15 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA YEAR AHEAD 2024 Guangdong Lianyue Law Firm also managed to stabilize and grow its revenue in 2023. In light of market changes, Lianyue promptly adjusted investment and expenditure. According to Liu Tao, the firm’s director, “we reduced investment in offline activities and conferences, and also cut down expenditure on office equipment thanks to accelerating digital transformation. However, we continued to increase investment in young lawyer training, professional capacity-building, brand and cultural building. These adjustments can give us more flexibility in coping with possible long-term economic challenges going forward.” CENTRAL THEMES If the next few years will be as uncertain and challenging as 2023, the experience of these firms in pursuing development in the past year will provide them with wisdom for the future. Law firm leaders have identified some themes in this regard. Wang captures East & Concord Partners’ development in the past year in two themes: “reform” and “innovation.” “In terms of reform, we adjusted our income distribution system, changing the cost-sharing model under pure corporate management style to one where some highly personalized cost items are singled out. In this way, we managed to achieve more optimal cost management without breaking the premise of integrated management,” explains Wang. Innovation can be seen in the establishment of the integrated Greater Bay Area office by the firm. The unified operation of its offices in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong has achieved innovation in organizational structure. In particular, its Hong Kong joint venture “is also placed under the integrated management framework. In the past year, the Hong Kong joint venture received substantial business resources from various offices, truly generating efficiency through management.” Zhang Liguo of Grandway Law Offices selects “accumulating energy for development” as the key phrase to describe the firm’s development in 2023. “In 2023, while maintaining its advantages in capital market legal services, we vigorously grew the service capabilities of our teams in real estate and construction engineering, compliance, intellectual property, dispute resolution and cross-border legal services.” “Bravery, reform, innovation and strive for progress” are the themes for Zhang He of Tiantai Law Firm when he summarizes 2023. “We adjusted and upgraded our lawyer teams and practice areas, recruited and promoted young lawyers with outstanding professional capabilities, encouraged our local offices to expand and upgrade, and worked hard to enhance Tiantai’s influence and service level in different regions. We also embarked on a new journey towards the global legal market.” Both Co-effort Law Firm and Guangdong Lianyue Law Firm reached important development milestones in 2023, and both have laid down plans for the next phase. Zhu tells ALB:” 2023 marked the 25th anniversary of Co-effort. We decided on the theme of ‘working together towards the future’, and this theme ran through our work in 2023 where we elected our new director and confirmed our move to a new office in 2024. We are now fully prepared to embrace the new future.” Meanwhile, Lianyue completed its first five-year plan in 2023. Liu summarizes Lianyue’s 2023 as “development, reform, opportunity and openness.” “On the basis of summarizing the successful experience of the first five-year plan, we have decided on our development plan for the next five years, clarifying our goals, main tasks, implementation channels and important initiatives.” BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS In the past year, subdued market dealmaking volume and budget cuts by many corporate clients for legal services brought significant financial challenges to law firms. However, some practice areas have remained as business highlights for firms in a weak environment. For East & Concord, the biggest highlights in 2023 were REITS and cross-border investment. Particularly for the latter, “we have seen companies accelerating their pace of going global. In particular, the new energy vehicle industry has become a bright spot. Law firms with keen market awareness, effective implementation and swift actions will be able to ride this wave. Going forward, China’s legal services industry should focus on cross-border investment, including overseas mergers and acquisitions or factory establishment, as well as cross-border family wealth succession and management,” says Wang. Zhang He has similarly observed the rapid development of cross-border business. He points out that in the past year, Tiantai’s “overseas bond issuance, international arbitration, international investment, etc. all achieved growth.” In addition, family wealth management is another major growth area. In 2023, Grandway’s business focused on the forefront of technology. “In recent years, China has been vigorously promoting the development of hard technology. In 2023, we advised on the successful listing of internal combustion engine component manufacturer Hengbo Holding, civilian command information systems provider Nanjing LES Information Technology, semiconductor company Anhui XDLK Microsystem, and ‘little giant’ firm Shenzhen Seichitech.” Zhang He Zhu Xiaoqing Zhang Liguo Liu Tao Wang Dong
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