己能力的一种挑战，这就需要我们准确把握客户的心理状态，有一定技巧地把我们对案件的看法和态度传达给当事人。”

对于非诉律师来说也是一样。执业于企业合规领域的贝克麦坚时律师事务所合伙人陈徐律师表示，由于合规工作的高度敏感性以及可能对于公司现有运作模式和流程提出改变的要求，有些企业的业务领导可能会为了实现短期的商业利益，忽视或淡化合规顾问提出的调查、评估和整改意见，进而导致问题越积越深，最终对公司和高管造成巨大的损害。这非常考验合规律师的沟通能力和全局把控能力，比如，需要解释清楚合规调查的目的不只是为了发现问题，更不是为了处罚某些个人、员工，而是基于发现的问题和风险点，制定和采取有效的规避、降低和管控风险的措施，从而既保护公司的长远利益，也维护高管和每个员工的切身利益。

 

“每个合规建议必须同时满足必要性、有效性和可执行性——以风险高低为基础，兼顾全局，制定和实施适合每个企业和行业的合规制度。”

——陈徐，贝克麦坚时

“因此， 需要花时间耐心地做好必要的沟通工作，甚至是教育工作。同时，提出的每个合规建议必须同时满足必要性、有效性和可执行性——以风险高低为基础，兼顾全局，制定和实施适合每个企业和行业的合规制度。” 陈徐律师说道。

参与管理、建设团队

除了业务以外，越来越多的青年律师已经参与到团队管理与团队建设中，在律所中担任起了管理者和领导者的角色。聊起与管理有关的话题，几位律师各自总结出了自己的经验。

“我一直有个理念：人和人在一起合作是一种缘分，团队里的每个人处在合作关系里，应该互相对彼此负责任，从而维持团队的稳定、工作环境的稳定乃至平台的稳定，”崔强律师说道。

为了维护这份稳定，崔强律师首先从海选简历阶段就会十分谨慎仔细，尽量花时间多看简历，从中挑选出适合通商律师事务所这个平台和自己团队的年轻律师，争取长期共赢的合作。其次，在合作的过程中遇到问题时，崔强律师会积极沟通，努力解决问题。第三，当发现团队与律师的确互相不合适的情况下，崔强律师则会根据律师的特点和特长在律所内部寻找适合的位置，助其施展特长，获得发展。在崔强律师的参与下，律所人才留存率保持较高的水平，团队也一直保持着高效的运作和长期稳定的发展。

陈徐律师则分享了三点经验：“第一，要关注律师自身素质发展，挖掘和发挥每个组员擅长的和感兴趣的领域，有效授权，充分沟通，鼓励合作，及时总结；第二，应该客观、真诚地对待和处理团队中发生的事件，趋利避害，给大家自由民主的空间，根据轻重缓急，自行或协商处理有关事宜；第三，鼓励组员参与律所和社会团体组织的的文娱体育活动，为工作压力找到有效排解的‘出口’，始终保持正面的、积极的工作和生活心态。”

杨骏啸律师的经验则更具“层次感”。他指出，在团队领导方面，最重要的是要在律师团队内部划分出梯次和分工。

“合伙人要把握好整个团队的方向，并且在个案中予以全方位指导。高年级律师一方面是办理案件的主力军，另一方面也是传道教授低年级律师的导师。同样的，低年级律师也要根据高年级律师和合伙人的指导，形成自己的办案经验，然后再传授给实习生或者新的低年级律师。只有这样形成层次和分工，团队内的人力资源配置才合理，也能实现合伙人和高年级律师的‘传帮带’作用。”他解释道。

