The development of China’s lawyer industry has always been a hot topic, and the revision of the Lawyers Law is also in full swing. According to the latest statistics, there are 11,691 law firms in the country, including 8,024 partnership law firms, 1,746 cooperative law firms, and 1,742 state-owned asset law firms. This is an increase of 35,000 compared to 83,000 in 1.995. Data show that this number has been reached in 2006, 54380, which means that the total number of lawyers in China has almost remained unchanged in the past five years. In order to understand the overall development of Chinese lawyers in recent years, I began to search for changes in the total number of Chinese lawyers in recent years. The results are disappointing, as there are no dedicated statistics for this set of data. Only in the past few years has the "Progress of Human Rights in China" report found more authoritative statistical data.
The 1995 "Progress of Human Rights in China" records that by the end of 1994, the number of lawyers in China had reached 83,619, nearly double the number in 1990 and exceeding the 1995 expectation of 75,000 lawyers. The number of law firms in China reached 6,419, an increase of 25% from 1993.
The 1996 "Progress of Human Rights in China" records: According to statistics, since 1996, the number of lawyers in my country has reached more than 654.38 million, an increase of 12,000 and 1.2% over the previous year; the number of law firms has reached 8,265 , 1,065 more than the previous year, an increase of 14.8.
The 1998 "Progress of Human Rights in China" records that China's team of lawyers continues to grow and has become an important force in safeguarding citizens' legitimate rights and interests. According to statistics, the number of law firms in my country increased from 79 in 1979 to more than 8,600 by the end of 1998, and the number of practicing lawyers increased from 212 to more than 654.38 million.
The 2000 report "Progress of Human Rights in China" records that currently, there are more than 9,500 law firms and more than 110,000 lawyers in China.
Another investigation: As of June 2001, the total number of lawyers in my country has reached 114,892, including 70,147 full-time lawyers. The number of legal service institutions has also increased from 1981 to 2023 to nearly 10,000 law firms.
In 2003, the "China's Human Rights Progress" report pointed out that as of the end of 2003, there were 2,774 legal aid agencies across the country, an increase of 356 over the previous year; and 9,457 staff, an increase of 1,172;
The 2004 "Progress of Human Rights in China" report pointed out that according to statistics, as of June 2004, there were 11,450 lawyers and 165,438 law firms in the country.
From the above information, I can clearly prove my judgment. Since 2000, the number of lawyers in our country has not changed as a whole. It has remained above 110,000 and has never exceeded 12,000. According to statistics, there are still 206 counties in China without lawyers.
I really don’t know. I was shocked when I checked. What happened to China’s legal profession? Is China’s legal industry really saturated? The number of employees in an industry has basically remained unchanged for five years, which means that the industry has lost its attraction, vitality and motivation. There must be something wrong with China's legal profession, and there must be something wrong with China's legal profession.
2. What is wrong with China’s lawyers?
Is China’s legal profession saturated? Can the number of lawyers in China not exceed the 12,000 mark?
Let’s first look at the comparison of the ratio of lawyers per 10,000 people in China and developed countries. In the United States, 850,000, 365,438 0.7/65, 438 0000; Britain: 90,000, 15.4/10000; France: 36000, 6.2/10000; Germany: 62000, 8/10000; Japan: 15,000, 6.2/1 Ten thousand. In China, based on 120,000 people, it reaches 0.8/10,000.
Look at the development of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places:
Beijing:
In 2000, there were 345 law firms and 5,495 lawyers in Beijing. , including 3,159 full-time lawyers, 1,082 part-time lawyers, 65,438 special lawyers, and 173 paralegals and managers.
In June 2001, there were 419 law firms in Beijing with 5,489 registered lawyers, including 4,095 full-time lawyers, 1,334 part-time lawyers, and 69 specially invited lawyers. There are paralegals and administrative staff in 2011.
In August 2002, there were 5,834 registered practicing lawyers and 1 intern lawyer in Beijing, accounting for 6% of the total number of lawyers in the country. That is to say, for every 1 lawyer in the country, 1 lawyer practices in Beijing.
In 2003, there were 8,106 registered lawyers in Beijing.
In June 2004, there were 8,104 registered lawyers in Beijing, including 6,110 with a bachelor's degree, 165,438 with a legal major, 65,438 with a master's degree, and 248 with a doctoral degree.
On June 14, 2005, the Beijing Daily ran the headline "The number of lawyers in Beijing exceeded 10,000 people yesterday" and "7 out of every 10,000 people are lawyers, equivalent to the level of moderately developed countries". subtitle. This article reports that there are 892 lawyer practice institutions in Beijing with 13,636 employees, including 10,000 practicing lawyers and 3,636 administrative staff, accounting for approximately 9% of the total number of practicing lawyers in the country. According to statistics, foreign lawyers account for one-third of the 10,000 lawyers.
