At the end and beginning of the year, a unique ‘year-end spitting conference for lawyers and assistants’ was warmly held in Beijing King&Capital Law Firm. The event was jointly hosted by the Criminal Defence Semi-Monthly Programme of King&Capital's Criminal Division 2 and the King&Capital Young Lawyers Elite Club, which gathered more than 20 guests from five famous law firms to discuss the delicate relationship between lawyers and assistants and the path of professional growth.
At the beginning of the event, Yang Dakang, a consultant of King&Capital, hosted the opening ceremony in a humorous way, calling himself ‘the man behind the criminal defence lawyers’ and mocking himself as ‘the troll bearer’, which quickly ignited the atmosphere of the scene. ‘Trolling is not the purpose, growth is the intention. The purpose of this event is to break down the communication barriers between each other in a relaxed atmosphere, experience different perspectives and improve mutual understanding.’
Yang Dakang
Subsequently, King&Capital attorney Li Song quickly enlivened the atmosphere with a wonderful stand-up comedy, ‘The Road of Growth from Novice to Old Bird’. His humorous words made every guest present feel the journey from the beginning of the workplace to the gradual maturity, which triggered the resonance and thinking of everyone. Immediately after that, the session of ‘Anonymous Voices’ was even more original, anonymously broadcasting the real thoughts and feelings of lawyers and assistants in their hearts through voice-changing technology. This session not only increased the fun of the activity, but also allowed everyone to be frank and honest in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
Li Song
With the end of the session of ‘Anonymous Voices’, the activity formally entered the core session - topic discussion.
I. Talking about growth, in-depth discussion on the relationship between lawyers and assistants
1. Master and apprentice or employment? --Role positioning leads to heated discussion
Mr Zhang Qiming, senior partner of the Criminal Department of King&Capital, vividly explained the complex relationship between lawyers and assistants, which is both master and disciple and employment, using the analogy of the Four Masters and Disciples in the Journey to the West. He emphasised that both parties should work closely together based on common goals, while maintaining equality and freedom of personality.
Zhang Qiming
Mr Liu Lijie, Head of Criminal Practice II and Senior Partner of King&Capital, drew laughs by spitting on himself. He summarised three different levels of mentor-apprentice relationships, namely apprenticeship based on earning a living, master-apprenticeship based on learning and growing together, and master-apprenticeship based on affection and trust, and called for a more harmonious mentor-apprentice relationship.
He said, ‘Legally, lawyers and assistants are clearly in a contractual or employment relationship, but in the workplace there is a mentality of mentorship and apprenticeship, an endeavour to balance the relationship between the two, and the need to think differently. For example, the assistant needs to consider, I'm not here to earn a salary, I'm here to learn the trade, and do everything possible to learn more; the lawyer has to think, people's assistants are here to earn money, and they must work more and pay more, so that they can live in harmony.’
Liu Lijie
Immediately after, Zhao Qilong, senior partner of King&Capital, shared his views from the four angles of ‘talent, profit, virtue and teaching’. He put forward his expectations for his assistants, ‘I hope my assistants can read more books, law, economics, history, philosophy, and don't become what we used to be, but surpass us.’
Zhao Qilong
2. Ideal and Reality - Most Intolerable and Most Desired
The sharing of Mr Yang Hangsheng, Senior Partner of King&Capital, triggered a profound discussion on the expectations and realities between lawyers and assistants. He bluntly pointed out that dishonesty is his most intolerable trait. Lawyers can not do everything themselves, many things need assistants, if the assistant did not do a good job, but also because of dishonesty to provide you with false information, this will cause a very serious impact on the whole case of the prediction and later effectiveness.
On the other hand, Mr Chen emphasised the importance of both physical and mental health. Mr Qian Hao expressed his desire to be a ‘less-than-perfect’ boss, reflecting the younger generation's new expectation of an ideal boss.
Yang Hangsheng, Qian Hao, Chen Sai Nan
Zhang Jing, a senior partner from the firm, said: ‘I want my assistant to be reliable, passionate about the field of matrimony, rigorous and hardworking. These three points are not juxtaposed, they are sequenced; if the first point is not passed, there will be no later.’ She further explains, ‘I am equivalent to giving my back to my assistant, especially when it comes to arranging for the assistant to communicate with the judge, if he is not reliable in character, it will be disastrous.’
Zhang Jing
3. Challenges and rewards - unforgettable memories of the assistant period
Lawyer Ge Pengqi, Director of the National Criminal Expert Committee of Daucet, Lawyer Wang Qing, Founding Partner of Huagu Law Firm, and Lawyer Feng Wang of King&Capital Law Firm shared their gains and lessons learnt when they first joined the workforce or worked as assistants, covering topics ranging from the emotional value to professional skills to the importance of time management, etc., and emphasised the importance of focusing on the cultivation of work habits.
