李正国律师毕业于西南财经大学,1995年取得律师职业资格,2003年担任四川恒和信律师事务所主任、首席合伙人。李正国律师执业以来,担任了多家政府机关、企事业单位的法律顾问,办理了多件有影响的刑事、行政、房地产(建设工程)、项目投融资、商事合同、公司并购等重大非诉讼和诉讼案件。
李正国律师还担任第十三届全国政协委员、四川省律师协会副会长等社会职务。曾获得2011-2014年度全国优秀律师、第三届四川省优秀中国特色社会主义事业建设者等多项荣誉称号。
ALB:请您分享一下您从入行至今的法律职业生涯?
李正国主任(以下简称“李主任”):1996年,我从一名教师转变为律师,至今已在这个行业工作24年。我们这代法律人,恰逢其时,见证了法治的进步和发展,行业的成长与变革,也见证诸多意义重大的法律的诞生。
执业24年,其中17年是我与恒和信共同成长的难忘岁月。作为恒和信的管理者,亲历事务所从最初的3个人发展到如今200余人,一路走来,虽然艰辛,却也充满热情。如今,事务所拥有14个较为成熟的专业部门,办公环境优美,与国内外多家律所也建立了较紧密的合作关系。
坚持到现在,还是因为对法律的信仰,对公平正义的追求,有了这种信仰和追求,也就有了强烈的责任感。我们必须对当事人负责,对事务所同事负责,对社会负责,不能辜负每一个对我们满怀期待的人。
ALB:您为您的律所制定的整体策略是?
李主任:经过20年的发展,事务所在人才、专业、客户、品牌等方面有了一定的积累。2019年,我们搬到了新的办公场所,在管理上进行了优化,在品牌上进行了升级。与此同时,我们制定了三年发展战略规划,相信未来三年,恒和信将会取得更大和更快的发展。我们在发展过程中,坚持稳中求进,守正创新,既不急躁冒进,也不保守封闭,努力做到与时俱进。
ALB:请分享一下您上任以来的一些亮点?您在这段时间又积累了怎样的管理和领导方面的经验?
李主任:管理是一门实践科学,我做律所管理已经17年,这是一个常学常新,不断探索和积累的过程。近几年,律师行业发展迅速,市场在变,客户需求也在变,科技和资本对行业产生了深刻影响,我们必须不断作出调整和创新。
服务专业化建设和管理规范化建设对于律所发展非常重要。2019年,是事务所管理升级的一年,我们设立了管理中心,下设业务管理部、品牌部、行政部、人事部和财务部,聘任了专业的管理人员,负责事务所各项工作的推动和落实,这是法律人和职业经理人携手合作的一次尝试。我们将做业务的合伙人、律师从行政管理事务中解放出来,让专业的人做专业的事,通过职业经理人的管理,赋能律所和律师发展。通过近一年的实践,我们认为我们的变革是有效的。
ALB:对于律所扩张,您有着怎样的策略?
李主任:正如前面所言,我们制定了三年发展战略规划,推动恒和信走出西部。其中,在较为发达的地方设立分所是非常重要的一步,现在我们正在考察和实施中,以后将陆续布局其他城市。
在执业领域方面,我们除了在传统法律服务领域精耕细作外,我们还关注公司破产清算与重整、知识产权、税务和资源环境等领域,关注法律细分市场,关注新兴技术领域等。我们相信一代人有一代人的机遇,一代人有一代人的使命。
ALB:您认为律所文化有着怎样的重要性?您致力于在律所内部培养怎样的文化?
李主任:我认为律所文化有两个主要功能,对外传达事务所价值观,对内增强凝聚力。
我们事务所的价值理念是“恒力尚法,和美信达”。“恒力尚法”指我们崇尚法律,初心不改;“和美信达”指我们促进社会和谐美好,惟愿所及。我们将其提炼为专业、责任、价值、幸福四个简洁而有力量的词,铭记在心,付诸于行。
在律所内部,我们倡导“和”文化,倡导和谐,倡导合作,并开展了一系列文化建设活动,现在事务所形成了较强凝聚力,大家的主人翁意识普遍增强。
ALB:您的客户的需求和要求近年来产生了怎样的变化?贵所是如何满足这些需求和要求的?