“此外，团队内部除了办案之外，还要定期复盘，无论是案件准备、开庭过程、市场活动等都需要及时总结，找出得失利弊，积累经验。” 杨骏啸律师补充说道。

对青年律师的建议

聊起当今青年律师应该怎样做才能获得迅速成长与提升这一话题，几位受访律师纷纷根据自己的经验，从不同的角度给出了建议。

“首先，需要客观的认识自己（包括自己的兴趣所在、擅长的工作领域以及需要进一步发展的方面），充分利用所在团队和律所的资源，扩展自己的经验和见识，找到市场需求和个人品质之间的连接点，” 陈徐律师说道，“第二，应该在每一件交由处理的事情上竭力反映出自己的‘最佳水准’，切记不要抱有‘反正上面还会看的’心态。把每一件发出的文件都看成是标有你名字的作品，少出‘次品’，树立自己在律所内外的‘品牌’。最后，就是坚持。相信自己通过脚踏实地的努力，一定能获得长远的收获。”

 

“年轻律师的价值体现在是否能够节省别人的时间，虽然在工作时会有资历更深的律师或合伙人进行指导，但交给自己的工作应该做到尽量不需要别人再修改。在每一次努力做到最好的过程中，获得同事与客户的信任与赏识，一步一个脚印地为未来的发展奠定扎实的基础。”

——崔强，通商律师事务所

崔强律师也十分同意陈徐律师所提到的第二点。他说道：“把交给自己的工作做好，我认为这是证明自己的唯一途径。年轻律师的价值体现在是否能够节省别人的时间，虽然在工作时会有资历更深的律师或合伙人进行指导，但交给自己的工作应该做到尽量不需要别人再修改。在每一次努力做到最好的过程中，获得同事与客户的信任与赏识，一步一个脚印地为未来的发展奠定扎实的基础。”

舒文律师根据工作中的观察指出了青年律师目前存在的一些问题：“虽然他们知识结构更多元、视野更加国际化，但是对于一些法律基础工作（比如法律研究、文本翻译和校对）缺乏耐心、也不够细致。与此同时，他们往往喜欢研究像交易架构这样的大问题，而看不上琐碎的细节工作。”

针对这样的浮躁心态，舒文律师认为，要成为一名合格且全面的商业交易律师，需要具备丰富的法律知识、缜密的逻辑和细致的文件起草能力，而这些都离不开初年级时期琐碎枯燥工作所打下的坚实基础。

“孜孜不倦、勤奋刻苦虽然说是老生常谈，但的确也是职场新人成长过程中的至理箴言。我特别喜欢一句话，也曾在年轻时常常自勉：‘年轻时吃过的苦，都会成为你未来脚下的路’，”舒文律师分享道。

 

ALB China Rising Lawyers 2020

Young lawyers in China today are making outstanding achievements in their field. With their profound expertise and penchant for innovation, they have been involved in model cases with industry significance, and keep making progress while achieving great results. They are also stepping into management roles, injecting vitality into the expansion of law firms.

 

We are pleased to announce the winners of 2020 ALB China Top 15 Rising Lawyers. The average age of the lawyers who made the list this year is only 37 years old; they have made brilliant achievements in their respective areas of practice. Looking at their achievements, "innovation" seems to be the key word. These standout lawyers adopt innovative approaches to steadily help clients successfully solve complex cases, and complete many projects with the significance of the "first of its kind" in the industry.

Huang Jie, partner at T&C Law Firm, has a cross-industry background and many years of work experience in private equity funds and M&A investment. She advises clients, including central enterprises, listed companies and private companies, on the optimization of their global industrial layouts in many projects. Huang is particularly good at handling comprehensive, difficult and cutting-edge financial projects. A couple of years ago, Huang represented a State-owned enterprise in Zhejiang Province in civil disputes related to the first case of national private equity fund risk disposal, and achieved positive results. Since then, she started to lead her team to participate in a number of comprehensive financial risk disposal cases, as well as the liquidation projects of several online loan platforms in Zhejiang Province, promoting the exploration and formation of innovative cross-processing approach for cases involving both criminal and civil matters.

