Beijing Dongyuan Law Firm is a partnership-based legal service provider incorporated in Beijing Administration of Justice on the date of July 02, 2001. Its predecessor is a State-owned law firm, which was directly under leadership by the former Ministry of Justice, and later reorganized as per the State Council’s policy and guiding principle concerning the necessity of “separating state organs from enterprises and intermediary organizations”. Headquartered on the 4/F. Capital Times Square, No.88 ChangAn Avenue West, Beijing, and having been running smoothly for 3 years, Dongyuan Law Firm of the day has its eye-catching individualities manifested on three fronts:
Ⅰ Outstanding corporate strength
Nowadays, Dongyuan has been considered as a major player in the legal service sector. At the very beginning of its business operation, the firm was devised by those few far-sighted partners to turn out a prestigious legal service provider that is not only able to meet the demands for legal service that arise as a result of the State’s continual implementation of the globally acclaimed policy of reform and opening-up, but also capable of conducting internationally accepted practices after the country’s accession into WTO. Seeing from its proven achievements in the past, it is reasonable to say that, today’s Dongyuan is heading steadily for and approaching such an objective. For instance, Dongyuan has now possessed 11 partners, nearly 70 practicing lawyers, and over 40 apprentice lawyers, paralegals and administrative specialists; in contrast, the firm had over 30 practicing lawyers only, at the beginning of its business operation. In the meantime, Dongyuan has paid uninterrupted heed to quality control during its course of business expansion, and thus recorded a track of stable and sustainable development in the past years. On top of that, the firm has furnished itself with a rational organization chart, and whipped into a wholesome atmosphere at work. To be more precise, the firm features a galaxy of middle-aged lawyers who jointly play a leading role, and guide their younger co-workers to provide quality legal service, as well as assist and study from one another modestly. Besides, the firm has attached persistent importance to improvement of the holistic qualities of the membership of its working personnel, and made its best endeavors to absorb, as many as possible, those practicing lawyers who have possessed a sound educational background and grasped acknowledged practicing skills. So far, among the practicing lawyers with Dongyuan, 10% have each obtained a doctor’s degree, 40% have each owned a master’s degree; whilst almost 50% have either ever studied abroad or been exposed to overseas trainings.
Moreover, Dongyuan has succeeded in its attempt in offering legal service across regions. Partners in Dongyuan have not been confined to provision of legal service in Beijing only. Actually, shortly after its establishment, Dongyuan has formulated a blueprint to plan out its steps for provision of legal service cross different parts of the country and later nationwide, and then organized a galaxy of law specialists who finally managed to allow its dream to come true. Up to date, Dongyuan has already set up its branch offices in Xi’an, Xiamen and Guangzhou. For the time being, the firm is preparing to establish its other branches in Shanghai, Chongqing, Zhuhai, Changchun and Harbin. In this sense, Dongyuan has licked into shape an embryonic legal service network, which targets clients in the whole country, by means of sharing its resources in its headquarters and each of its branches nationwide. In practices, its headquarters and branches collaborate with one another to handle legal cases and affairs, and have managed to bring down their operating costs thanks to an integration of their respective strengths established in different regions, thus having improved their performance and efficiency at work. As a matter of fact, they have received quite favorable comments from a lot of its serviced clients.
Additionally, Dongyuan has always been advocating and fostering a motto featuring “study from the rest of the society and make full use of all the social resources available”, and already struck up an effective mechanism in this regard. From its establishment into today, Dongyuan’s partners always request the membership of their working personnel, and practicing lawyers in particular, to keep an appropriately modest attitude and acumen in learning from others in the society and enriching their respective capabilities by use of social resources. To the firm’s gratification, its staff has been doing well in this regard. To make sure that its staff members achieve this goal, Dongyuan employed two major measures: 1) to establish a Legal Experts Advisory Committee. The firm has engaged scores of renowned law experts and personages (inclusive of Zou Yu, the prestigious Minister for the former Ministry of Justice and Member with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; Sun Wanzhong, Director for the former Bureau of Legislative Affairs under the State Council; Jiang Ping, Lifetime Professor with China University of Politics and Law, Vice Chairman for China Law Society; Gao Mingxuan, Professor with Renmin University of China; Wu Changzhen, Professor with China University of Politics and Law; and Gao Lulin, Director for the former China Administration of Intellectual Property Rights, etc.) as its advisors; 2) to strike up communication and cooperation with shoals of media at home. For instance, the firm has initialized regular communication and cooperation with such media organs as the People’s Daily, Legal Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Legal News, Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television Station, Shanghai TV Station, Hebei TV Station, and some certain magazines such as Scientific Investment, Investment in China, Chinese Women and People’s Forum, etc. Thanks to extensive exchanges and communication with the outside, lawyers in Dongyuan Law Firm have had their practicing skills polished and legal lores broadened by leaps, and thus become more experienced in handling those complicated legal cases and affairs.
Ⅱ Legal service of sound quality
Dongyuan Law Firm has always adhered to a business motto characterized by “provision of highly professional legal service in a comprehensive range to clients at all levels”. After having operated for 3 years, lawyers in this firm have rendered a whole gamut of legal service to their clients, by means of their acknowledged practicing skills and encyclopedical lores of law. Its business scope is inclusive of (but not limited to): civil and commercial affairs, real estate, finance and securities, intellectual property rights, corporate legal affairs, corporate merger and amalgamation/reorganization and bankruptcy, public bidding for construction projects, international trade, maritime commerce and affairs, etc. In particular, the firm has obtained unique competitive edges in conducting criminal defense, and solving those disputes arising from lands invested for minerals exploration purpose.
