25 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA BROUGHT TO YOU BY RONGYING LAW FIRM BAI Lin 白麟 Founder & Managing Partner, RongYing Law Firm lin.bai@rongyinglaw.com Established in 2021, RongYing Law Firm houses a team of talented lawyers who are passionate about the law and committed to providing world-class legal services for Chinese and overseas clients. Specializing in PE/VC, wealth management, international trade, energy and internet, RongYing has successfully handled a series of challenging and complex cases of commercial dispute resolution within just three years. In the newly unveiled 2024 ALB China Dispute Resolution Ranking, RongYing has been named a “Firm to Watch” in the arbitration category on the back of numerous representative cases and vast experience. Bai Lin, the firm’s founder and managing partner, shares with ALB the firm’s deepening cross-border capabilities and maturing development strategies. ALB: How is RongYing doing and what achievements has it made in the first three years? Bai: I would like to share my thoughts from three perspectives. First is the market. After obtaining the permit to practice in April 2021, RongYing experienced market ups and downs during and after the pandemic, but this has not stopped us from standing out in the market. We have noticed that in the post-pandemic era, clients are selecting the most suitable legal team to handle dispute resolution matters in a more cost-effective and time-efficient manner. In times like this, it is crucial for clients and lawyers to understand and trust each other. Dispute resolution lawyers thus need to maintain mutual trust with existing and potential clients. In addition, dispute resolution lawyers cannot stop at simply being familiar with procedures. More importantly, they must thoroughly understand clients’ commercial needs and the essence of the disputes clients seek to resolve. All legal actions should ultimately be directed at helping clients achieve commercial goals. Many times, the need for dispute resolution arise before legal proceedings officially commence, requiring lawyers to be flexible and ready to switch between offense and defense at any time. Such new demands have created more opportunities for a rising, agile and high-performing team like RongYing which is better positioned to showcase its expertise and strength. Therefore, we are very confident in our market prospects. Second is the team. RongYing is not in favor of blind expansion. We strive to find the right talents. In fact, our aspiration is to nurture a younger generation of Chinese lawyers who surpass our generation and can compete with their Big Law peers on the international stage. This will make us truly proud. Our associates come from the best law schools, boasting exceptional intellectual skills and enterprising spirits. We ensure our remunerations and benefits are competitive on the market. More importantly, we are dedicated to fostering our associates’ professional development. For example, last year we flew the entire team to Hong Kong for the Arbitration Week, allowing young lawyers to have meaningful exchanges. Third is the partnership. We currently have five partners, four specializing in civil and commercial practice and one in criminal law. Each partner brings a wealth of experience from years spent at leading firms at home and abroad. This diverse background has provided them with a broad vision and a deep appreciation for continuous improvement, even in the management models of well-known firms. Over the past three years, the teamwork between the partners has only grown stronger and more effective. On the one hand, we can provide high-quality legal services that are highly rated by the market. We have solid revenue-generating capabilities, and our new and more spacious office has just been put into use. On the other hand, with a flat management structure, all partners are hands-on on the front Leveraging cross-border dispute resolution expertise to develop into a full-service firm —Interview with Bai Lin, Managing Partner of RongYing Law Firm line, with proper internal division of management tasks to ensure smooth and efficient collaboration. ALB: Could you share with us some major or influential cross-border cases that RongYing has acted in? Bai: First, procedure-wise, RongYing has taken full yet reasonable advantage of legal processes in many major cases. For example, in one international arbitration involving the United States, Hong Kong SAR and Mainland China, we advised our client to initiate emergency arbitrator procedures, successfully obtained interim measures from the emergency arbitrator, and secured voluntary compliance with those measures by the counterparty overseas. One of the few exemplary precedents in this field, the case has been publicly mentioned by Beijing Daily, Beijing TV and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice. Another example is where RongYing secured property preservation in the Mainland for a Hong Kong arbitration client. This case, being the first property preservation ruling made by the Beijing Financial Court in support of a Hong Kong arbitration, has been featured in the 2023 White Paper on Judicial Review of Financial-related Arbitrations of the Beijing Financial Court. Second, in terms of substantive law, RongYing is currently acting in an international bulk trading case involving five jurisdictions across Asia, Europe and Africa, a testament to our ability to handle multi-jurisdictional, complex cases of international trade that involve huge amounts of money. We are also representing the founder of an Internet company as lead counsel in a series of inter-connected legal proceedings worldwide, including international arbitration, cross-border litigation, company winding-up and internal investigation. This is one of the many “bet-the-company” cases we have handled. We also advise a number of international private equity firms in litigation, arbitration and other matters in China. At the same time, we offer crisis management services, such as assisting international investment institutions in dealing with online falsehood, malicious market competition, labor and human resources disputes to quickly eliminate or reduce ill impact. Cross-border matters often involve multiple jurisdictions and require frequent communication and collaboration with overseas lawyers. RongYing boasts excellent professional capabilities in this regard. Meanwhile, as the movement in any single aspect of a multiple-jurisdictional case may affect the entire matter, lawyers must have a bird’s-eye view of the overall picture and manage each legal action carefully and strategically. Our team attaches great importance to the development and execution of overall strategies in cross-border dispute resolution, and always sets clear goals, pursues steady progress, and is quick in action and efficient in communication. ALB: What are RongYing’s plans going forward? Bai: For the next three years, RongYing will continue to recruit top partners and appropriately expand its size. We hope to, and believe we can, provide a full suite of services for clients. We are very keen in fields such as intellectual property, family law and non-contentious deals, and hope to attract more like-minded talents to join us. RongYing will also actively answer the calls of national policies, integrate our services into national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Bay Area, expand cross-border practice, forge more partnership, and help more clients “go global”. Moreover, we will step up collaboration with domestic and foreign arbitration institutions and lawyers, such as by jointly conducting research, providing legal aid to underprivileged groups and launching social responsibility initiatives. These are not merely plans. RongYing has already taken some steps and I believe everyone will see substantial results within a few months.
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