2022年度ALB China精品律所榜单现已出炉。这十家律所活跃在商/民/刑事争议解决、公司法、金融与资本市场、知识产权、数据保护、涉外法律业务等多个领域。凭借优秀的业绩，精品律所呈现出顶尖的专业之力。
由汤森路透、美国律师协会、Association of Legal Administrators联合发布的《2021年美国小型律所报告》（以下简称“《报告》”）用“一轮又一轮的过山车”来形容过去两年里的全球经济形势。洪流冲击之下，法律行业也无法独善其身。尽管大多数美国小型律所的领导者们对过去两年的业务状况表现出满意态度，并对未来抱有积极展望，但如何获得新的客户依然是他们在不断思考和解决的问题。
中国的精品律师事务所也同样面临着经济形势、行业竞争带来的影响。北京市汉韬律师事务所主任暨创始合伙人李玲律师坦言，疫情对实体经济及企业带来了一定程度的冲击，一方面导致实体经济及投融资业务活跃度减弱，投资风险增加，金融风控更严格，成交难度增加，新投放项目及规模有所下降；另一方面，实体企业债务违约事件层出不穷。“因此，市场中不断爆发的新风险亟待化解，而存量风险中的违约企业‘翻身’难度也在增加，导致在相应诉讼、执行业务中，清收难度加大、回收周期更长、回收率降低，而法院司法活动也会受到疫情管控措施的影响，司法活动的效率、效果面临挑战。”
除了业务压力，竞争压力同样明显。李玲律师观察到，不少曾经活跃在其他领域的机构在受到经济环境的冲击后，转入了不良资产处置、金融及投融资等领域，对于以这些业务见长的汉韬而言，竞争压力有所增加。
“当前环境下，汉韬一方面会不忘初心，不忘自身获得客户认可及口碑系安身立命的根基，坚持专注优势领域，保持及发扬汉韬特色，以专业、高效、精益求精的执业精神为客户持续提供高质量、高水平的法律服务，另一方面不断自我变革，结合具体环境及客观条件，提高效率、降低成本，提升服务质量水平，以客户的持续信任、稳固合作以及数年来积累的经验和资源保持行业竞争优势，并寻求快速、稳步发展。” 李玲律师说。
经济环境带来压力的同时也蕴含机遇。百宸律师事务所管理合伙人陈亦工律师观察到：“2020年起，高科技芯片半导体、医疗大健康领域变得十分活跃，也是基于国家政策大方向的引导以及市场需求的反馈，包括反垄断在项目交易中的重视程度不断加强；同时，在疫情对行业环境的影响下，诉讼业务明显持续增多，本所的诉讼部门律师也是在客户项目的后期阶段参与甚多。除此之外，百宸也在境外资本市场多有斩获，包括在中概股美国上市公司参与多个再融资项目，体现了百宸综合的跨境业务能力，也是行业内参与再融资项目最多的律所之一。”
对于以党委政府、国有企业法律事务为核心业务的四川善嘉律师事务所而言，既了解政策导向，又精通具体业务操作成为其疫情期间抗风险的独特优势。善嘉主任邓勇律师告诉ALB：“善嘉律所一直积极拓展政府法律服务的深度与广度。强化日常事务处理精准化与应对突发事件高效化的能力，由传统的事务解决模式向政府治理、行政决策、执法规范、地方立法等领域延伸；由传统法律咨询、合同审查等服务性工作向提供行政决策合法性论证、参与行政规范性文件制定及政府应对突发情况的应急措施制定等方面深入。”
除了保持专业素养，积极保持业界沟通和学习也是精品律所树立品牌的策略之一。华进律师事务所高级合伙人黎叶律师向ALB分享道：“疫情爆发至今已有两年，涉外法律服务的出国定期互访完全停止，国内客户线下沙龙活动举办不确定性越来越大、行业大型论坛也是不断延期。为更好开展律所推广活动，我们积极与各媒体线上平台展开合作，举办线上直播活动；线下沙龙缩小规模，举办同城小规模专项沙龙研讨；定期与境外同行、客户提供中国法律新趋势和动向，保持有效联系、沟通。不断总结、归纳产品服务流程，持续推进法律服务产品标准化；组建客户中心，注重客户体验和反馈，以便更好满足客户需求、为客户创造价值。”
管理模式
公司化管理正在成为越来越多精品律所的选择。李玲律师告诉ALB，汉韬作为公司化的中小型律所，结构清晰紧密、层级权责明确、质量内控体系完善高效、分案机制合理，各承办业务团队由团队负责人、主办律师、协办律师、律师助理组成，各成员权责清晰、分工明确，业务处理流程清晰、稳固，工作按难易、风险、重要性根据制定的相应标准逐级传导至团队负责人、合伙人及主任审核把关，确保工作质量/水平达到应有标准后交付客户。