李主任:在法律服务市场,客户的需求确实在不断变化,整个法律服务行业都面临着这个问题。以前,由于律师人数不足,客户获取法律服务信息的渠道较少,现在随着客户法律意识的增强以及获取信息更加方便和快捷,法律服务市场竞争越来越激烈,客户需要解决的问题越来越复杂、越来越专业,对律师的专业要求越来越高、对律师服务的感受和体验要求也越来越高,律师事务所要适应客户需求的变化,在服务的专业化和服务的体验感上下功夫,以满足客户多元化定制需求。
恒和信聘请了学术顾问,通过“午餐会”、“恒和信Friday”沙龙和“信坛讲法”等培训交流平台,加大了律师的业务培训力度。同时,专门设立了业务管理部,搭建了相关平台,对客户进行深度维护,以精准满足客户的法律需求。
关于四川恒和信律师事务所
2001年,四川恒和信律师事务所成立,2019年,变更为特殊的普通合伙。恒和信现拥有律师及工作人员200余名,多名律师具有在美国、欧洲留学经历,多名律师具有注册会计师、注册税务师、土地评估师、专利商标代理人等专业职业资格。
恒和信律师秉承“恒力尚法、和美信达”的理念,以专业的精神、严谨的态度,为客户提供优质法律服务。事务所先后获得全国优秀律师事务所、四川省律师行业“先进党组织”、四川省优秀律师事务所等多项荣誉称号。
2011年,恒和信作为三家发起所之一,发起设立了全球精品律所联盟(EGLA),与国内外80余家律所建立战略合作关系。经过20年发展,恒和信已成为党建规范化、管理精细化、人才精英化、服务专业化、战略国际化、文化特色化的西部有影响力的综合性大型律师事务所。
ALB Conversations: Li Zhengguo, Sichuan Henghexin Law Firm
Graduated from Southwest University of Finance and Economics, Li Zhengguo obtained his lawyer qualification in 1995, and has served as the director and chief partner of Sichuan Henghexin Law Firm since 2003. Li has served as legal counsel for government agencies, enterprises and institutions, and handled many influential litigation and non-litigation cases in the areas of criminal, administrative, real estate, project investment and financing, commercial contracts, and company mergers and acquisitions.
Li is also a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee and vice President of The Sichuan Provincial Lawyers Association. He has won several honorary titles, such as 2011-2014 National Excellent Lawyer and the 3rd Sichuan Excellent Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.
ALB: Would you like to share with us your legal experience?
Li: I was a teacher before deciding to pursue a career as a lawyer in 1996. During the past 24 years, I witnessed the development and improvement of the rule of law in China, the reform and evolution of the legal profession, and the promulgation of many significant laws and regulations.
Now I have practiced for 24 years, of which 17 years I have spent growing together with Henghexin from a small team of three to a large firm now with over 200 talents. It’s been a long and difficult path, but we walked it with passion. Now we have 14 mature specialised departments operating in a fine workplace, and have established collaborative relationships with many domestic and foreign law firms.
What has led me to come this far is the sense of responsibility which comes from my faith in law and my pursuit for justice. We must be responsible for clients, for colleagues and for the society, and not fail everyone with expectations on us.
ALB: What is your overall strategy for your firm?
Li: After nearly 20 years of development, Henghexin has accumulated a lot of advantages in terms of expertise, client resources, and brand influence, and has become a large firm in West China featured sophisticated management, elite talents, specialised services, international strategy, normalization of Party building, and distinctive law firm culture.
In 2019, we moved to a new office to further optimise our management and upgrade our brand. At the same time, we formulated our development strategy for the next three years. I believe Henghexin will achieve greater and faster development, during which we aim for innovation and progress in a steady pace.
ALB: Would you like to share some of you career highlights? And the management and leadership experience you have accumulated over the years?
Li: Management is a practical science. I have managed law firm for 17 years, which for me is a process of constant learning, exploration and practice. The legal profession has been changing so fast in recent years; and the market and client demands are changing as well. We must continue to make adjustments and innovations to respond to the impact of technology and capital.