Feng Wang
Attorney Ge Pengqi said, ‘There are two things that are crucial for paralegals as they grow. One, it is important to allow yourself to appreciate. The time spent as an assistant is not just time spent earning a living, but also to allow yourself to be upgraded and be more valuable; and secondly, during the period of being an assistant, you have to take your time to appreciate and choose the roadmap for your future development, whether you are committed to becoming a manager of the law firm or trying to become a good practicing lawyer.’
Ge Pengqi
Attorney Wang Qing added, ‘The biggest thing I learnt when I was an assistant was that my boss gave work and pressed to the limit, and I grew up very quickly. At that time, the boss of the team was so busy that he could not see anyone, and you were given up to one month to learn a project.’ She recalls, ‘At that time there were 10 lawyers in the team, working on 50 to 60 projects at the same time, which gave me the feeling that I didn't have time to come to the Spitfire, and I was busy as hell. That period of time was very high in my level of experience, so later on when I brought my assistants, I would tell my assistants, I must saturate my workload to the state when I was an assistant, so that you can quickly accumulate professional experience and professional ability in a short period of time.’
Wang Qing
4. Complementary and Win-Win - The Construction of Ideal Relationships
King&Capital senior partners Wang Xinlong, Peng Jiyue and Qi Xiaoling, King&Capital paralegals Yu Lulu, Peng Qi, Wang Zichen and Dai Shengyun, PCG paralegals Tong Xunyu and Dockett paralegals Liu Wei explored the ideal relationship between lawyers and their assistants from different perspectives, and emphasised the importance of conceptual matching, communication and respect, and trust and cooperation.
Wang Xintong gave a graphic example to illustrate the delicate relationship between lawyers and assistants: just like a telephone package, if you are using a monthly package, you will let go of it and use it casually. If you're on a minutes package, you think about how many minutes are left every now and then. ‘I say it's not easy for assistants because the assistant's salary is wrapped up in a monthly package, so if you're not careful the assistant can get that feeling that they're going to be drained.’
Wang Xin Tong
Lawyer Peng Jiyue said emotionally, ‘The relationship between us and our assistants is no less than the relationship between us and our family members, 24 hours a day, and after we leave home it's to spend time with our assistants.’
He said that the most important thing in the relationship between lawyers and assistants is still whether the concepts of the two people match. One is the concept of the doer aspect, do the two people's three views match? Another is the concept of doing things, we pursue the same dream is not the same? If they can match, the co-operation between lawyers and assistants must be very good.
Peng Jiyue
Ms Qi Xiaoling believes that the ideal relationship between a lawyer and an assistant is one of mutual appreciation, working together, and common development, and it is a kind of destiny to form such a relationship. She hopes that her assistant is smart and has a tendency towards perfectionism, and she also hopes to provide her assistant with enough cases to quickly accumulate practical experience, ‘I may not be able to help but treat my assistant as my own child, and I may be harsh and critical, but I will also unreservedly pass on my practice experience and life insights to my assistant, and I will hope that my assistant will have a smooth and successful practice path from my heart. I hope from the bottom of my heart that the assistant's path to practice will be smooth and smooth.’
Qi Xiaoling
Also as an assistant, Mr Wang Zichen mentioned the importance of communication, respect, trust and cooperation. Dai Sheng Eddie suggested ‘keeping the same work goal with the boss, letting the boss have the right to know the work rhythm in advance, and consulting the boss on the result’, while Peng Qi put forward his expectation ‘I hope to learn the case idea and case skills, including how to deal with clients and grasp the key points of the case’. Clients to deal with, grasp the focus of the case.’ Liu Wei said, ‘Complementarity determines how well a lawyer and an assistant can go together, while the same direction in values determines how far a lawyer and an assistant can go.’
Wang Zichen and Eddie Dai Sheng
Peng Qi, Liu Wei
II. Concluding Remarks, Looking to the Future
Chu Changzhi, Managing Partner and CEO of King&Capital, spoke highly of the significance of this event in his concluding remarks, pointing out that it was an event of spiritual collision and reflection. He mentioned that from the online viewers surge can be seen, lawyers and assistants of the partnership and the growth of assistants is the current hot topic of the industry.
Chu Changzhi stressed that in the process of providing services to clients lawyers and assistants is a community of destiny, only better service to clients, in order to grow and develop together. He encouraged each participant to clarify their own positioning, constantly improve themselves and face future challenges with a more positive attitude.
Chu Changzhi
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With thunderous applause, the ‘Year-end Speech Conference for Lawyers and Assistants’ came to a successful end. This unique communication event not only provided a platform for lawyers and assistants to share their experiences, but also allowed them to enhance their understanding of each other in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, eliminating barriers so that they can work together to promote the development and progress of the legal services industry.
