中闻报道 | 走向壮大的法律人理想国——吴革主任接受ALB专访

走向壮大的法律人理想国

         Building an ideal strong firm         

for legal professionals

北京市中闻律师事务所主任吴革律师专访

An Interview with Wu Ge

Director of Zhongwen Law Firm

Q

ALB：中闻能够走向规模化的关键因素是什么？

吴主任：我们的初心只是想建立一个法律人的微型理想国。之所以说是“微型”，是因为我们并没有特意追求规模化。而达到如今的规模水平，则是制度创新后自然而然的结果。中闻现在的律所制度处处体现着“人才办所、民主办所、制度办所、稳进办所”的理念，不仅对外能为客户输出高品质法律服务，还能在律所内部建立起科学的治理结构，这样的制度不断地吸引着法律人才。根据北京市司法局的统计，在2019-2020这一年中，中闻共迎来110位律师的加盟，是北京地区加盟律师最多的律所。这样的结果既令我们意外，也让我们感到欣喜。我们接下来也将扩大办公场所，为他们提供更好的工作环境。

Q

ALB：随着规模化发展的进程，中闻的律所管理制度经历了怎样的摸索？目前中闻采用怎样的制度？

吴主任：创立之初，我们更多地专注于业务本身，律师们大多自治，但随着律所发展的步伐不断加快，我们也不可避免地迎来律所管理方面的挑战：什么样的模式和制度最适合快速发展中的中闻？伴随着发展进程我们又该进行怎样的调整？有挑战，就要应战。首先，我们解决了律所内部产权不清晰的问题。

律师事务所的所有权属于全体合伙人，那么合伙人应如何分配所有权？我们认为，在特殊的普通合伙制下，合伙人应该按照股份数额获得相应的所有权，而股权数额则包括合伙人起始的出资股份和后来的赠与股份。出资股份受制于数额限制，赠与股份取决于合伙人的贡献点。同时，分红权、管理权、表决权等权利都与股权相关。这样的所有权制度不仅能使合伙人很清晰地知晓自己在律所每年所拥有的的股权，还能对合伙人及其团队的工作起到很好的激励作用。更重要的是，这样的股权制度能够让年轻律师自然竞争、让资深律师顺利退休。

所有权问题解决了，还有程序问题。律师未必都是管理专家，但一定都是“批评专家”。对于律所管理方面的问题，律师们的意见如何才能达成一致、形成内部治理的决策，是解决程序问题的关键。律所决策本质上都是各种意见和建议博弈而出的结果。因此，我们秉承民主办所的理念，律所内部所有职务通过投票选举、所有决策通过投票表决，在形成一致的基础上尊重大多数人意见，保护少数人权利。另外，民主办所的理念还体现在另一个方面：去特权化。在中闻，所有合伙人的待遇是一样的，没有人会享有特权，每位合伙人都能够得到公平的对待。

律所管理的第三大问题就是执行问题。律所的决策在落地执行的过程中往往会遇到两大冲突：利益冲突和时间冲突。这些冲突不仅增大了合伙人执行决策时做到公平公正的难度，也使他们很难平衡好在服务客户与参与律所管理两方面的时间投入。因此，在中闻，管理权的行使就交给了专职人员，即专门从事管理而不参与业务的律师，或是专门负责行政管理的职业经理人。目前我们已经任命专门的运营总监、行政总监、专业化发展总监、财务总监等来专职执行管理事务。

以上这些律所治理上的创新是我们在不断的“挑战-应战”的过程中探寻摸索出的成果。在北京总所以外的区域分所，我们也将实行直投直营直管的模式，实现真正的一体化。

Q

ALB：未来，中闻在律所制度方面还将进行怎样的完善?

吴主任：对于律所来说，最重要的是专业化发展，而专业取决于人才，这也是为什么我们将“人才办所”放在四大办所理念的首位。因此，我们未来的制度创新的重点将专注于人才培养、人才引进和专业化发展的创新。

Q

ALB：What are the key factors for Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm to scale up?

Wu: Initially, we wanted to build an ideal "mini firm" of legal professionals. We called it a "mini firm" because scaling-up wasn't our purpose. Now we have a firm of this size is the result of institutional innovation, which comes quite naturally. At Zhongwen, we implement a system featuring "talent management, democratic management, system management and steady development," based on which we can provide clients with high-quality legal services, establish a scientific governance structure internally, and continue to attract legal talents. According to statistical data released by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, 110 lawyers newly joined Zhongwen in the year 2019 – 2020, making it the law firm in Beijing with the largest number of new lawyers during the year. We're surprised and also excited to learn about the result. Next, we'll also expand the office space to provide lawyers with a better working environment.

Q

ALB：Would you share with us what adjustments Zhongwen has done to its management system in the process of scaling-up? What kind of system does Zhongwen currently adopt？

Wu: We focused more on the business itself when the firm was set up, and lawyers mostly managed work on their own. With the rapid development of the firm, we're inevitably facing the challenges in the firm management: what kind of model and system are the best for the fast-growing Zhongwen? What adjustments should we make along with the development process? It required that we take actions to respond to those challenges. We decided to start from solving the issue of the unclear ownership of the firm.

As the firm's ownership belongs to all partners, how to allocate the ownership to the partners? We decided to adopt a special general partnership system under which the ownership of the firm is allocated to the partners in a different ratio from the equity shares they hold, and the equity shares include the initial capital contributions of the partners and the subsequent donated or gift shares. The capital contributions are subject to the amount limit of the shares, while the donated or gift shares depend on the contribution points of the partners; meanwhile, rights such as dividend right, management right, and voting right are all related to equity shares. With this ownership system, partners have clear ideas about the equity shares they own in the firm each year; not only that, it gives good work incentives to partners and their teams. And even more importantly, such a partnership system creates an environment where young lawyers compete naturally and senior lawyers retire in a smooth way.

Then we worked on the procedural issues. Lawyers are not necessarily good at law firm management, but they are all "criticizing experts". How to reach consensus on law firm management issues among lawyers, and make decisions on internal governance, it is the key to solving procedural issues. In essence, the decision-making of law firms is the result of playing a pros-cons game. According to our democratic management principle, all positions at Zhongwen are elected by voting, and all decisions are made by voting as well. By doing so, the opinions of the majority are respected and the rights of the minority are protected. At Zhongwen, another important aspect of democratic management is that no one is privileged at the firm. All partners are treated fairly and no one enjoys privileges.

The third major issue is the implementation of decisions. There are two major conflicts in the process of implementing decisions: conflict of interest and conflict of time. These conflicts not only make it difficult for partners to make decisions in a fair and impartial way, but also make it hard for them to balance their time spent in serving clients and participating in law firm management. So we decide to have lawyers to specialize in the firm management, who do not work on cases, or hire professional managers to work on administrative management issues. At present, we have appointed an operation director, an administrative director, a professional development director, and a financial director to carry out management issues.

In addition, we'll implement the model featuring direct investment, direct management, and direct operation at our branch offices to realize the true integrated management and operation.

Q

ALB：How does Zhongwen plan to further improve its system in the future？

Wu: For law firms, the most important thing is professional development, in which talents play a very important role. It is why we deem "talent management" as our top priority in the firm management. Therefore, our future institutional innovation will focus on innovation in talent training, talent introduction and professional development.