From July 2016 to July 2019, ZLF Law Office (hereinafter referred to as “ZLF”) has gone through three years. In the past three years, under the close attention and kind care of the Party and the government, through the joint efforts of the three parties to the joint venture, with the strong support of the clients, ZLF has pioneered, innovated, and achieved fruitful results, living up to everyone's expectations.

Grand Opening of ZLF

On July 8, 2016, ZLF was officially opened in Macao Youth Innovation Valley, Hengqin, becoming the first Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao joint venture law firm in China. ZLF is established in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone according to the CEPA framework agreement. It brings together attorneys from Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, China, to facilitate clients’ centralized handling of legal affairs concerning commerce and trade among the three places, as well as Portuguese-speaking countries. It represents the first strong alliance among the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao law firms and initiates the cross-regional and cross-jurisdictional cooperation on legal service among the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, marking an innovation milestone.

The Three Parties to the Joint Venture Work Together to Make Outstanding Achievements

For a long time, because the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao are part of different law systems and implement different legal systems, when encountering cross-border legal issues, enterprises often need to retain attorneys from law firms in the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao respectively. The birth of ZLF will fundamentally solve the problem that cross-border legal practice requires multiple referrals by a local law firm, and effectively reduce the links and costs of legal practice. In particular, it is of great significance for Mainland enterprises to become more confident in internationalization and safeguard their legal rights and interests for “going global”. 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. Therefore, ZLF have attorneys who are proficient in foreign languages and familiar with international rules from Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, and thus can better provide one-stop legal services to meet the diverse demands of enterprises in the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Portuguese-speaking countries, English-speaking countries and French-speaking countries, saving their time and costs, and facilitating their communication. At this stage, ZLF totally has 4 attorneys from Mainland, 11 attorneys from Hong Kong and 10 attorneys from Macao.

Mainland Party -- ZhongYin Law Firm, established in January 1993, is one of the earliest partnership law firms approved by the Ministry of Justice and also one of the earliest law firms engaging in practice of securities law in China. At present, it has more than 2,500 attorneys and staff members, including more than 300 partners and about 1,600 practicing attorneys. It is a leading large-scale comprehensive law firm that is standardized, specialized, and internationalized in China.

Macao Party -- Lektou Law Firm is one of the most well-known law firms providing a full-range of legal services in the Macao Special Administrative Region. It has more than 30 years of experience in practicing public and private law in the Macao SAR and is widely recognized internationally for its solid academic foundation, professional service image as well as profound and close relationship with the Macao SAR.

Hong Kong Party -- FONGS Law Firm is an excellent law firm in Hong Kong, engaging in many practice areas, litigation or non-litigation. It enjoys a good reputation in Hong Kong and is committed to providing clients with professional and high-quality legal services. FONGS has a professional and reliable team of attorneys, including Hong Kong and foreign senior attorneys. They are committed to providing internationalized legal services to domestic and foreign clients, and have represented and represent a number of listed companies, multinational companies, large-scale enterprises, financial institutions, and so on.

“ZLF Model” Striding to the Nation

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 expressly set out that the experience in the following reform in the Hengqin Pilot Free Trade Zone should be promoted to the whole country, “allowing establishment of more joint venture law firms in the form of Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao partnership”, approving the reproduction and promotion of ZLF model across the country.

Relying on Geographical Advantages, ZFL Provides Legal Escort for the Belt and Road Initiative

The rule of law is an important guarantee for the smooth implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. As workers of socialist rule of law, Chinese attorneys shoulder important missions and responsibilities in propelling the Belt and Road Initiative. Therefore, we must actively adapt to the national trend, and based on our functions, by giving play to our advantages and continuously improving our service capabilities and levels, provide good and efficient legal services for the in-depth implementation of the Belt and Road Strategy, and be good legal counsels to the government, “escorts” for economic and trade exchanges, and assistants for Chinese enterprises and citizens to “go global”.

