27 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA COVER STORY accurately interpret the law and rich practical experience. Increasingly, clients want lawyers to be inter-disciplinary and provide all-round and comprehensive legal services. They also have higher expectations for personalized solutions and efficient communication”. As such, lawyers need to have both professional competency and service spirit, and this “duality” will become their core competitiveness. “Professional competency is the cornerstone, ensuring that we can provide clients with accurate and effective legal support in a complex legal environment. High-quality professional service capabilities are key to the long-term, stable development of firms. Professional competency is also the foundation of any lawyer. It requires lawyers to not only have a solid theoretical underpinning in law, but also have keen insight and firm grasp of the latest laws, regulations, policy dynamics and market trends in the field of international investment and trade. Only in this way can lawyers accurately assess the legal needs of clients and provide accurate legal opinions and solutions.” “Service spirit is the bridge for establishing cooperation and trust between lawyers and clients. It requires lawyers to not only pay attention to the legal needs of clients, but also gain an in-depth understanding of the business goals and realities of clients, and provide intimate, meticulous and efficient services by always acting in the best interest of clients. Lawyers should proactively communicate with clients to keep abreast of case progress, provide timely feedback on case information, and offer clients all-round and all-weather legal support. Therefore, while continuing to upgrade their professional competency, lawyers should focus on cultivating service spirit, closely combine the two to create their unique competitive advantages to better meet the diversified needs of clients,” adds Xue. Fang Zhicheng, senior partner of Joint-Win Partners and Director of its debt restructuring and non-performing assets business center, shares similar views. In his opinion, professional competency lies in the ability to “explain complicated matters in a simple way”, DUAL REQUIREMENTS Lawyers have observed significant changes in clients’ legal service demands as global economic integration deepens and the international trade environment grows increasingly complex. To Stephen Luo, capital markets partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng, professional competency and service spirit have always been the two core requirements of the legal profession, and the combination of the two is essential to providing excellent legal services. He frankly states that as capital markets rapidly evolve, clients expect lawyers to not only interpret legal provisions but also provide comprehensive solutions and respond swiftly and accurately to their demands. “Professional competency is the cornerstone of lawyers’ work. We must constantly pursue more depth and breadth of professional knowledge to ensure that we can solve clients’ legal challenges in an accurate and efficient manner. Second, service spirit is reflected in lawyers’ profound understanding of client needs and our deep commitment to work. We need to be committed to listening to and understanding client needs as well as their business visions and specific challenges. Only by devoting ourselves 100 percent to each project can we ensure that clients have a professional and personalized service experience,” says Luo. He further points out that such dual requirements mean lawyers not only must have solid legal knowledge, but also need to be able to build trust with clients and show deep concern and firm commitment to their interests. As an expert in cross-border services, Xue Weihua, partner of SGLA Law Firm, mentions that in complex and changing scenarios such as cross-border trade, investment and compliance, the problems clients face often involve multiple jurisdictions and legal fields and are intertwined with complex business, policy and market factors. Therefore, Xue believes that “clients will not be satisfied with answers given by lawyers in a single legal area. Nor do they only expect lawyers to have deep professional knowledge, ability to BAI XIAOLI 白小莉 Docvit Law Firm 道可特律师事务所 CHEN JUN 陈俊 AnJie Broad Law Firm 安杰世泽律师事务所 FANG ZHICHENG 方智成 Joint & Win Partners 正策律师事务所 HE QIANG 贺强 Hiways Law Firm 海华永泰律师事务所 HUANG HUI 黄辉 Grandall Law Offices 国浩律师事务所 KANG XIAOYANG 康晓阳 Kangda Law Firm 康达律师事务所
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