二次上市，蚂蚁集团二次上市

风浪之中保持理性、展望未来充满信心

Keep calm in storm, carry on for future

专访中伦律师事务所管委会主任赵靖律师

An interview with Anthony Zhao, Chairman of the Management Committee of Zhong Lun Law Firm

Q

ALB：回顾这一年， “疫情”可能是大多数人脑海中出现的第一个关键词。今年的疫情对中伦产生了怎样的影响？中伦是如何应对的？

赵律师：截至目前来看，中伦可以说是经受住了疫情的考验，人员、业务和创收各项指标都保持稳定发展。在应对疫情的过程中，即使在最严峻的时刻，我们始终能够做到保持理性、充满信心。无论从防疫和复工安排，还是此后的各项工作，都能有条不紊地进行。

我们在二月初就决定，今年不仅不裁员，而且继续保持年初已上调的薪酬水平不变，事务所招聘、人才引进、内部晋升和合伙人分配等一切都正常推进。同时，整个后台的支持系统和基础设施的建设亦积极推进，北京办公室九层新办公室和上海办公室五层新办公室分别在年底和年中按计划正常启用，成都和杭州等办公室也进行了扩租。中伦的内部交流培训和市场拓展活动也是不减反增，形式更为多样，参与度很高；我们通过优化项目和加大投入，提高效率和覆盖面，当然线上占比明显扩大，但还是举办了不少线下活动。

能够沉得住气，既有我们对长期宏观形势和中国社会治理能力的信心，更有对中伦自身实力的信心。中伦是一体化的综合性事务所，为我们的客户提供全方位的法律服务，某些业务领域或者某些地域今年可能受影响大些，但是东边不亮西边亮，合作共进，能够充分体现中伦平台的韧劲。另外，我们在几乎每个领域都有非常优秀的合伙人和律师，而且合伙人们亲力亲为，工作在第一线，越是困难的时刻，越能体现市场竞争力。

Q

ALB：尽管今年疫情给整个行业都带来了很多挑战和困难，中伦还是屡创佳绩，在今年的ALB中国法律大奖颁奖典礼上斩获了包括“SSQ年度中国律师事务所大奖”在内的多个奖项。请分享一两个今年中伦业务的高光时刻？

赵律师：今年中伦的业务在许多条线上都有不少亮点，很荣幸能够得到客户和业界的广泛认可。

如从业务领域中举例，今年中伦的证券业务继续处于市场的领先地位：在中国内地资本市场，2020年前11个月共有61家律所为342家新上市公司IPO提供服务，中伦担任发行人律师的企业共36家，排名第一，其中包括了九号有限公司这样具有里程碑意义的项目和中科寒武纪这样具有行业代表性的项目。在香港和境外资本市场，中伦亦参与了多起重量级的上市发行项目，包括美股的陆金所和港股的网易二次上市。

如从行业领域中举例，今年中伦在大健康领域聚焦发力，成立了专门的行业委员会，整合了在医疗健康、医药、医疗器械和生命科学等领域中的全产业链的资源，以该行业的监管合规和业务运营为核心，涵盖了包括证券、投融资、收购兼并、私募基金、争议解决、知识产权等一系列相关业务。今年中伦在这个行业中非常活跃，不仅体现在为客户全方位服务的能力和项目业绩上，我们还推出了系列讲座和专业文章，展示了中伦的整体实力。

Q

ALB：随着疫情得到控制，中伦的律师业务将如何发展？在即将到来的2021年，中伦有哪些发展计划？

赵律师：律师业务的发展的核心就是专业化，这是中伦的立所之本，也是中伦持续努力的方向。十年前，中伦全面推进专业化分工，为中伦的发展奠定了坚实的基础；今年，我们的一个重点工作就是对专业化的设置进行升级，计划在明年全面实施。一方面我们根据市场发展的最新动态，对业务领域进行更精细、更前瞻性地分层管理，提升事务所的执业深度和广度。另一方面，我们要从法律专业领域、行业特色、以及语言/法域等多重维度，更立体地突出律师的专业特长。

当然，从更广泛的事务所管理的角度上来说，中伦专注的是建设一个有活力、有温度、有效率、有目标、有原则的平台，构建良性循环的中伦生态系统。事务所发展离不开人才，我们希望在这样的平台上，内部能够培养出人才，外部能够引进到人才，而且能够留住人才，并使得他们能够实现自我的突破。

这些工作的目标就是使得中伦作为一个整体，能够为客户提供更优质的法律服务。而随着与客户的共同发展，我们亦能打造为百年老店，并跻身于世界一线律所之列。

Q

ALB：疫情期间办公方式上有哪些改变？是否会保留下来？

赵律师：毫无疑问，疫情加速了线上工作的比重，譬如视频会议等线上模式被更广泛地使用，商务差旅的限制也改变了律师与客户的沟通方式等。许多律所都加大了对技术支持的投入，这是一个大的趋势，自然也是中伦的一项重要工作。但是，律师行业还有其自身特征，我们既要关注技术发展对行业的影响，也要切实因应不同市场不同客户的不同需求和偏好。对我们来说，事务所的技术设施和后勤保障都是围绕着如何更好地为客户服务而展开，包括了如何以客户所期待和青睐的办公方式来提供我们的法律服务。

Q

ALB：Looking back on the year 2020, for most people, “global pandemic” would probably be the top keyword defining the year. How has the pandemic affected Zhong Lun? And how did Zhong Lun respond?

