On October 21, 2019, the 32nd Law Firm Director Salon and the “Exchange Meeting for Sharing Operating Experience of Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Venture Law Firms” of the Chaoyang Lawyers Association was successfully held by the Lawyers Management and Development Committee of Chaoyang District (“Chaoyang LMC”) at ZhongYin Law Firm. Liu Xiaoming, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Lawyers Association, Jiang Bo, Director of Chaoyang LMC, Li Cuixia, Staff Member of Administrative Review and Approval Division of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, Director Chen Yi and General Counsel Zhou Jianchun of ZLF Law Office (“ZLF”), Li Zheng, Executive Director of Yingke Law Firm (China), as well as Management Committee Chairman and Senior Partner Li Zheng, Supervisory Committee Chairman and Senior Partner Zheng Wei, and Management Committee Member and Senior Partner Wu Guanghong of ZhongYin Law Firm, and other more than 40 representatives of Chaoyang lawyers attended the salon. Yan Penghe, Director and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm, presided over the salon.

Yan Penghe, Director and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm, presided over the salon

Jiang Bo, Director of Chaoyang LMC, made an opening speech. Director Jiang Bo said that the LMC is responsible for summarizing and exchanging the experience in managing and developing law firms; ZhongYin Law Firm has explored on and accumulated valuable experience in operating a Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firm; and he expressed his expectation that at the salon, the participants will have a wonderful dialogue on the operation of Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms and the development of the lawyer profession.

Li Zheng, Management Committee Chairman and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm, expressed his warm welcome to the participants firstly, and then introduced the development process, management modes and operation characteristics of the firm, and proposed that cohesion was an important theme in the management of law firms as the “human harmony” became more important in management.

Li Zheng, Management Committee Chairman and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm

Based on first-hand experience, on the theme of “Connecting Hong Kong and Macao Capital Markets and Helping Enterprises to Go Global”, Director Chen Yi and General Counsel Zhou Jianchun of ZLF Law Office (“ZLF”) introduced ZLF’s characteristics and location advantages, three jurisdictions, three currencies, and three customs territories involved in its practice, its practice of Hong Kong and Macao laws, and so on. With its unique advantages, ZLF is escorting mainland enterprises to the global market and has become the most convenient and cost-effective channel for mainland enterprises to “go global”, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Chen Yi, Director of ZLF Law Office

Zhou Jianchun, General Counsel of ZLF Law Office

Zheng Wei, Supervisory Committee Chairman and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm, on the theme of “Risk Control in the Operation System of Joint Venture Law Firm”, raised relevant issues and provoked the participants to think about these issues from the political factors, charging system, violation during practice, practice areas, responsibility sharing and supervision, and other aspects involved in development of joint venture law firms.

Zheng Wei, Supervisory Committee Chairman and Senior Partner of ZhongYin Law Firm

Li Zheng, Executive Director of Yingke Law Firm (China), gave a speech on the theme of “Current Layout of Yingke Law Firm in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and Related Thinking”. Mainland branches are required to be integrated, but due to policy restrictions, the establishment of a joint venture law firm may be in conflict with the local branches. Director Li Zheng suggested that the drafter of relevant measures for administrating Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms should consider how to solve practical problems in implementation from the top-level design.

Li Zheng, Executive Director of Yingke Law Firm (China)

Li Cuixia, Staff Member of Administrative Review and Approval Division of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, introduced the background of promoting joint venture law firms and the draft measures for administrating joint venture law firms, and exchanged her views with everyone.

Li Cuixia, Staff Member of Administrative Review and Approval Division of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice

The participants conducted deeper communication and discussion on issues such as policies and regulations, ways of establishing joint venture law firms, tax assessment, practice areas, and relevant requirements for Hong Kong and Macao lawyers to practice in the Mainland, and gained a lot.

Liu Xiaoming, Vice President of Chaoyang Lawyers Association, summarized the meeting and made three suggestions on the work related to joint venture law firms: first, reduce restriction policies , to make it easier for lawyers in the three places to establish joint venture law firms and branches; second, lift restrictions on the practice of Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao lawyers, to promote the practice of and cooperation among lawyers in the three places; third, strengthen the cooperation and exchange on practice in the three places, and encourage lawyers in the three places to draw on each other's experience and strengths, to play a more important role in international practice.

Liu Xiaoming, Vice President of Chaoyang Lawyers Association

- A Joint Venture Law Firm that Emerges as the Times Require -

In the context of “one country, two systems” and for the purpose of exploration on how to integrate the laws of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms emerge as the times require. Consequently, ZLF Law Office officially obtained an approval over establishment from Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice on January 8, 2016, and opened on July 8, 2016. The three parties to ZLF are ZhongYin based in Beijing, Lektou based in Macao and FONGS based in Hong Kong, all of which are among the best law firms in the regions where they are based respectively.

As the first Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firm, ZLF is established to implement the requirements for “closer cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong (Macau) lawyers and exploration on how to improve the operation of Mainland-Hong Kong (Macau) joint venture law firms” in Supplement VIII to CEPA. Its establishment is an important initiative to further promote the liberalization of service trade in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and to make the cooperation closer between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macau lawyers, and has created a mode of cross-regional and cross-jurisdictional cooperation on legal service between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, whereby the staff can provide enterprises with one-stop legal services involving three jurisdictions and multi languages just in one office. Since its establishment, it has achieved good demonstration effects and influence, and has received attention from the higher authority and the lawyer profession:

In May 2018, the State Council issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in Duplicating and Promoting the Experience of the Fourth Reform Pilots in the Pilot Free Trade Zone. In this notice, it is expressly required to promote the experience in 27 reform pilots across the whole country, including the flowing reform in Hengqin Pilot Free Trade Zone: “allowing establishment of more Mainland-Hongkong-Macao joint venture law firms”. In this way, the mode of joint venture law firm is approved for duplication and promotion across the country.

In December 2018, the Ministry of Commerce and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region Governments revised the CEPA Service Trade Agreement through exchange of notes, expanding the region for establishing Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms to the whole country.

In January 2019, the Ministry of Justice issued the Notice from the Ministry of Justice on Expanding the Region for Establishing Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Venture Law Firms, requiring all departments (bureaus) of justice to make efforts to develop implementation measures for promoting joint venture law firms in their respective provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities).

In August 2019, in order to promote Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms in Beijing in a standardized and orderly manner and make the cooperation further closer between Hong Kong and Macao and the Mainland lawyers, according to relevant policies approved by the State Council and relevant work arrangements by the Ministry of Justice, Wang Qun, with her party from Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice visited ZhongYin Law Firm to investigate the operation modes and experience of ZLF, for reference and enlightenment in developing Implementation Measures of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice for Establishment and Operation of Joint Venture Law Firms in Beijing Which Comprise of Law Firms from Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland (Trial) and other works.

The purpose of this salon is to respond to the new national policies and summarize the experience of first-movers and first-experimenters, in order to help the duplication and promotion of the mode of Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firm. In the macro context of China’s current Belt and Road Initiative and strategy of building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firms will play an increasingly important role. In the future, ZhongYin and ZLF will continue to, with actual actions, respond to national policies, promote industry development, and provide better and more efficient legal services for Chinese enterprises to go global.