15 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA COVER STORY data protection, a matter of national security, also dictates compliance support as new technologies develop and data becomes a key factor of production. “The future lies in data and the future is shaped by effectively protecting and legally utilizing data. After obtaining a series of international and domestic authoritative certifications such as IAPP, EXIN, CCRC, CISP, etc., I work to present cybersecurity and data compliance products that incorporate my background in the traditional industry. I keep monitoring and updating the profession developments and regulatory trends, so as to provide quality legal services for clients,” says Gong. “The best or nothing.” This is what Yuan Lizhi, a Partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng said to himself when he set foot in the field in 2017. Before that, he traveled a lot between Beijing and Shanghai to serve clients and participate in industry events organized by the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee and the Communications Standards Association. He could feel the enthusiasm and expectations of the industry for China’s cybersecurity and data protection. “When I decided to focus on cybersecurity and data protection six years ago, I was more confident in realizing my expectations. Back then, China paid increasing attention to cybersecurity and data protection with the Cybersecurity Law and the EU GDPR implemented. There was not much call for legal services and clients were not willing to invest too much in the area. But I reckoned that this is a promising niche worth all my effort based on my insights into technological and business development.” Even when the epidemic struck and disrupted the pace of work, the business still went strong and embraced better growth for the prevention and control measures. He notes, “A typical example is the Health Code-incurred protection of personal information. We wrote about typical cases, explaining how to protect personal information on the premise of precise prevention and control, and participated in the preparation, promotion, and implementation of practice guidelines sponsored by industry organizations.” Another example is the HKEX listing of NewBornTown which focuses on overseas digital marketing and social business. Yuan provided a full range of services such as data compliance verification, rectification, and issuance of special legal opinions. “This is probably the first legal opinion in the market on data compliance for a listing project, and its overall structure and concluding statements are still used to this day. A sense of accomplishment is an important source of motivation for my work.” Ken Dai, Partner at Dacheng Law Offices, has been specializing in data compliance since 2012, and the first case he came across greatly interested him.
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