Shanghai:
According to relevant statistics in the "Shanghai Law Firm Management Model", Shanghai lawyers:
1984 was 641;
1230 in 1985;
1353 people in 1987;
65438 3647 in 0994;
65438 4533 in 0998;
2004 More than 6,000 people per year.
According to another survey: as of the end of June 2003, there were 538 law firms and 5,366 lawyers in this city. As of June 2004, there were 579 registered law firms in Shanghai that had passed the annual inspection, with 5,811 full-time and part-time lawyers. In 2005, the number was approximately 7,000.
Shenzhen and Guangzhou:
Data from the Fifth Shenzhen Lawyers Congress show that as of the end of 2005, there were 208 law firms in Shenzhen with more than 3,500 lawyers.
At the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, when the author came to Shenzhen to open a branch, there were only more than 1,800 lawyers in Shenzhen, less than 1,900. In 2004, there were more than 190 law firms nationwide with nearly 2,800 lawyers. According to statistics, the number of lawyers in Shenzhen is increasing at a rate of 20% every year, making it a city with high lawyer growth in China and even the world.
The number of lawyers in Shenzhen has increased by more than 15,000 in four years. If lawyers or corporate legal personnel holding foreign practice licenses are included, the total number of lawyers and quasi-lawyers in Shenzhen is estimated to be no less than 5,000.
Similarly, as of the end of March 2004, the number of practicing lawyers in Guangdong Province had reached 10,042, ranking first among all provinces (cities, districts) in the country. There are 1,217 law firms, of which less than 4,000 are in Guangzhou. At present, there are about 4,500 lawyers in Guangzhou, and there are also nearly 15,000 others who have not yet obtained a practicing license and assist lawyers in practicing law.
Jiangsu: In March 2004, there were 628 law firms and 6,669 lawyers. By the end of 2005, there were 694 law firms nationwide with 7,113 lawyers.
According to statistics from the All-China Lawyers Association, the number of lawyers in Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang accounts for about 1/3, and their business income accounts for 2/3 of the national lawyer business income.
The following conclusions can be drawn from simple figures:
1. The overall demand for lawyers in Chinese society is insufficient, and the construction of the rule of law and legal norms related to the market economy is far behind. level and speed of economic development.
2. While the total number of lawyers in China remains unchanged, the most obvious thing is that the topic has shifted from small cities to big cities, and from the inland to developed coastal areas. According to existing statistics, the next place where lawyers will move will be Shanghai or the Yangtze River Delta region centered on Shanghai, and then to the Bohai Bay area.
3. The brain drain phenomenon in China’s legal profession is very serious. Over the past five years, at least 10,000 talents have passed the judicial examination and obtained lawyer qualification certificates every year, and at least 50,000 people have drifted away from the legal profession. At the same time, it also shows that the elimination rate of new lawyers is relatively high. Basically, how many new lawyers join, Just how many lawyers quit.
4. Lawyers have been morally ignored by governments, businesses, and ordinary people. This is an industry that is not favored by the whole society. Lawyers have lost public trust and reputation in society. In Chinese society, if an industry wants to have high credibility and reputation, it must start by doing good things. In other words, what our lawyers have done over the years is not what ordinary people would consider “good deeds.” It is the psychological orientation of the entire society to excuse and defend those who do bad things for profit.
It is not difficult to see that China’s legal profession has encountered unprecedented development difficulties. This is a very severe reality. Lawyers are an industry that is not favored by legal professionals, nor is it favored by society as a whole. But at the same time, we can also see that the development prospects of China's legal profession are very broad. It is still some distance away from developed countries, and it is not an ordinary gap. This distance is the future of our legal profession.
3. What is the future of China’s legal profession?
China’s legal profession has encountered unprecedented development difficulties. As an industry, there is something wrong with China's legal profession. China's legal profession is sick. Where is the breakthrough?
To find a breakthrough, you must first understand what the problem is. It is obvious that China’s legal profession is a team without strength, and Chinese law firms have no strength to organize themselves. China’s lawyers are composed of individuals who have no support, and the entire lawyer team is an army without support.
If we hope that the university law school will cultivate a strong team of lawyers for us, we hope that Chinese lawyers will gain strong strength immediately after the revision of the Lawyers Law, and we hope that the Lawyers Association or the Lawyers Management Office will cultivate a team of lawyers. A strong team of lawyers? Although these are guarantees for the survival and development of the legal industry, in order for the legal industry to develop and grow, it ultimately needs the support of the market. Therefore, if China’s lawyers want to be strong, they must start with Chinese lawyers and Chinese law firms.
1. Developing into the market is the primary issue for the legal industry. Obviously, with today's rapid economic development, the legal business should develop with the development of the economy, and lawyers should increasingly provide legal services to enterprises. Obviously, without the support of enterprises, lawyers cannot develop rapidly. Considering the current situation, our legal profession definitely has a problem in providing legal services to businesses. People do not need our services or do not trust our services. Don't they need services?