Zhao: So far, we can say that our firm has withstood the big pandemic test, and maintained steady growth in all aspects, including personnel, business, and revenue. During the pandemic, we stayed calm and remained confident even in the most difficult time. At Zhong Lun, everything has been carried out in an orderly manner, from the implementation of pandemic prevention measures, return-to-work arrangements, to all post-pandemic work.

At the beginning of February, we decided not to lay off any staff this year, and not to cut the pay of employees, either. And the firm management has been carried out just as normal, including recruitment, talent introduction, internal promotion and partner distribution. Furthermore, we’ve made active progress in the construction of the entire office support system and infrastructure – our new offices in Beijing and Shanghai have been put in use as planned respectively at the end of the year and the middle of the year, and we rent larger offices in Chengdu and Hangzhou. This year, we even carried out more internal exchange and training activities and market expansion activities of more diversified forms, with greater participation. We improved efficiency and coverage by optimizing projects and increasing investment. Given the pandemic, we carried out most of our activities online, but meanwhile, we also held a number of offline events.

We were able to stay calm in the pandemic because we’ve been confident about the long-term macroeconomic situation and China’s social governance capabilities, and moreover, we have confidence in Zhong Lun’s own strength. Zhong Lun is an integrated comprehensive law firm, providing our clients with a full range of legal services. Although certain business areas or certain regions may be more affected by the pandemic this year, the firm as a whole joins effort to advance together, showing the remarkable resilience of the Zhong Lun platform. Furthermore, we have outstanding and hardworking partners and lawyers in almost all practice areas, enabling the firm to provide clients with quality services in difficult times.

Q

ALB：In the context that the pandemic this year has posed many challenges and difficulties to the entire industry, Zhong Lun made great achievements in a number of areas, and won awards including SSQ ALB China Law Awards 2020. Would you share with us some of your best achievements?

Zhao: Zhong Lun achieved good results in a number of its lines of business this year. We feel honored to be recognized by our clients and the industry.

In terms of business areas, Zhong Lun continues to take a leading position in the securities business this year. In the domestic capital market, 61 law firms provided IPO services for 342 newly listed companies during the first 11 months, among which, Zhong Lun served as the counsel to issuers for 36 companies, ranking top 1. The IPO cases handled by Zhong Lun include a landmark project Ninebot Limited and an industry-representative project Cambricon Technologies Corporation Limited. In Hong Kong and overseas capital markets, Zhong Lun also participated in a number of major listing and issuing projects, including the listing of Lufax in the U.S., and the secondary listing of NetEase in Hong Kong.

In terms of industries, Zhong Lun focused on the healthcare industry this year. We set up a special industry committee, and integrated the resources of the entire industry chain including medical health, medicine, medical devices, and life sciences. And taking the industry’s regulatory compliance and business operations as the core, we carried out a series of related businesses including securities, investment and financing, mergers and acquisitions, private equity funds, dispute resolution, and intellectual property rights. Zhong Lun has been very active in the healthcare industry this year – we’ve provided our clients with all-round services and handled successful projects, meanwhile we held a series of lectures and published professional articles.

Q

ALB：As COVID-19 pandemic has been gradually brought under control, how do you plan for the development of the lawyers’ business? And what are your business development plans in the coming 2021?

Zhao: Specialization is the core of the development of the lawyers’ business, and also the foundation of Zhong Lun and the direction of Zhong Lun’s continuous efforts. Zhong Lun started to roll out the specializationbased division of work in an all-round way ten years ago, which has laid a solid foundation for the Zhong Lun’s development. This year, one of our key tasks is to upgrade the specialization setting, which is planned to be fully implemented next year. On the one hand, we’ll carry out more refined and forward-looking hierarchical management of business areas to enhance the depth and breadth of the firm’s practice activities. On the other hand, we’ll highlight expertise of lawyers from different dimensions and angles, such as legal practice areas, industry characteristics, and languages or jurisdictions.

From a broader perspective of firm management, Zhong Lun focuses on building a platform featuring vitality, people orientation, efficiency, clear goals and adherence to principles, to construct Zhong Lun ecosystem with its own virtuous circle. The development of a law firm needs talents. We hope that on such a platform, we can cultivate talents internally, bring in talents from outside the firm, and retain talents, and more importantly, help them with personal and career development.

The above plans share the same goal, which is to provide our clients with better legal services through integration. By growing together with our clients, we ourselves will build into a century-old law firm, and rank among the top-notch firms globally.

Q

ALB：What changes have been made in the way of working during the pandemic this year? Will you keep those changes?

Zhao: During the pandemic, we switched to online approaches to handle most of our work, for example, video conferencing has been more widely used, and restrictions on business travel have also changed the way lawyers communicate with clients. Therefore, like many law firms, Zhong Lun has increased technological investment. But the legal industry has its own characteristics. We need to pay attention to the impact of technological development on the industry, and meanwhile respond to the different needs and preferences of different clients in different markets. At Zhong Lun, our technical facilities and logistical support are all about how to better serve our clients, including how to provide legal services to them in the way they expect or prefer.