“汉韬还可最大程度集中全所资源快速反应、集中处理紧急、疑难、重大问题，并在一系列机制的有效落实下，保障汉韬提供法律服务的高水平。”李玲律师说。
百宸律师事务所也采取公司化管理模式，同时适度鼓励律师独立进行业务拓展和发展。陈亦工律师表示，通过律所的资源共享，律师间的专业优势互补，各团队形成相互助力，共同发展。在业务拓展上，律所也支持律师积极参与市场业务拓展渠道，加强客户的互动联络，使得律师在高强度的专业工作之外，也能从容地接触到新的业务机会和增长点。他还补充道：“百宸帮助团队发挥其优势，把律所资源通过专业分工和系统化的方式为每一位律师和合伙人的发展提供强有力的支持，即从律所的角度对律师和合伙人开放共享的同时，也帮助其达成工作目标的实现，使得律所和团队成员间有机结合，相互成就。”
华进采取扁平化管理，依照赋能的管理原则，建立法律、运营、客户三大中心架构。黎叶律师说：“这样可以让执业律师更专注案件处理，客户中心更专注客户体验和反馈，运营中心更专注辅助支持和保障。执业律师按照律所统一聘用、加盟标准加入华进后进入主业所在部门，由部门负责业务绩效考核，再由运营、客户部门复核。客户中心负责客户体验和反馈，与主办律师共同全程参与案件处理，反馈客户需求。运营中心与客户中心共同策划各类型活动，开展律所推广活动，为客户提供更多交流场合、更多信息分享。”
善嘉则采用的是党支部引领方向，合伙人大会下的管委会、监事会的三套班子管理模式，行政总监、财务总监、风险总监三条线具体实施，分工合作、各司其职。邓勇律师表示：“这些制度的创设、贯彻和实施，极大地从制度层面保证了团队的规范化运营、诚信化执业、品牌化服务… 自律所成立以来，我们保持着零投诉、零违法、零违纪，零重特大案件和责任事故的纪录。”
人才策略
人才是律所的核心竞争力之一。在2021年末，有法律行业招聘专家观察到，随着人才争夺愈加激烈，薪酬在未来仍是律所吸引人才的方式之一。这亦体现在精品律所的人才策略中。
陈亦工律师认为：“留住人才的根本在于能够为每一位律师的专业提升、执业生涯的发展创造更好的条件，例如薪酬待遇福利、专业能力以及未来个人执业发展都有全面清晰的规划。从初级律师到中年级律师、顾问律师，一直到合伙人，我们为律师建立起清晰透明的培养路径和完善的晋升制度。此外，百宸还为年轻律师提供个性化的发展方案，助其在百宸有更大的发展空间和机会，成长为一名在市场极具竞争力的合伙人律师。”
华进也以富有竞争性的薪酬，以及远大使命理念、亲和文化、弹性管理等要素吸引年轻一代律师的加盟。黎叶律师说：“华进制定青年律师发展阶梯，每一年有指引性发展目标、并以此展开多方位培训。专业方面既有部门内部培训、也有跨部门培训、外部第三方培训，同时也提供软件、沟通、心理、管理、运动等方面培训。目标是培养身体强健、乐观活泼、专业精深、具有同理心的华进人。”
邓勇律师告诉ALB，在该所执业超过五年的律师占总人数的六成以上，这得益于善嘉对律师业务培训的重视。“事务所每周都集中律师进行为期半天的培训和研讨，学习新的法律法规、司法解释和理论文章，讨论疑难案件，交流办案心得。我所还经常请来国内外知名学者、教授和专业人士，独立或与有关部门联合举办各类讲座，如国有企业改革中的法律问题、民法典等。” 邓勇律师说。
李玲律师则向ALB分享道：“为吸引并留住人才，汉韬一是真诚地告知行业及工作特点，人才的个人追求及兴趣需与汉韬价值观一致方能长久合作；二是充分信任人才，通过大量实战让人才得到充分锻炼、迅速提升及积累成就感和经验；三是合理薪酬及明确晋升体制；四是让人才知悉并相信汉韬始终秉持的朴素规则：在汉韬是凭真本事吃饭，不是凭各种光环、关系、层级、地位或权威。”
未来展望
对于未来发展方向，华进黎叶律师说：“秉持专业、诚信、高效、进取价值观，坚持一体化、以价值观引领律所发展；专业做事，厚德待客。未来，华进着力打造规模化综合性律师事务所，重点发展知识产权、涉外、刑事合规、民商事、投融资、建设工程等商事领域的专业团队；加快在北京、上海、广州、深圳、杭州等重点城市以及海外的布局，为发展成知名规模化综合性商事律所奠定坚实的基础。”
