Stepping into the head office of Longan Law Firm in the first-class yet understated Beijing International Club, you will immediately notice its style is different from the simple and contemporary decoration used in many law firms. Its artistic and sophisticated interior design makes a distinct statement as an industry leader.
Now Longan has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shenyang and over 200 staff, including 35 partners state-wide. The firm is also increasingly engaged in the global market through its liaison offices and alliances in important commercial centres such as Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York, Berlin and Tokyo.
In the Western-style meeting room, Longan's founder and chairman of the partner committee, Xu Jiali, talks to ALB China about his firm's history, strengths and core values.
Some people are born to be entrepreneurs; they are always energetic, assertive and keen to implement change. Xu is one of them. Otherwise, he would not have left his stable and respected job at the Supreme People's Procuratorate in the early days of the "Xiahai" wave in China.
"The job was very stable, too stable, in fact," says Xu. "I could see my whole life being determined when I was just in my 30s and I didn't like that." The urge to change was fostered and became possible as China began to allow private law firms in the early 1990s.
Xu Jiali and two friends quit their "iron rice bowl" jobs to establish Longan in 1992, one of the first private practice law firms in China, and started a journey which led to what Longan is today.
"Business grew very well in the first five years. Clients had lined up before we could recruit enough hands to handle the cases," says Xu. "But the fast expansion also brought many problems. We couldn't maintain efficient supervision of our own lawyers, which resulted in unevenness in our service quality."
Therefore, after enjoying the fast business growth, Longan began to realise it had to properly control its expansion and reform its management model. It gradually increased its entrance threshold, requiring at least two recommending letters from former firms, a background check on professional experience and ethics, and charging for management fees. And the partner-centred system of management was replaced by a structure divided into business areas.
Since then, Longan's team has continued to develop and grow with a steady flow of talents. Its partnership has been enlarged with the core partners unchanged.
"We are a stable and close partnership. The core partners are originally colleagues and close friends, who know each other very well. We quarrel very often about business, but it wouldn't cause serous damage to our relationship as partners. And the relations of the core partners influence the whole firm," Xu says.
After 17 years of development, Longan has evolved into a full-service law firm with a particular strength in intellectual property (IP) law. The revenues generated by the IP practice group accounts for about 50% of the firm's total.
Xu is the head of the IP practice group, and is the first postdoctoral scholar in intellectual property law in China and the only doctoral instructor to date. Other members of the group are also experienced, adept and skilled IP lawyers and patent agents of high calibre with outstanding qualifications. Over the past years, the group has advised on a large number of groundbreaking and unprecedented IP cases, including many high-profile foreign patent-related disputes.
Some highlights include: the first internet infringement case in China in 1995; COFCO's law suit against Dongfang Jiayu for infringement of the exclusive rights to use the trademark "Great Wall"; Toshiba's infringement case in China; Peking University's multi-suit case against publishing houses for the copyright infringement of Road to the Future; 21 Super-Vita's trademark infringement case; and the famous "five Chinese lawyers suing for the invalidity of Philips patent right" case.
Of the "100 typical IPR cases" since China's reform and opening up recently selected by the Supreme People's Court, Xu has been involved in three of them.
In addition to providing innovative and value-added business solutions to clients, Longan has a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) culture. The firm has been actively engaged in charity works and pro bono programs. Xu himself has been acting for 10 years as the free legal counsel for the China Children and Teenagers' Fund, for which he has received the China Children Philanthropist award, an honour usually granted to donors of more than RMB50m.
Xu's leadership is recognised not only by peers, clients and the community, but also by the government. In November 2008, Xu was honoured by the Ministry of Justice for his contributions in representing the Chinese government in numerous international disputes, and saving and retrieving countless economic losses over the years.
As the legal industry is facing tough challenges posed by the global financial crisis and economic slowdown, Longan has quickly adjusted itself to the new business climate by developing a stronger and larger litigation practice. The approach has proved to be successful, with the firm experiencing an upswing in business since the beginning of 2009.
Looking to the future, Xu knows he is heading up a firm that is going to be a more specialised, internationalised law firm with a modern and advanced management.
"We want to capitalise on our status as a premium law firm with specialised practice groups. We will continue attracting expert lawyers with international training and work experience and expanding our cooperation with foreign law firms," says Xu. "Our commitment to delivering exceptional client value enshrined in the mindset of our staff makes Longan shine a little brighter in an increasingly competitive marketplace."
Beijing office
Tel: 86.10.65325588
beijing@longanlaw.com
Shanghai office
Tel: 86.21.61609006
shanghai@longanlaw.com
Shenyang office
Tel: 86.24.22941166
shenyang@longanlaw.com
Shenzhen office
Tel: 86.755.88286872
shenzhen@longanlaw.com