From 2018 to 2019, Jiang Wenjun, partner at JunHe, has led the HKEx listing project of Mobvista and SSE STAR Market listing project of UCloud. Mobvista is one of the few private-owned Red Chip companies that was successfully listed in HKEx based on Notice of the State Council on Further Strengthening the Administration of Issuing and Listing Stocks Abroad. It is also the only hong Kong-listed company in the province where the company is located that year to apply these rules and obtain the approval of the provincial government. UCloud has become among the first SSE STAR Market listed companies that select the EV/Sales and P/S scope as the reference for issuance valuation; and it is also the first public cloud company listed on the A-share market, and the first listed company with the "differentiated voting rights" framework (AB share).

In JiaChen Floor's listing on the main board of HKEx, Xu Mo, a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm, served as the lead partner of Zhong Lun team of Chinese lawyers, the sponsor at the time. Under Xu's leadership, the intermediary teams worked together to adopt the "cashless" restructuring scheme for domestic equity funding on the basis of the traditional "two-step" approach, which solved the problems in shareholders' cash flow and pre-listing financing, thereby creating a precedent of "cashless" restructuring in the market. The scheme design and implementation was successfully passed in early 2020, and was highly praised by the client.

The lawyers made the list this year are also actively involved in China's legislative work. Yang Junxiao, partner at TianTong Law Firm, participated in the public opinion solicitation for the "Minutes of the National Working Conference on the Trial of Civil and Commercial Cases by Courts", which is one of the most important documents issued by the Supreme People's Court in the field of civil and commercial trials in recent years; Xu Mo of Zhong Lun, on behalf of the firm, participated in the a number of symposiums on the new revisions of laws and regulations held by the Ministry of Commerce and other ministries and commissions, and participated in discussions held by the relevant ministries and commission on provisions on foreign capital strategic investment, Private Education Promotion Law, etc.; Huang Huazhen, partner at DeHeng Law Offices, was invited by legislative bodies such as the National Development and Reform Commission to participate in a number of basic legislations, and quite a few of the useful suggestions she put forward have been adopted in some of the legislations, namely, the "Notice on Strengthening Capital Management of Fixed Assets Investment Projects", the "Administrative Measures for Injection of Government Investment Capital into Projects (Draft for Comments)", the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Tendering and Bidding (Revision Draft for Public Comments)", the "Regulations on the Administration of Investment Projects Approved and Record-filed by the Government (Draft for Comments)", and the "Regulations on Government and Social Capital Cooperation (Draft for Comments)".

In addition, many lawyers on the list have also obtained remarkable academic results and cutting-edge research results by combining their wealth of experience and profound theoretical knowledge. Jiang of JunHe is engaged by Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE) to serve as an off-campus tutor in the experimental class of the SUIBE's Law School; Mr. Cui Qiang, a partner at Commerce & Finance Law Offices, published dozens of papers on a number of legal academic platforms, covering fields such as litigation and arbitration procedures, equity investment, commercial real estate, international trade, intellectual property rights and unfair competition.

As ALB China congratulates lawyers in its Top 15 Rising Lawyers in China for their outstanding achievements, we speak to some of the lawyers who made the list about what it takes to be successful in the role, their successful experiences, and their suggestions for the younger generation.

CONSTANTLY LEARNING, ACTIVELY COMMUNICATING

Nearly all of the lawyers interviewed stressed the importance of "learning" and "communicating" when sharing their experiences.

"For lawyers practicing in capital markets, capital rules change so rapidly that new rules come in every week or every two weeks, and even a brief absence from the front line is likely to leave you behind the pace. At the same time, the rapid development and new dynamics emerging in various industries are also great challenges for lawyers, " says Jiang.

The pressure brought by the rapid updating and iteration of laws is not only in the field of capital market.

Xu, who practices in capital markets, real estate, foreign mergers and acquisitions and other commercial areas, says: "One of the challenges of being a lawyer in various fields is the constantly updating laws, regulations and policies." In the face of such challenges, Xu Mo believes that lawyers should keep learning and updating their knowledge base, and at the same time must keep abreast with the times to pay attention to new business cases and open market information, so as to avoid being too focused in theoretical knowledge and forgetting about practical experience.

"Lawyers must adapt to changing times, instead of the other way around," he adds.