汉韬李玲律师告诉ALB：“未来，汉韬将继续秉持执业文化和价值观，在专业领域不断深耕细作，持续向客户提供专业、高效、精益求精的法律服务，以汉韬之执业精神维系并发展客户，以能向客户提供优秀工作成果，能通过专业和经验切实满足客户需求为根基，同时也将加强自身品牌建设和口碑宣传，加强机构内部变革及对人才的吸引/培养。从汉韬的特点看，汉韬的根基是客户的信任、擅长为客户解决大标的、高风险项目，这就要求汉韬必须保持并不断加强内控和学习，在外界环境及客观条件充分具备之前，汉韬并不急于追求规模的大幅扩张。”
百宸陈亦工律师坦言：“百宸始终坚持高标准专业服务能力，将继续基于我们的综合服务能力，不断开拓并吸引有能力的律师，同时通过积极的市场拓展，能够给律师增加并提升业务的增量机会，使得年轻律师能够尽快的成长起来，直至具备成为合伙人的能力。百宸在以精品所的现状下，不盲目于扩张，但是会坚定的扩充业务承接能力以及综合服务能力，在这样一个前提下，我们会适度扩大规模以提高更全面的综合服务能力，持续为律师提供上升发展的空间。”
善嘉邓勇律师则表示，未来，在完善特殊普通合伙改制的基础上，善嘉将以提高律所管理为中心，以专业人才建设为关键，开创律所提速速升级发展新局面。他说：“我们要深入推进专业化，加强律师个人专业化和律所内部专业化融合建设，提升律所与律师之间双向赋能的能力，提高市场竞争能力；我们要健全律所内部管理制度，实现标准化、流程化、一体化建设，提高律所自身造血功能；我们要加强人才队伍建设，广泛吸纳国内外优秀专业人才加入善嘉，助力善嘉发展，使善嘉所成立西南地区超一流、国内国际知名律所；我们要健全媒体宣发制度，更好运营善嘉宣传矩阵，强化善嘉品牌影响力；以‘立足成都、辐射西南、进驻大湾区、延伸东南亚’的下一个十年规划为目标阔步前行。”
2022 ALB China Firms to Watch
The ten law firms that made this year’s list span a wide range of practice focuses: Dispute resolution, corporate law, financial and capital markets, intellectual property rights, data protection, foreign law practice and more. With excellent performances, these boutique firms are showing their strengths in the highly competitive legal industry.
The 2021 State of U.S. Small Law Firms, a report released by the Thomson Reuters Institute, described the overall global economy in the past two years as “a roller coaster on repeat” for many countries and industries, and the legal industry has not been immune. As the report pointed out, leaders of small law firms generally view their firms as successful and are approaching 2022 and beyond with a positive overall outlook, but meanwhile acquiring new client business remains a top concern for many small law firms.
