ALB：您在投融资、并购、公司事务等领域深耕多年、屡获佳绩，请介绍一下您的执业经历和感悟。
吕卓律师，汉坤律师事务所合伙人：在2012年加入汉坤之前，我曾在另外两家知名律师事务所工作5年。选择汉坤，源于对新经济领域和公司制律所的浓厚兴趣和向往。
在16年的律师生涯中，很高兴见证自己努力和成长，做律师带来的踏实感和成就感，促使我从未离开律所，至今不悔。踏实感在于，这个行业生命力旺盛，在中国仍属于起步阶段的朝阳行业；另一方面，律师的生产资料是专业知识、商业智慧和时间，与个体强绑定，不易丧失，从业者可将其作为终身职业而无需产生年龄焦虑。成就感在于，律师和客户之间是扁平化的合作关系，提供专业服务和解决实际问题的过程充满挑战，律师有机会在一线感知客户的反馈和情绪；对于非诉律师而言，一项交易的成功达成，客户对法律服务价值的认可，给律师带来的成就感是直接且具象的。
ALB：青年律师们普遍面临哪些挑战？您个人是如何应对的？
吕卓律师：我从以下几个方面分享一下个人浅见：
如何提供高质量的法律服务。我一直努力贯彻的，也是汉坤文化始终强调的两点，一是“法律思维，商业智慧”。高质量法律服务不仅包括专业性，更重要的是准确识别客户的商业诉求，并提出高效、务实及富有前瞻性的解决方案，甚至在适当尺度内协助客户做商业决策；二是“天下武功，唯快不破”。对客户需求的及时响应、快速落实、积极沟通，体现的是强执行力，也是信赖感的源泉之一。
经验不足怎么办。和“量”同样重要的，是经验的“质”。项目过程中是否对每一个要点用心思考，事后是否进行了认真复盘和总结，是否借助该项目加深了对一个行业的洞察，是否问过自己 “下一个同类项目，能否做得比前一个好”，都会影响这一份经验的“质”。高品质经验的展示，无论对于客户还是同仁都更具说服力和感染力，更容易衍生出新的项目机会。
自己的“护城河”在哪。我认为，律师最可靠的核心竞争力并非哪一个“领域”或哪一个“赛道”，而是在陪伴客户成长的道路上编织出的信任网络。我在执业过程中对构建客户信任的投入一直高于对寻找热门赛道的投入。律师拥有拿手赛道固然有益，但唯有信任可以帮助律师抵抗赛道的周期性风险；唯有宽广和牢固的信任网络，是一名律师真正的护城河。
ALB：有哪些思考和建议可以和青年律师们分享？
吕卓律师：我听过一些律届“谣言”，尝试用辟谣的方式谈一谈。
“专业不如资源重要”。专业水平永远是律师的安身立命之本，我们应时刻保有学习的能力和热情，任何时候都不能忽视专业知识体系的强化和更新以及专业技能的雕琢。对于绝大多数律师而言，专业是获取资源的最有效工具，专业事故也是失去资源的最常见原因。
“我的性格不适合做律师”。在我的理解中，律师是一个包容性很强的职业，做律师的“基础设施”只有意愿和责任心，其余都是方法论的问题，性格和是否适合做律师没有必然联系，建议“基础设施”齐备的年轻律师们卸下不必要的标签，保持职业自信。
“做律师=没有工作生活平衡”。个人认为，工作生活平衡与否不是一种行业属性，而是一种能力，其中包含提高工作效率的能力、时间管理能力、抓关键问题的能力等，这些都可以通过经验和阅历的沉淀以及有意识的训练而获得。律师自古以来就被定义为自由职业，其实工作生活平衡程度的上限非常高，而且往往工作能力和工作生活平衡是同频提高的，优秀的律师往往也是工作生活平衡达人，这对于律师不应成为桎梏，反而某种意义上可以作为修行目标。
Interview with Adrian Lv, Partner at Han Kun Law Offices: A committed legal practitioner to earn client trust with high-quality services
ALB: You have a proven track record in investment & financing, M&A, and corporate affairs. Could you share with us your reflections on years of practice?
Adrian Lv, Partner at Han Kun Law Offices: I practiced law at two prominent firms for five years before joining Han Kun in 2012 out of my strong interest in new economy and my hope of working at a corporate law firm.
I’m happy that I have never stopped learning and growing for 16 years as a lawyer. I stick with the profession without regret for security and fulfilment. I’m feeling secure because, on the one hand, the legal industry is a vibrant sunrise industry in China. On the other hand, professional knowledge, business intelligence, and time are strongly bound to individual lawyers and are not easy to lose. It is a lifelong occupation free from age anxiety. Faced with challenges when providing professional services and solving problems, lawyers have the opportunity to gain first-hand feedback from clients. Non-litigation lawyers can enjoy a direct and concrete sense of fulfilment when a deal is successfully closed, and clients recognise their services.
ALB: What are the challenges for young lawyers? How do you cope with them?
Lv: I’d like to share my views on the following aspects:
How to provide high-quality services? I constantly stick with two things that Han Kun always emphasises. First, “legal mind, business sense”. High-quality services require professionalism and our ability to identify precisely clients' business needs, provide efficient, practical, and forward-looking solutions, and assist clients in making business decisions in the proper range. Secondly, speed defines the winner. Fast response to client needs, rapid implementation, and active communication reflect strong execution, which is a source of trust.
The need for more experience. Quality is equally important as quantity. To accumulate quality experience from a case, you need to think about all the critical points, conduct post-project review, deepen your insight into an industry, and ask yourself, "can you do better in the next similar case". The quality experience is more convincing and appealing for clients and colleagues, and is more likely to create new opportunities.
Finding the ace up your sleeve. I believe that the most reliable competitiveness doesn’t lie in any practicing area or industry, but in a trust network woven when we help clients grow. I have always been more invested in earning client trust than finding a hot industry. It is beneficial for lawyers to focus on a track, but only trust can help resist cyclical risks, and only a strong trust network is the real ace.
ALB: Could you share some thoughts and suggestions with young lawyers?
Lv: I’d like to dispel some "rumours” in the legal industry.
"Professionalism is not as important as resources". Professionalism is always the foundation of practice. We should never lose our ability and enthusiasm for learning, and we should update our professional knowledge and hone our professional skills. Professionalism is the most effective tool for most lawyers to obtain resources, and unprofessionalism is the most common reason for losing resources.
"I don't have the personality for the profession." I think the law is a very inclusive profession. As long as we have the willingness and a sense of responsibility, the rest is about methods. There is no connection between personality and suitability to be a lawyer. Young lawyers should reduce unnecessary burdens and keep professional confidence.
"Being a lawyer means no work-life balance." I believe that work-life balance is an ability, for example, the ability to improve efficiency, manage time, and identify key issues. These can be acquired through experiences and intentional training. Lawyers who are more capable at work often strike a better balance between work and life. Work-life balance should not be a shackle, but a goal in some sense.