It is not always easy to walk the talk . Lawyers face a lot of work every day, from negotiating and paperwork for ongoing projects or cases to expanding their business or participating in team management affairs. These works take up a lot of productive work time, and many lawyers often feel inadequate in the face of knowledge updating. In this regard, Xu shared his learning experience.

“The best way to learn is that in addition to develop commercial awareness and pay attention to the accumulation of knowledge through daily work, lawyers should also take advantage of the powerful Internet resources for information retrieval and screening, such as some industry leader's prospectus of listed companies, and high-tech as the artificial intelligence software, or is it some of the mainstream professional organizations' WeChat public accounts, which are all 'soils' to absorb the knowledge at any time," Xu shares.

This opinion is echoed by Shu Wen, partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng, who also adopts this method to keep expanding his own knowledge base. He believes that today's society is in the era of information explosion, and there are many ways to get access to information. For example, he has followed the WeChat official accounts of red circle law firms, taking time to read the latest regulations and analysis articles, learning and digesting the information during business trips or in other fragmented times.

“As an old saying goes, there is always time to squeeze for learning,” Shu says.

If learning is a process of practicing "internal skills," then the effective output of the learned information is a test of lawyers' ability to communicate.

 

“Dealing with different clients is a major challenge to litigation lawyers. This needs us to grasp the psychological state of clients accurately, and convey our opinions on the case and our attitude to them in a skillful way.”

——Yang Junxiao, TianTong Law Firm

Yang Junxiao shares: "The cases we deal with are difficult, complicated, and usually legally controversial. Our clients often have high expectations for this kind of case. In terms of clients, many of them are large institutions, while some of them can be individuals. Different clients have different needs and different working habits. Some clients are more dependent on our professional advice, whereas others are more insistent of their own opinions in the face of problems in the case. Therefore, dealing with different clients is a major challenge to litigation lawyers. This needs us to grasp the psychology state of clients accurately, and convey our opinions on the case and our attitude to them in a skillful way.”

It is the same with non-litigation lawyers. Henry Chen, who is a special counsel at Baker & McKenzie and practices in corporate compliance and investigations, says that due to the high sensitivity of the work of compliance and the possibility of having to adjust the company's existing operation mode and process, some business leaders may ignore or downplay the compliance counsels' investigation, assessment and rectification opinions, in order to achieve some commercial interests that can only last for a short term, which will lead to ever deeper problems, great damages to the company and management in the end. This is a very big test for compliance lawyers on their ability of communication and situation control. For instance, they need to explain very clearly that the purpose of compliance investigation is not only to find problems, let alone punish some individual employees, but to formulate and take effective measures to avoid, reduce and control risks based on discovered problems and risk points, so as to not only protect the long-term interests of the company, but also protect the vital interests of executives and each employee.

 

"Each compliance recommendation must meet the necessity, effectiveness and feasibility simultaneously. The formulating and implementing of a compliance system must be suitable for each enterprise and fit the industry on the basis of risks level and taking into account the big picture."

——Henry Chen, Baker Mckenzie 

"Therefore, it takes time and patience to do the necessary communication, even education, well. At the same time, each compliance recommendation must meet the necessity, effectiveness and feasibility simultaneously. The formulating and implementing of a compliance system must be suitable for each enterprise and fit the industry on the basis of risks level and taking into account the big picture," Chen says.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

In addition to business, more and more young lawyers have been involved in team building and management, playing the roles of leaders in their team or even the whole firm. On the subject of management, the interviewed lawyers summed up their own experiences.

"I have always had a philosophy that it is fate that brought people together in one team, and that everyone in a team should be responsible for each other in a cooperative way, so as to maintain the stability of the team, the work environment and even the whole firm as a platform," says Cui.

In order to maintain this stability, Cui is very careful from the stage of resume selection. He spends as much time as possible reading submitted resumes, and selects young lawyers who are suitable for his team and the firm, so as to strive for long-term win-win cooperation. Secondly, when encountering problems in the process of cooperation, Cui will actively communicate with team members and try to solve the problems. Thirdly, when it is found that the team and lawyers are not suitable for each other, Cui will look for a different but suitable position in the firm according to the characteristics and strengths of lawyers, so as to help them display their strengths and gain development. With the participation of Cui, the talent retention rate of the law firm has maintained at a high level, and the team has maintained efficient operation and long-term stable development.