The Chinese boutique law firms are facing similar pressure from economic situation and peer competition. Li Ling, the director and founding partner of H&T Law Firm, shares with ALB that the epidemic has brought a certain degree of impact on the real economy and enterprises. On the one hand, it has weakened the activity of the real economy and investment and financing businesses, increased investment risks, tightened control of financial risks, increased difficulty in closing transactions, and reduced the scale of new projects. On the other hand, real enterprise debt default cases keep emerging. “Therefore, the new risks in the market are making it more difficult for companies in debt default to recover. As a result, in litigation and execution, debt collection has become more difficult and takes longer time. Meanwhile, as the judicial activities of courts is also impacted by the epidemic control measures, the efficiency and effect will naturally be challenged.”
The pressure from competition is also evident. Li observed that many firms that used to be active in other areas have shifted to non-performing asset disposal and finance and investment after being hit by the economic environment. For H&T, which has been targeting these practice areas since its establishment, the competition has been more fierce.
“Facing the pressure, H&T will on the one hand stick to our initial vision, concentrating on our strong areas, and on the other hand embrace innovation, improve our efficiency, maintain our competitive advantage in the industry, and seek rapid and steady development with the continuous trust of clients, stable cooperation, and years of accumulated experience and resources,” Li says.
While the economic environment is challenging, it also brings opportunities. Chen Yigong, the managing partner at PacGate Law Group, tells ALB: “Since 2020, industries like high-tech chip semiconductor and medical health have become very active. Also, thanks to the national policy and market demand, anti-trust is weighing more in transactions and our lawyers are participating in more litigation cases. Furthermore, PacGate lawyers have advised a number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies’ refinancing projects, making progress in foreign capital market practice. Currently, the number of refinancing projects that we are participating is among the top in the industry.”
For Sun&Co Law Firm, of which the core business is legal affairs of Party Committee, government and state-owned enterprises, in-depth knowledge and understanding of policies have become the key to go through the risks in the past two years after the epidemic outbreak. Sun&Co’s director Deng Yong shares: “We have been striving to expand the depth and width of our cooperation with the government by strengthening our capabilities of dealing with both routine legal affairs and urgent incidents, transitioning services like traditional legal counselling and contract review to providing legal demonstration of administrative decisions, participating in the formulation of administrative normative documents and the formulation of government emergency measures to deal with emergencies.”
In addition to maintaining professionalism, actively maintaining external communication is another strategy for boutique law firms to build their brands. Advance Law Firm’s senior partner Li Ye says: “It has been two years since the outbreak of the epidemic, and the regular overseas visits of foreign legal services have completely stopped. There are increasing uncertainties in holding offline events for domestic clients, and large industry forums have been postponed. In this context, to better carry out law firm promotion activities, we actively cooperate with various media online platforms to hold online live broadcasting activities and hold small special salons offline. We also regularly share new trends with overseas counterparts and clients. These have all been helping us better understand clients’ feedback and meet their demands.”
MANAGEMENT STYLES
Corporation management is becoming the choice for more and more boutique firms. H&T’s Li shares with ALB that as a medium-sized law firm adopting corporation management style, they can make hierarchical rights and responsibilities clear under their current structure, leaving the internal quality control system efficient and the case assigning mechanism fair and reasonable, making sure the final quality delivered to clients is higher than standard.
“H&T can concentrate the resources of the whole firm to maximum, respond quickly to urgent and difficult issues with high-level services,” Li says.
PacGate also manages the firm as a corporate, meanwhile they encourage lawyers to independently expand their business. Chen believes that through the resource sharing of the law firm, the professional advantages of lawyers complement each other, and the teams form mutual assistance and common development. “We help the teams play to their advantages by supporting each lawyer and partner with the whole firm’s resources. While the teams are open to each other for sharing, they also achieve their own targets.”
