11 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA COVER STORY “Compared to developed cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, however, the development of Xi’an’s legal industry still lags behind and is in transition to more commercialized and market-oriented competition.” According to Zhang, for example, the “black box” phenomenon still exists to some extent on the market when it comes to the disclosure of commercial information, and firms and lawyers continue to rely on job titles and specific connections to acquire clients. “Pushing for changes to these general mentality and transaction environment issues left over from the previous generation still takes time.” On the other hand, Zhang notes that positive changes also continue to take place. “Clients and even the whole market have become more rational when choosing lawyers. They place more value on professional competency and service quality and require lawyers to have higher and more comprehensive service capabilities. Some colleagues may think this is excessive competition, but we believe this is an inevitable process for the market to mature. Therefore, the entire industry needs to actively embrace such changes and create more positive value for clients, the industry and even the society at large.” Yates Bi, Senior Partner of Hui Ye Law Firm and Director of its Chengdu office, is another “Rising Lawyer” winner. When leading the firm forward, Bi can feel that competition on Chengdu’s legal industry is more intense than that of other places in the west, and Chengdu may even be considered “one of the most competitive markets in the country”. Data seem to back Bi’s assessment. “The 2023 Sichuan Legal Industry Big Data Report shows that there are more than 22,400 lawyers and over 1,139 firms in Chengdu. Most national firms have offices in Chengdu. However, Chengdu’s own economic volume is not yet large enough to support the rapid development of its legal industry.” “In addition, legal services companies and legal consulting companies have also created large pressure on the individual client and the small corporate client markets of firms.” Bi admits that due to the economic downturn and the impact of international dynamics, the overall workload of firms has increased, but their ability to generate revenue has declined, affecting industry confidence. Bi adds that Sichuan’s legal industry is rather active, with many young lawyers. They are very capable professionally and closely follow emerging business areas and new marketing methods. If the younger generation can keep up, they may bring changes to and reshape the traditional legal services market. FUTURE PLANNING Looking ahead, the interviewed firms unanimously identify common 2024 ALB China 西部地区律师新星 王娟律师，陕西博硕律师事务所高级合伙人，西安交通大学MBA校外导师， 西安财经大学法学院实务导师，陕西省人民政府法律专家库成员，毕业于西 安交通大学，经济学博士。在专业领域深耕十多载，先后曾就职于四大会计 师事务所以及西部证券、海通证券投资银行，主持并参与多项IPO以及再融 资，同时具有中国注册会计师、保荐代表人资格，具有法律、金融交叉学科 背景，深入了解资本市场的运作模式。 从事律师以来，专注于一般公司业务、企业并购重组、金融与资本市场法律 服务以及相关争议解决。先后为多个基金、大型国有企业、以及金融机构提 供收并购、发债、设立基金等全流程法律服务，为众多重大复杂交易提供综 合解决方案，也曾主办多个受关注的公司商事、银行金融、借贷担保及各类 合同纠纷的争议解决。 王娟 高级合伙人 电话：18629260539 邮箱：wangjuan@bsls.com.cn
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA0NzE4Mw==