28 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 JANUARY 2024 marine finance and marine environmental protection). Tahota has been paying close attention to the GBA market, focusing on areas with strong market demand, such as capital market, cross-border trade, digital economy, compliance management, intellectual property rights, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), dispute resolution, as well as maritime and offshore business. Taking the capital market as an example, Tahota makes full use of the geographical advantages of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong to strengthen its capital market business. In the field of overseas investment, Tahota takes advantage of Shenzhen Qianhai and Hong Kong to develop its overseas investment business. Chen: Since the establishment of the TianTong Law Firm Shenzhen office in 2017, we have focused on market research and analysis of clients’ demand. Through in-depth communication with our clients, we manage to better grasp the demand for legal services in the GBA and provide customized solutions. In addition, we value talent development. We are committed to attracting and cultivating lawyers with international backgrounds and professional knowledge, who can better adapt to the special legal environment of “one country, two systems and three jurisdictions” in the GBA and meet clients’ needs for diversified legal services. Yang Jie: Our law firm has been developing in the GBA for 15 years and we not only have a deep affection for the region but also have a unique understanding of the area. We focus on the region’s competitive industries such as urban renewal, digital economy, and maritime business. We have set up professional teams covering the above industries, which have been recognized by the industry. ALB: In the field of legal practice, what areas will your firm focus on in the near future? Yang Lin: We focus on the sectors that are supported by GBA’s policies, including high-tech, smart manufacturing, AI, information technology, digitalization, ocean economy, new energy and intellectual property rights, among others. We particularly keep an eye on compliance (digital, tax, criminal), foreign-related areas (Hong Kong, Macao, Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S.), energy, insolvency and restructuring, and digitalization and intelligence. Huang: We pay attention to cross-border investment and M&A. The ability to provide cross-border legal services will become the core competitiveness of law firms, as GBA involves two major legal systems, three tariff zones and three jurisdictions. Technology innovation, AI and the digital economy are also one of our areas of focus. Technology innovation has become a new engine of GBA’s development. In 2023, the popularity of ChatGPT triggered the application of AI as well as the digital transformation of different industries. In addition, we also pay attention to dispute resolution and arbitration. We also focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG), intellectual property rights and maritime businesses. Chen: GBA provides a broad market for legal services based on its developed economy, and its vibrant capital market facilitates economic development while generating a large number of risks and disputes. Based on the key development of the industrial system in GBA, first of all, we focus on cross-border investment and international trade. As an important hub for international trade and investment, GBA has attracted many multinational enterprises and investors. We have rich experience and excellent cases in international trade, foreign direct investment and cross-border M&A. We also specialize in intellectual property and technology innovation. GBA is an important base for innovation in China, with many high-tech enterprises and innovative projects being based here. TianTong Law Firm has introduced an intellectual property service segment. We have launched an intellectual property litigation team consisting of senior lawyers, practice experts and scholars from renowned universities to help clients deal with difficult and complex intellectual property disputes. Meanwhile, we also focus on finance, real estate, tourism, energy and environment, involving project cooperation and development, securities misrepresentation, corporate control disputes, trade secret protection and unfair competition. Every year, we have benchmark cases that are quite influential in the industry. Yang Jie: In the legal practice area, we focus on domestic and international data compliance, online games, cross-border data transfer, overseas direct investment (ODI), foreign-related intellectual property rights and other segments. ALB: What are the challenges your firm is facing in the GBA, and how are you going to address them? Yang Lin: We are facing several challenges in the area. We see an overall decline in the legal services market on the practice side. There is fierce competition as law firms based in Beijing, Shanghai and foreign markets are expanding in the region. In addition, the high costs and fees hurt the capacity to expand and improve our business, which lowers our competitiveness. The lack of talent is also a potential risk for sustained development in the future. To address the issue, we plan to build an integrated and intelligent platform to empower lawyers. We will also reduce costs and increase efficiency at our own pace, as well as expand in the national and international markets steadily. In addition, we will hire more talent from universities and introduce a program to support young lawyers. Huang: We are facing fierce competition. The emerging inter-regional law firm alliances and cooperative organizations have pushed the connection between Hong Kong and Macau and mainland legal services, and we are facing competition from Hong Kong firms, Macau firms and foreign firms. Meanwhile, the competition is fierce as major mainland law firms are focusing on the GBA while local firms are also expanding. The other issue is the differences in the legal system and culture. The GBA is unique in having “one country, two systems, three jurisdictions, three tariff zones and three languages”. In addition, cultural and language differences MANAGING PARTNER ROUNDTABLE
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