Advance Law Firm adopts flat management, and establishes three centres respectively orienting legal practice, operations, and clients. Li Ye introduces to ALB: “This allows lawyers to focus more on actual practicing, leaving the client experience and administrative support work to the client centre and operation centre. After the lawyers are admitted to our firm based on recruitment standards, their performance will be reviewed by their departments, and then by the two centres. Client centre will also work with projects’ leading lawyers on gathering clients’ feedback and demands, and the operations centre will carry out plans on all kinds of events for promotion and communication with clients.”
Sun&Co, on the other hand, is employing a Party-leading method of management. Under this structure, administrative director, financial director and risks director will divide the management tasks, taking on their responsibilities. Deng says: “the implement of this system has greatly guaranteed a standardized firm operation, high-level legal practice, and a good service brand. Ever since our establishment, we have kept a record of zero compliant, zero illegal act, zero disciplinary violation, and zero accident.”
TALENT STRATEGY
Talent is one of the core competencies of a law firm. At the end of 2021, legal recruitment experts observed that salary will continue to be a way for law firms to attract talent in the future as competition for talent intensifies. This is reflected in the talent strategies of boutique firms.
Chen believes that the key to retaining lawyers lies in creating good conditions to support each lawyer’s career path, including salary and welfare, and clear planning for their professional development. “Therefore, we have set up and clear and transparent promotion system for lawyers to grow from junior lawyer to senior lawyer, associate, and partner. Furthermore, we can also customize young lawyers’ development plan so that they can give full play to their strengths and passion.”
Advance also uses competitive salaries as well as its firm culture and flexible management style to attract young lawyers. As Li Ye points out: “Each year, we set up targets guiding young people’s growing direction. We provide professional training from internal departments and from external third parties, and we also provide training related to communication skills, psychology, management, and sports. The ultimate goal is to cultivate excellent lawyers with high professionalism and physical strength.”
Deng shares with ALB that in Sun&Co, over 60 percent lawyers have stayed there for more than five years, which is a result of Sun&Co’s emphasis on professional training. “Each week, we hold a half-day seminar for lawyers to learn about legislation updates, difficult cases, and other experiences. We also constantly invite domestic and foreign well-known academics to give lectures on legal issues in state-owned enterprises’ reform.”
Last but not least, H&T’s Li tells ALB about their strategy: “We always tell lawyers about the real characteristics about the industries we are in, especially telling them about the hard bit honestly, so that lawyers can objectively judge if their passion is in the same direction with us. Secondly, we fully trust them by giving them opportunities to participate in practical work. Thirdly, we provide reasonable salary and promotion system. And fourth, we let them know and stick to our principle: only by achieving good results at work can they win a place here.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Facing the future, Advance’s Li shares that they will head to a size growth to become a more comprehensive law firm, with an emphasis on developing teams in areas of intellectual property, foreign legal affairs, criminal compliance, civil and commercial, investment and finance, and construction. They will also accelerate their layout in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou as well as overseas regions.
H&T’s future plan is to continue providing legal services in projects with high bidding and risks, which is also how they characterize themselves. “By standing firmly on our culture and value, we will keep enhancing our professional capabilities and provide high quality services to our clients. We will place more emphasis on internal control and learning, and before we have a fully preparation, we are not in a rush to expand the size.”
PacGate’s plan is also more focused on professionalism than size growing. Chen says: “We are striving to expand our market share and win more business opportunities for our lawyers to serve more clients. We will not grow our size blindly, but legal services expansion will be a must-do task for us.”
Deng of Sun&Co says that talent cultivation will be one of the keys in the next stage. “By empowering the lawyers, we will also see them empower our law firm so that Sun&Co’s market competitiveness will be taken to a higher level. Also, we will optimize our internal management. Our goal for the next decade is to become a firm that is based in Chengdu, serves the Southwest of China, spurs to the GBA, and extends to Southeast Asia.”
LIST OF WINNERS 获奖名单
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Advance Law Firm Guizhou Visen Law Firm H&T Law Firm HHP Attorneys-At-Law PacGate Law Group Shanghai Joius Law Firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP Sun&Co Law Firm Tiger Partners Yenlex Partners |