Another eye-catching characteristic that has ensured Dongyuan Law Firm to offer legal service of sound quality is its tenet “team together, everyone wins”. In practices, the firm pools up its edges in terms of personnel composition and nationwide service network, brings into full play the expertise and personal individualities of each of its lawyers, mobilizes the membership of its staff members to honor the teamwork spirit, and advocates its working personnel to collaborate and supplement one another, so as to form “resultant forces”, as well as requests each of its full-time lawyers to put first the “service quality”. In a purpose to put into actual force such “teamwork” oriented practices, the firm has set up a number of specific commissions, which are headed by well-seasoned lawyers and consist of lawyers specialized in different legal fields. Thus, this firm has managed to cultivate an atmosphere for the good of collaboration and coordination among co-workers, which facilitates the firm to improve its case-handling performance and even make breakthroughs. After having experienced the “teamwork” featured operating practices of Dongyuan, some clients leveled with us that, “Dongyuan is such an impressive team player that we rest assured of your performance!”.
The key point for betterment of service quality lies in the link of stringent quality control. Partners of Dongyuan Law Firm maintains a habit of scrutinizing the case-handling quality of each of their engaged full-time lawyers, and offering them advice accordingly. Firstly, partners request each lawyer to do the utmost to maintain the lawful rights and interests of clients, when handling any cases, big or small, easy or complicated. Beside, lawyers are required to gather up as much effective evidence as possible, take full advantage of laws and regulations, so as to stick up for clients. Secondly, when necessary, partners of the firm play a leading role in initializing brainstorming meetings, in an end to pool brilliant ideas, analyze the relations in legal terms among agents concerned into depth, ravel out key problems, and find out the right train of thought. When faced with important or complicated cases, partners would coordinate with law experts and advisors to conduct topical assessments and make their best endeavors to seek lawful avenues to provide legal remedies for clients. Thirdly, case-handling lawyers are required to check those legal documents that they present to their clients by themselves carefully and guarantee the quality of documents as such; besides, each of such legal documents has to be examined and approved by the partners, in order to put an end to any error or omission.
Ⅲ Stringent intramural management
Dongyuan Law Firm has always based its intramural management practices upon a principle going as “the membership of its working personnel must comply with the general policy of the State, and unswervingly follow out those instructions given by the State Ministry of Justice and Beijing Bureau of Legislative Affairs towards law firms and lawyers”. Furthermore, the firm requests its working personnel to strictly adhere to its set rules and regulations, and conform to the code of conduct on lawyers, as well as satisfy the requirements raised by higher authorities. On top of it, the firm also examines how its working personnel have observed the laws, code of conduct and its set rules & regulations on a regularly basis, and corrects those wrong-doings on its own initiative, and sums up its experience and lessons, as well as leads the membership of its working personnel to obey those standardized management practices out of their own accord. Since the beginning of this year in particular, partners of the firm have resolutely followed out the important instructions given by the Chinese leaders (headed by Mr. Hu Jintao, Secretary General for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China) towards legal practitioners, educated the membership of its working personnel and rectified the working style, examined and improved its management practices in a comprehensive range. As a consequence, the firm’s intramural management practices have already measured completely up to the standards set by Beijing Bureau of Legislative Affairs and the National Bar Association.
As far management practices are concerned, Dongyuan has clung to such a unified train of thought that goes “all the practicing lawyers in the firm must establish business creditworthiness of their own, serve clients full-heartedly, offer superior-quality service, enter into a fair competition, and honor their professional ethics. Since the establishment of Dongyuan Law Firm, partners in the firm have never set down a certain quota towards the operating revenues of their engaged practicing lawyers; but guided and encouraged the practicing lawyers to stand up competitions, and perform their duties in a fair and equitable manner; animadvert on mere pursuit of economic benefits, put an end to arbitrary collection of fees and pricing out of the market by taking advantage of clients’ precarious position; unswervingly adhere to the ‘customer first, solid business creditworthiness and service of superior quality’ motto. In reality, partners in the firm have taken the lead to follow out such a train of management thought, and also requested each of its staff members to do the same without compromise.
Dongyuan’s management practices are stringent, rational and even flexible. Since the establishment of the firm, its partners have carried forward the successful managerial experience of the firm’s predecessor (that State-owned law firm, as mentioned above), and constantly absorbed and referred to those avant-garde ideas and notions originated from the western mode of scientific management. In addition to implementation of stringent management practices, the firm has also mobilized and brought into full play the initiatives of its lawyers, thus allowing them to demonstrate their wisdom and achieve self-fulfillment to the utmost extent. Moreover, the firm metes out strict punishments towards any lawyer who has violated its set rules and regulations during the case-handling course, and never tolerates or connives at evil. Instead, the firm does its utmost to solve all problems, learn from lessons and rectify mistakes. Meanwhile, the firm exposes its working personnel to regular education programs, in order to prevent them from incompliance with laws and regulations proactively. In addition, the firm has made solid efforts to fortify its management, supervision and examination over such links as case-accepting and handling, cultivation of professional ethics, collection of fees and taxation, etc., and exerted itself in conducting management in a standardized, institutionalized and scientific manner, in an effort to prevent discipline violation activities from arising accordingly.
In spite of its continued business expansion, Dongyuan Law Firm is not complacent, and has never refused to make further progress; instead, it is clearly aware that complacency, self-satisfaction and pretension are bound to lead to backwardness in the future, considering the fierce competitions and quick pace of economic growth in the country. Therefore, Dongyuan will keep on utilizing its own wisdom, and have the confidence in coordinating and competing, in a fair manner, with renowned law firms at home and abroad, as well as provide the society and clients with a comprehensive range of legal service of superior quality. Dongyuan Law Firm cherishes a strong belief that it will turn out a leading player in the legal service sector in China, someday in future.