The construction of service specialisation and management standardisation is very important for the development of law firms. In 2019, the year of the office management upgrade, we set up the management center, which consists of the business management department, the brand department, the administration department, the human resources department and financial department.
Professional managers were appointed to be responsible for the promotion and implementation of the work of the office. This is an attempt to work together with professional managers. We free the partners and lawyers from administrative affairs, allowing people focus on their expertise. The law firm and lawyers can be empowered by the management of professional managers. After nearly a year of practice, we believe that our changes are effective.
ALB: What is your strategy for expanding the firm's geographical reach and practice areas?
Li: Just like what’s mentioned above, we have made a three-year development strategy to expand beyond Western China. It is a critical step to establish branches in relatively developed cities. Now we are investigating and implementing, and we will continue to deploy other cities in the future.
As for professional services, in addition to keeping cultivation in the field of traditional legal services, we also pay attention to the fields of company bankruptcy liquidation and reorganisation, intellectual property rights, taxation, resources and environment, legal market segmentation and emerging technologies. We believe that each generation has its opportunity and each generation has its mission.
ALB: In your opinion, how important is the law firm's culture? What culture are you committed to fostering in your firm?
Li: I think a firm's culture embodies our values and makes for a cohesive and effective organisation.
The culture of our firm is manifested in the eight Chinese characters of "Heng Li Shang Fa, He Mei Xin Da" ("恒力尚法,和美信达"). "Heng Li Shang Fa" is the requirement for ourselves, to make every effort to advocate laws and fight for justice; and "He Mei Xin Da" is that we hope that through our efforts, we can contribute to social harmony and people's happiness. We extract these into four simple but potent words: professionalism, responsibility, value and happiness, which we will keep in our mind and practice in our work.
Within the law firm, we advocate "harmony" culture, harmony and cooperation, and carry out a series of cultural construction activities. Now the firm has formed a strong cohesion, and everyone's sense of ownership is generally enhanced.
ALB: How have the demands and requirements of your clients changed in recent years? What has your firm done to meet these demands and requirements?
Li: In the legal services market, the needs of customers are indeed changing, and the whole legal services industry is facing this problem. In the past, clients had fewer access to information about legal services due to a shortage of lawyers.
Now, with the enhancement of clients' legal awareness and more convenient and fast access to information, the competition in the legal service market is becoming more and more fierce and the problems that clients need to solve are more and more complex, which expect lawyers to provide more professional services and better experience for clients.
Henghexin has hired academic consultants and strengthened the professional training for lawyers through training and exchange platforms such as "lunch meeting" and "Henghexin Friday" salon.
About Henghexin Law Firm
Sichuan Henghexin Law Firm was established in 2001, and changed into special general partnership in 2019. Henghexin now has more than 200 lawyers and staff members, many of whom have studied abroad in the United States and Europe, and have professional qualifications such as certified public accountant, certified tax agent, land appraiser and patent and trademark agent.
Adhering to the philosophy of "Heng Li Shang Fa, He Mei Xin Da" ("恒力尚法,和美信达"), which means to make every effort to advocate laws, fight for justice and contribute to social harmony and people's happiness, Henghexin aims to provide quality legal services with professional spirit and rigorous attitude. Henghexin has won many honorary titles, such as National Excellent Law Firm, "Advanced Party Organisation" of Sichuan Province's law industry, and Sichuan's Excellent Law Firm.
In 2011, As one of the three initiatory firms, Henghexin initiated the Elite Chinese Legal Alliance (EGLA), and established strategic cooperative relations with more than 80 domestic and foreign law firms. After 20 years of development, Henghexin has become an influential large-scale comprehensive law firm in western China with standardiSed party construction, refined management, elite talents, professional services, internationalised strategy and cultural characteristics.
ALB Conversations is a weekly series of in-depth Q&As with leaders of law firms and in-house legal departments across Asia. If you are a managing partner or general counsel based in the region who is interested in being a part of this series, please send an email to shiyu.liu@tr.com.
对话ALB”(ALB Conversations)是一系列每周发布的深度对谈类文章,我们将与亚洲各地的律所管理者和企业总法律顾问展开对谈。如果您是执业于亚洲地区的律所管理者或总法律顾问,并有兴趣参与该系列访谈,请邮件联络shiyu.liu@tr.com.