26 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 JULY 2024 While the social and economic order has gradually returned to normal postpandemic, law firms’ dispute resolution practices are still reeling from the scars left by the three-year period. China witnessed a continuous rise in the number of disputes in 2023, and this has persisted so far in 2024. In 2023, courts across the country accepted over 45.57 million cases, up 15.62 percent, while both the number and the subject matter value of cases handled by the 279 arbitration institutions across the country reached record highs. This trend has continued into 2024. According to data from the Supreme People’s Court, in the first quarter of this year, courts across China accepted over 11 million cases, a year-on-year increase of approximately 1.5 percent. Against this backdrop, dispute resolution lawyers are experiencing an unusual and sustained level of busyness. “The economic scars left by the pandemic are obvious. The frequency, amount and returns of investment have all declined, and investors are unable to exit their investments profitably. Along with unstable economic development, these have become triggers of conflicts, leading to a significant increase in disputes over investment contracts, financial lending, corporate shareholding and labor matters,” says Liang Muzhou, senior partner of ETR Law Firm. Apart from the increase in caseload, other factors have also contributed to the busy schedules of dispute resolution lawyers. In particular, “with the decline in the willingness of clients to litigate and their ability to pay legal fees, intensifying competition among lawyers, and continuous increase in the procedural requirements of dispute resolution institutions, lawyers have been preoccupied by a large volume of procedural and administrative work, greatly affecting communication efficiency, which has also led to us becoming ever busier,” says Liang. Luo Jinrong, director of King & Win Law Firm, cannot agree more. “As unit price per client drops, if we want to maintain existing performance, we have to increase the number of cases we take on. At the same time, the cycle of each case is getting longer and longer, and many cases from previous years are still ongoing. However, in order to hit this year’s revenue target, we have to work on new cases that come in. So the total number of cases ongoing during the same period is becoming even larger.” Luo notices three most common categories of cases. “The first category is related to fund flow, such as lending and post-investment repurchase. The second category is related to domestic or international trade. In some circumstances, once the capital chain of an enterprise is broken, it may lead to defaults at multiple layers.” “The third category concerns real estate disputes, such as project financing DISPUTE RESOLUTION The shrinking of transactional work stands in contrast to the “return” of dispute resolution to the centre of the business of law firms in the past two years. Although business continues to be brisk, dispute resolution lawyers admit that they are facing changing client demands as well as new challenges brought about by technological advancements and industry development. 在交易类项目缩减的情况下，过去两年，争议解决某种程度上“重返”业务舞台中 心，在律所营收中扮演愈发重要的角色。虽然业务持续繁忙，争议解决律师却坦 言，他们正面对客户需求的不断变化，以及技术更新、行业发展带来的全新挑战。 BY HU YANGXIAOXIAO 作者：胡阳潇潇 AN EVOLVING SCENE 争议解决业务持续演进
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