Relying on the strength and scale of ZhongYin and its 25 branches, the good reputation of Lektou and FONGS, and the advantages of providing multilingual and cross-border legal services at the same time, ZLF has formed a practice network cross multiple jurisdictions, and is committed to expanding practice in Greater China, Portuguese-speaking countries, the European Union and the United States, in order to provide convenient, efficient, cross-border, and international legal services for domestic and overseas enterprises, especially enterprises along the “Belt and Road”. Meanwhile, ZLF expects to, by making full use of the preferential policies in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone, provide enterprises with high-quality services from diversified legal perspectives and promote the Belt and Road Initiative of the country and the financial innovation in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone.

In September 2016, ZLF became one of China’s first law firms selected into the legal counsel database for the Belt and Road Initiative.

In June 2017, ZLF and its attorney Chen Yi were selected into cross-border legal counsel database for the Belt and Road Initiative.

In June 2017, the Legal Environment Report of the “Belt and Road” Countries (English and Chinese) co-authored by ZLF was officially published.

In October 2017, a collection of “Belt and Road” legal and financial papers was first published, with Li Huanjiang of ZLF as one of the chief editors.

In January 2018, Qianhai “Belt and Road” Legal Service Federation was established and ZLF was appointed as one of its council members.

The China-Latin America Enterprise Legal Service Center provides enterprises in China and Latin American countries (regions) with full-range, cross-regional, cross-law-system, multilingual, one-stop legal services.

In 2017, on the opening day of the China-Latin America and Caribbean International Exposition, the China-Latin Enterprise Legal Service Center built and operated by ZLF was officially launched. The Center, with the model of “Internet + legal service”, builds a legal service bridge for enterprises in China, 17 Latin American countries (regions) and 7 Portuguese-speaking countries. ZLF cooperates with 115 law firms from 24 countries (regions) to provide enterprises in China and Latin American countries (regions) with full-range, cross-regional, cross-law-system, multilingual, one-stop legal services in six areas, namely investment, trade, employment, environmental protection, intellectual property and dispute resolution. In addition, the portal website (www.claclaw.com) and mobile APP developed by the China-Latin Enterprise Legal Service Center also provide extremely convenient services to enterprises.

Care from Government

The establishment of ZLF is pioneering in legal service cooperation among the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao in the context of “One Country, Two Systems”. ZLF represents the first strong alliance among the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao law firms and initiates the cross-regional and cross-jurisdictional cooperation on legal service among the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, marking an innovation milestone. Since its inception, ZLF has been closely watched by the government and all sectors of the community.

In January 2016, Li Fei, Deputy Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, granted an interview to partners of ZLF

In July 2016, Chen Sixi, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, Wang Zhenmin, Head of the Legal Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong SAR, Liu Jia, Member of the Zhuhai Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Hengqin New District, and Liu Dexue, Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau under the Macao Government, attended the opening ceremony of ZLF.

In July 2017, Yang Chuan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Hengqin New District of Zhuhai, visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In August 2017, Zeng Xianglu, Director of the Department of Justice, Guangdong, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In September 2017, Liu Shuqiang, Director of the Research Office of the Basic Law Committee of the National People's Congress, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In October 2017, Ma Xingrui, Governor of Guangdong Province, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In May 2018, Yin Honghao, Head of the Legal Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In June 2018, Wang Rong, Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Political Consultative Committee, visited ZLF

In July 2018, Zhang Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Zhuhai, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In August 2018, a delegation consisting of people from the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong SAR and the Hong Kong legal community visited ZLF

In August 2018, the State Council’s Major Supervisory Group visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In September 2018, Kou Ming, Deputy Director of the Economic and Trade Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In September 2018, Director Cao Dahua and Deputy Director Chen Guangjun of the Guangdong Provincial Office of Free Trade, and Niu Jing, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hengqin New District, visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In December 2018, Liu Yandong, Member of the 18th Central Political Bureau and former Vice Premier of the State Council, and his entourage visited ZLF.

In April 2019, Wang Zhimin, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong SAR, visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In April 2019, Zhou Jun, Inspector of the Law Department of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In April 2019, Liu Dexue, Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, and his entourage visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In May 2019, Secretary Guo Yonghang and Deputy Secretary Zhao Jianguo of the Zhuhai Municipal Party Committee visited ZLF for inspection and guidance

In May 2019, Li Xi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, visited ZLF for investigation and inspection

In May 2019, Li Chunsheng, Deputy Governor of Guangdong Province, and his entourage visited ZLF for investigation and inspection