Ask an accomplished professional to list the leading law firms in dispute resolution in China and Jingtian & Gongcheng will very likely be included among the top. In contrast to its more widely publicized Capital Markets practice, Dispute Resolution has retained a relatively lower profile. For clients who are accustomed to working with Jingtian & Gongcheng’s “top-rated” talent, they understand that our firm demonstrates professionalism in client service and a long-term commitment to the market segments we serve. Within this context, a “low-profile” is also attributed to prioritizing confidentiality, professionalism, dedication, and reliability. It means we complete the work successfully and discreetly.
One of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s competitive advantages is our ability to provide legal guidance to businesses on dispute resolution across the value chain, from incorporation through strategic exit or cessation of operations. While demands vary at different stages, in terms of the professional competencies required, Jingtian & Gongcheng is well equipped with the resources and capabilities to supply lawyers who are hand-selected to meet the needs of our clients.
How do we validate these claims? Jingtian & Gongcheng’s partners dedicate themselves to every single case, control the strategic direction, and plan the outcomes based on their experience and abilities. It is through these efforts that we strive for accurate results and high win rates.
1992 – When China’s Lawyers Forged a New Trail
The development of the legal services industry is closely aligned with China’s overall economic growth and the development of rule of law. In 1993, the State Council approved the “Plan for Deepening the Reform of Lawyers Work” put forth by the Ministry of Justice. Since then, lawyers have transformed from “public servants” to “legal service professionals”. T years prior to this change, a group of forward-looking lawyers had taken the plunge to transform into the first private sector lawyers.
Jingtian & Gongcheng Founding Partner Xuejun Peng is one of these trailblazers. Mr. Peng resigned from the International Department of Civil Aviation Administration of China in 1990 and discussed an idea with several like-minded friends to launch a private partnership law firm. After more than a year consulting in Shenzhen and Shanghai, the results were not what they envisioned. However, they reached their tipping point at the end of 1991. Xuejun Peng still remembers receiving the notification from the Justice Bureau: “There were was a set quota of six pilot private law firms that were allowed to operate in Beijing. The six law firms evolved into Jingtian, Dacheng, Tongshang, Haiwen, Shanghai and Lutong.”
Dynamic, economic growth calls for a more robust justice system, which triggers reform in the practice of law. Changes in the external economic environment continue to set new challenges and raises the bar for legal practitioners. This “trailblazing” courage embodied by Xuejun Peng later evolved into the core value behind the development of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice. With forward-looking vision and a solid reputation, Jingtian & Gongcheng has been successful in taking the pulse of Chinese economic growth and riding the wave of capital market reform, globalization, and the entry and expansion of Chinese businesses into the international market. In this way, we have created a roadmap for dispute resolution.
Throughout his 29-year career, Xuejun Peng has been highly respected in the market and among his peers in litigation and arbitration. Who’s Who Legal listed him as a “top litigator” in its directory; Asian Legal Business (ALB) ranked him as a leading individual in dispute resolution; Chambers Asia-Pacific also highly recommended him as a leading lawyer in dispute resolution and in arbitration in China, and his clients have described him as “an outstanding litigator with a talent for handling large-scale litigation.”
For those who are closer to Mr. Peng, he is not only the widely acclaimed founder of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice but also a “mentor” for many of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s lawyers. In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Peng is constantly thinking about the long-term growth and development of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice business and cultivating talent in a changing environment.
Seeking Common Ground While Respecting Differences
With the passage of time, the legal sector has passed its “extensive” growth phase. Beijing Partner Lei Wu still remembers that in the early years establishing the law firm, it wasn’t hard to grow market share. “There were a limited number of firms and only a few with the resources to serve the demands of clients in the capital markets. Over time, the firm was able to successfully scale.” However, with the advent of new technologies and entry into the information age, law firms face an urgent need to “transform and upgrade.”
Nowadays, lawyers are a profession that focuses on professionalism. With more than 40 sub-specializations in the field of law, it is impossible for a single lawyer to be proficient in all fields on his or her own. It has been increasingly proven through practice that if a lawyer cannot excel in a particular area, then his or her career may not progress. Thus, a lawyer has to “give” before he or she can “gain” when choosing their area of specialty. A dedicated focus on a chosen area of law is the only path to become highly recognized in this industry, which asks for a lawyer to “subtract” his areas of expertise. With this “subtraction” strategy comes higher standards for teamwork, and the corporate culture of “seeking common ground while respecting differences” becomes a bonding agent. On this topic, Mr. Wu has a lot to share.
