The seminar “Zhong Yin Law Firm’s 2017 Third Business Training Session – Discussing Legal Practice with the General Legal Counsel of State Enterprise” was held in Beijing on 6 June 2017. Mr Zhou Litao, the general legal counsel of China National Coal Group Corporation, was invited as the guest speaker, and the seminar was moderated by Mr Chen Hao of Zhong Yin Law Firm.

Mr Zhou offered detailed insights into the legal issues relating to state enterprises, such as their classifications, the responsibilities of their legal affairs staff and the standards with which they choose law firms. He also gave some recommendations on how lawyers can serve state enterprises better and how law firms can increase their competitiveness in the market. He stated that state enterprises will focus on assessing some key criteria in the process of selecting law firms, including the firm’s scale, performance, management model and professional competence. Those which have previously collaborated with enterprises in major investment projects and litigation cases would surely be of advantage amongst other competitors.

Mr Chen also shared his reflections upon practising as a lawyer with fellow participants. He mentioned that if a law firm wants to raise its competitiveness in the market, not only must it improve the professional skills of its lawyers, but also operate a reasonable division of labour, so that the firm can be market-focused whilst enhancing the utilisation and integration of resources.

Lawyers of our firm had had fruitful discussion with the two guests on some key issues, such as specialised reform, transformation of law firms, and the ways of strengthening cooperation with state enterprises. The participants all agreed that the seminar had broaden their horizons whilst making clear the future development plans of the firm, and hope that the firm can hold such training seminars regularly.

Firm Director Mr Li Ju mentioned in the seminar that the firm will further strengthen internal cooperation and integration process management. It is hoped that the professional competence of our lawyers will be enhanced through sharing and exchanges with well-known experts and peers in the industry, and the firm’s competitiveness in the industry will be increased by closely linking deep-thinking and specialisation, which shall refine the internal structure and management of the firm.