Chen shares his experience with three points: "First, we should pay attention to the development of lawyers' own quality, explore and give full play to the fields that each team member is good at and interested in, effectively empower them, actively communicate with them, encourage cooperation and timely summarize our experiences; secondly, when incidents happen in team, we should deal with what happened objectively and treat members sincerely, bring out the best of them and avoid the damages, give everyone the space of freedom and democracy, and deal with the relevant matters through mutual consultation according to the priorities. thirdly, encourage team members to participate in recreational and sports activities organized by law firms and social groups, so as to find an effective outlet for work pressure and keep a positive attitude towards work and life.”

On the other hand, Yang’s experience seems more layered. He points out that in terms of team leadership, the most important thing is to differentiate arrangement and division of labor within the team.

"Partners need to take the direction of the whole team and provide an all-round guide for them. On the one hand, senior lawyers are the main force in handling cases. On the other hand, they are also the mentors to junior lawyers like teaching professors. Similarly, junior lawyers should develop their own case experience under the guidance of senior lawyers and partners, which is then passed on to interns or new junior lawyers. Only in this way can the talent resource allocation within the team be reasonable, and the role of partners and senior lawyers as 'conveyors' can be realized," he explains.

"In addition to handling cases, the team also needs to regularly review the case, including case preparation, court proceedings and market activities, so as to find out the pros and cons and accumulate experience," Yang adds.

ADVICE TO YOUNGER GENERATION

Talking about how today's young lawyers should grow and improve quickly, several interviewed lawyers gave advice from different perspectives based on their own experiences.

"First of all, they need to have an objective understanding of themselves, including what they are interested in, what they are good at, and what they need to develop further, make full use of the resources of the team and firm, expand their experience and horizon, and find the connection between market needs and personal qualities," says Chen.

He continues: “Secondly, always try to reflect their ‘best level’ in all assignments. It is very important to remember not to rely on lawyers at senior levels to give corrections. Young lawyers should see each document sent as their work labelled as their own names, avoid output ‘substandard goods’ and establish their own ‘brand’ within and outside the firm. Last but not least, be persistent. Young lawyers should believe that they can achieve long-term results through down-to-earth efforts.”

“The value of a young lawyer lies in whether they can save others' time. Although they will be mentored by a more senior lawyer or partner, they should always aim at perfection so that others do not need to take time for modifications. In the process of doing their very best in every assignment, they will gain trust and appreciation from their colleagues and clients, and lay a solid foundation for future development step by step."

——Cui Qiang, Commerce & Finance

Cui agrees with Chen on the second point. "I think it's the only way to prove yourself is to accomplish all the assigned work well," he says. "The value of a young lawyer lies in whether they can save others' time. Although they will be mentored by a more senior lawyer or partner, they should always aim at perfection so that others do not need to take time for modifications. In the process of doing their very best in every assignment, they will gain trust and appreciation from their colleagues and clients, and lay a solid foundation for future development step by step."

Shu points out some of the problems of young lawyers based on his observation: "Although some young lawyers have a more diversified knowledge structure and a more international vision, they are not patient and meticulous in basic legal work, such as legal research, text translation and proofreading. At the same time, they tend to only like studying big issues like the structure of deals, rather than the small details."

Shu believes that to become a qualified and comprehensive commercial transaction lawyer, one needs to have rich legal knowledge, rigorous logic and meticulous document drafting ability, which cannot be separated from the solid foundation laid by the seemingly trivial and dull work in the early years.

“We may have heard about the importance of being diligent for so many times that it has become a bit cliched, but it is exactly how the young generation can grow fast. I particularly like an old saying, which I always used to encourage myself when I was a newbie: ‘What you suffered when you were young will pave the path for you in the future,’” Shu shares.

 

To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.