今年上半年，受到疫情影响，不少上海律师事务所的创收因业务无法正常推进而大受冲击。尽管如今上海社会面经济活动基本恢复，但律师认为，下半年的创收依然充满了不确定性。
中联律师事务所上海办公室高级合伙人、管委会成员沈荣华律师告诉ALB，该所四、五月份上海的律师费收入与正常月份相比均减少了一半以上。
海华永泰律师事务所执行主任、高级合伙人欧阳群律师也从业务量的角度表示，在疫情最严重时，与往年相比，海华永泰2022年业务量一度下滑也超过50%。
受阻最为直接和明显的当属诉讼业务。出于疫情管控政策，律师无法正常会见当事人，法院、仲裁等司法机关也基本停止了办工。沈律师表示：“对以纠纷解决尤其是刑事业务为主的律师和团队来说，由于最为重要的业务活动实际完全无法开展，创收影响最为直接。”
非诉业务也因其对企业客户的依赖性而受到连带伤害。沈律师告诉ALB，中联上海办公室的客户分布以当地为主，在上海整个社会层面的正常经济运作几乎停滞的情况下，律师在封控期间只能以既有项目的日常操作来维持业务体量，从实际情况来看，受到的影响也“非常巨大”。
而对海华永泰而言，虽然其外地客户时常会带来新业务，但欧阳律师指出，不少中小民营企业在疫情的冲击下不得不暂停法律相关业务，“甚至也没有后续了”。
几乎没有什么业务领域在这段时间里实现了危中寻机，不过，疫情后也会短暂出现一些新的业务机会。欧阳律师告诉ALB，疫情后，金融机构、政府、国企发债业务略有增多、租赁纠纷和合同纠纷数量也有所上涨，“但对整个律师服务行业来说，这种暂时性的业务量相比整个行业占比还是相对较小的，且很多业务的质量肯定没有经济形势好时优质。”
这段“非常”时期虽为艰难，但律师们并没有“按兵不动”，而是积极采取各种措施、共克时艰。例如，海华永泰从封控初期开始便为员工提供生活和业务上的帮扶，封控期间多次组织各类线上研讨会，拟定疫情期间法律问题实务汇编、颁发《海华永泰特殊时期居家或远程办公指引》，供全国其他各办公室备用。
中联的律师们也积极应对困境，一方面利用这段时间夯实专业能力，为复工复产做准备，另一方面也积极与中联各地办公室进行合作，在短期内将一些业务落地推进并转化为创收。
“但客观地说，律师为此付出的努力与收获的成效之间，存在严重的比例失调。”沈律师说。
自6月起，上海恢复了社会面开放，这对于解决业务推进困难无疑是一个好消息。欧阳律师表示，封控刚解除，海华永泰的复工率就达到了较高比例，六月份收入下滑相比去年同期控制在了10%左右。沈律师也告诉ALB，中联六月份的律师费收入也逐渐取得显著恢复。
但是，展望整个下半年，考虑到经济的恢复还需要时间，而疫情的反复也为不少企业，尤其是中小企业付费能力的恢复速度打上了问号，律师们对于未来创收的预测仍较为保守。
“在疫情反复的情况下，实事求是地说，我们对于下半年的创收前景仍持谨慎态度。我个人认为，如果社会层面不能为经济可持续发展找到良方，律所创收恐怕很难有真正的‘创新’之道，‘守成’也会极为艰难。”沈律师说。
After facing a battering from Shanghai’s lockdown, lawyers still uncertain about future
In the first half of 2022, Shanghai underwent nearly three months of lockdown, and the city’s lawyers are still reeling from the impact. What’s worse is that they have a great deal of uncertainty as to what the future holds, even after the restrictions were lifted.
Multiple law firms in Shanghai are reporting a significant drop in revenue in the first half of this year. Take, for example, SGLA Law Firm. Its Shanghai office has seen a drop in revenue of more than 50 percent in April and May compared to “normal months,” according to Shen Ronghua, senior partner and member of the management committee.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai-based Hiways Law Firm also saw revenue in the first half of 2022 drop by 50 percent compared to previous years, according to Ouyang Qun, executive director and senior partner.
The biggest hit was probably to litigators, who could neither see their clients in person nor go to the courts as those were shut. “For lawyers who focused on dispute resolution, especially criminal litigation, their most important work could not be proceeded, thus the most direct hit to their revenue,” says Shen.
That doesn’t mean transactional lawyers came out unscathed. Shen tells ALB that as SGLA’s Shanghai branch mostly focus on local companies, whose businesses had to be put on hold during the lockdown, lawyers could only do routine work on existing projects, and as a result their income was also “largely impacted.” In some extreme cases, companies had to shutter as a result of the lockdown, which meant no more need for legal services.
If there were any bright spots, it came from the slight bump in work that resulted from bonds being issued by financial institutes, government, and state-owned enterprises, as well as the disputes arising from broken leases and contracts.
“However, for the legal industry, the amounts are still small, and the quality of work has been better,” Ouyang says.
To tide over this difficult period, Hiways offered support to its staff in both work and life. During the lockdown, it organized multiple webinar to discuss and implement strategies of flexible working.
SGLA’s Shanghai lawyers on the one hand enhanced their professional capabilities to prepare themselves for opportunities after the end of the lockdown, and on the other hand, actively worked with other branches on some joint projects.
“But there was still an imbalance between the efforts of our lawyers and the revenue we got,” Shen says.
Shanghai lifted the restrictions in June, giving heart to lawyers in the city who endured a difficult few months. However, economic recovery takes time, and as COVID still looms large, lawyers don’t see light at the end of the tunnel just yet.
“To be honest, we hold quite a cautious attitude towards our revenue in the second half of 2022. In my opinion, if, on the social level, a cure cannot be found for the sustainable development of economy, it is hard for law firms to create new ways of increasing income, and keeping the existing resources will be hard as well,” Shen says.
