16 Asian Legal Business | November 2024 Gao concludes, “In a challenging legal services market, firms must specialize and identify growth opportunities in specific practice areas. Duan & Duan excels at uncovering opportunities and engaging in innovation-driven product R&D, which we then implement across our nationwide offices. This ability to seize new opportunities despite economic downturns ensures our continuous growth.” Quality development Yingke maintains its top position in this year’s ranking. The firm has made remarkable progress in its expansion, with the number of lawyers increasing by nearly 2,000 in one year to exceed 15,000. Li Zheng, Deputy Chairman of Yingke Global Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Yingke China, explains that in 2008, Yingke established “expansion, professionalism, branding, and internationalization” as its development strategy. This led to exponential growth in its workforce over the following decade. However, in 2021, responding to changes in the legal services market, Yingke revised its development focus to “internationalization, professionalism, digitalization, and carbon neutrality,” no longer explicitly including “expansion.” “This doesn’t mean that size is no longer important,” Li clarifies. “Rather, it represents an evolution of our development goals. Yingke has entered a new phase of qualitative growth.” The emphasis on “professionalism” remains constant because a firm must rely on its lawyers’ expertise whether serving domestic or international clients. Therefore, enhancing professional competence will be the firm’s top priority during this phase of qualitative development. “Over the past year, Yingke has adjusted and optimized its professional organizational structure to develop a sophisticated, diverse, and systematic framework. We’ve successfully promoted the integration of practice areas, focused on building professional capacity in key areas, achieved numerous professional milestones, and upgraded our legal services products. We’ve also maintained our commitment to cooperation and knowledge sharing, collaborating with law schools at many top institutions to actively drive the comprehensive development and training of legal talent.” W&H Law Firm, ranking sixth this year, now boasts over 4,000 qualified lawyers after adding almost 400 associates in the past year. Zhang Xiaowei, Director of the National Management Committee of W&H, notes that the firm prioritized Cover Story
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