As a senior partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng, Lei Wu is well-known within the industry for his commercial litigation expertise, especially his track record of dealing with integrated cases. But what remains less clear to most is that, to a certain degree, he like Xuejun Peng is just another eyewitness to the historic development of Chinese lawyers following the legal sector’s reform and expansion.
A graduate of Peking University Law School, Lei Wu first worked as a paralegal in the Farmland System Law Service before joining China’s first lawyers to capitalize on the private market. In 1993, he passed the bar and later joined Jingtian & Gongcheng. Mr. Wu believes that what has kept him with the firm is the culture. “Divided values do not exist within Jingtian & Gongcheng. The inclusive culture that seeks common ground while respecting differences enables our lawyers to feel more at ease to perform their best work.”
Building upon this culture, the Litigation practice led by Lei Wu provided the structure for the policies and blueprint for the firm, where he oversaw its operations. It helps forge the central values of the firm, which are selflessness, teamwork, charity, pragmatism, and a commitment to excellence and professionalism.
Dedication with a Specialized Focus
With the hard work and innovative exploration of the first- generation leadership, Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution team has been thinking reflecting upon how to differentiate their dispute resolution services apart from the firm’s ability to scale. There are two keywords for their solutions: specialization and competence.
Beijing Partner Chungang Dong is a prime example of a lawyer who has risen to the top ranks through specializing in a particular area of dispute resolution. He mainly works in dispute resolution, bankruptcy, and restructuring. Additionally, he is qualified to practice law in both China and New York. He also served as an arbitrator in arbitration institutions such as CIETAC, BAC, and HKIAC.
Mr. Dong has noticed that the development of Chinese law firms has been aligned with the footprints of “specialization”, “concentration” and “narrowing” of their western counterparts. “Similar to the development process of law firms in Britain and the United States, law firms will eventually become more differentiated. The market will label some of the firms that are ‘specialized’ in a field and these firms, to some extent, will then become closely associated with those specializations. Reflecting upon law firms in China, we have now arrived at the point of such differentiation toward specialization,” said Chungang Dong. According to him, “finding the right person” is the first priority for today’s clients. And to be at the top of the client’s list, you must demonstrate expertise in the required field in the first place.
However, to deal with the “breadth” of knowledge in handling complex cases, team work is required. In this regards, Jingtian & Gongcheng is once again at the forefront. Mr. Dong believes, “From an external perspective, we only select maybe two lawyers for some specific cases. But these two people are fully supported by the firm’s entire team across Corporate Law, Financial Law, Employment Law, and so forth. These ‘points’ will converge and form the ‘breadth’ of excellence that Jingtian & Gongcheng presents to the world.”
Seniors Lead by Example
New Talent Takes up the Baton
With this forward-looking perspective, Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice has been continuously evolving towards specialization, which, in turn, has mapped out the career paths for our newer partners.
Bangwei Xu is one of the distinguished partners we had been grooming for Dispute Resolution. Mr. Xu had previously worked at the Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court before joining Jingtian & Gongcheng. Throughout his nearly two-decade--career at Jingtian & Gongcheng, he has successfully represented a number of high-profile, complex, commercial dispute cases and has risen to the top echelon of lawyers in commercial dispute resolution, bankruptcy liquidation, and disposal of non-performing and distressed assets.
Mr. Xu thinks that the generational difference is distinct at law firms and the firms should provide room for ample growth for its younger partners. This is a key prerequisite for the development of a firm’s dispute resolution team. Jingtian & Gongcheng keeps its Dispute Resolution practice invigorated with a dual approach: while introducing seasoned partners to broaden the spectrum of expertise, the firm is also developing clearly defined career paths for younger lawyers.
For example, Jingtian & Gongcheng opened up offices in Guangzhou and Hong Kong last year, both led by senior partners. They each established niche practices in Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration including maritime law and international engineering. Our offices in Shenzhen and Guangzhou have partners that have dedicated years to criminal litigation to better serve our local clients in specialized areas.
On another front, numerous lawyers at Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice have been promoted to Partner and Senior Counsels over the past two years . Our business departments and senior partners will work with our younger partners to develop career paths that align with their strengths and personal characteristics. Jingtian & Gongcheng is helping our young Dispute Resolution partners grow into a more specialized and highly capable generation of new lawyers.
To learn more about Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Dispute Resolution practice, please visit:
http://www.jingtian.com/Content/2018/07-18/1447213251.html