We still use data to illustrate the problem. According to statistics, the average lifespan of private enterprises in my country is only 2.9 years. About 10,000 private enterprises go bankrupt in my country every year. 60% of enterprises will go bankrupt within 5 years, 85% of enterprises will die within 10 years, and only 10% of enterprises can survive for 3 years. Above, the average life span of large enterprise groups is only 7. Eight years. Among them, 40% of companies declared bankruptcy in the start-up stage. In China, 2,740 companies go bankrupt every day, 114 companies go bankrupt every hour, and two companies go bankrupt every minute. The average lifespan of Japanese companies is 30 years, 10 times that of ours; the average lifespan of American companies is 40 years, 13 times that of China.
This is also a very scary set of data. Either people don’t need the services of our lawyers, or our lawyers’ services are not good. Our lawyers have so far not provided valuable services for the survival and development of enterprises.
Some time ago when I was compiling the management collection "Practice is the Only Criterion for Testing Truth", I published a large number of articles on business management, but there were very few lawyers who really cared about or understood business management.
In other words, there are very few people in China’s huge team of lawyers. If lawyers' legal knowledge and practical experience cannot be combined with business management practices, the only thing left is to litigate or work as "debt collectors". All lawyers are squeezed into such a narrow business area.
Our lawyers will only engage in litigation and will not help or teach companies how to control and manage risks or disputes that arise in the operation and management process, and how to engage in litigation as little as possible. This is a huge space for lawyer services, but which lawyers can be occupied now? From the perspective of the company's own interests, long-term development and the needs of normal routine management activities, no company is willing to litigate, but it is a last resort. The current situation in the legal profession proves that Chinese lawyers have not yet become the lawyers that companies really need.
Today, China’s lawyer industry is underdeveloped in terms of personal business. Only by aiming to serve enterprise management can it develop better and have a bright future. The best way out for the legal profession is to activate legal service providers, make legal services practical, and market legal services. On the basis of traditional business, China's legal profession can develop and find a way out only by providing practical and valuable services to enterprises.
It is time for the author’s more than ten years of accumulation and exploration in legal service innovation to bear fruit. I also hope that more lawyer friends will join this queue.
2. Develop towards the system.
The current law firm system based on partnership is only suitable for the operation and development of small-scale law firms, and cannot carry out large-scale investment and corporate operations; state-owned institutions, cooperative institutions and original state-owned enterprises , collective enterprises, cannot adapt to the needs of the development of market economy and will not have vitality; individual law firms themselves are incompatible with the large-scale development of law firms.
Under the current institutional conditions, most lawyers conduct business and provide services in their personal capacity, which seriously restricts the personal development space of lawyers, especially young lawyers. Not only do they not have access to opportunities at the beginning of their careers, support, but also have to compete with experienced veteran lawyers who have considerable accumulation of social resources and influence. As a result, young lawyers are unable to solve even the most basic survival problems in their early stages of practice.
If an industry is so cruel to latecomers, can it still develop? Does it have a future?
Therefore, law firms must take the path of enterprise and corporatization, and must have a platform for practice, learning and communication supported by strong capital and business. Vested interests in this industry must provide necessary space for survival and development for latecomers, otherwise the first group of people to enter this industry will do small things and die. This can only start from the system, and enterprises and companies are the only way to go.
3. Future development.
What is the future of China’s legal profession? It is still blank now, and because it is blank, there are articles to be made. What article to make? It is to cultivate the market.
China's legal profession must cultivate the market that will be needed in the future, and it has reached a point where it must be taken seriously. Without making the cake bigger, there will be no future and development of China’s legal profession.
China is a large country with a population of 1.3 billion and a rapidly developing economy. In the context of traditional culture, Chinese people rely very little on law and lawyers, not because they do not need legal services, but because they do not know or are not used to using legal means to protect themselves and regulate their daily life and production and business activities.
So Chinese lawyers must get out of their offices, out of temples, out of books, out of laws and regulations, out of conflicts, out of society, out of clients, out of the market, out of the work world, publicize the spirit and provisions of the law, and tell How can they live, produce and work safely and legally, and do some good things for the whole society. Only in this way can the entire society's biases and misunderstandings about lawyers be fundamentally changed, and the dilemma faced by our country's legal profession be fundamentally solved.
4. Seek development from young lawyers.
Everyone knows that young lawyers are the future of China’s legal profession. Without their healthy development, there would be no tomorrow and future for the Chinese legal profession. However, under the traditional business model of law firms, everyone takes care of themselves and ignores the troubles of others.
The eradication of lawyers' practical talents will inevitably lead to an industry crisis.
Therefore, as an experienced lawyer or law firm, it is necessary to take on the responsibility of training and guiding young lawyers to help them quickly improve their practical work capabilities and accumulate social resources. Giving up on young lawyers means giving up on the future.
4. What is the way out for the corporatization of law firms?
When it comes to corporatization, some people are thinking about it, some are exploring it, and some are practicing it. A certain amount of practice has been accumulated in big cities and developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. However, the practical results are not satisfactory. What's the problem?
The problem is that law firms have fallen into a misunderstanding in the process of corporatization.
1. Regarding the corporatization of law firms, they are like factories. Factories must produce behind closed doors and confine workers to operate in factories, but law firms are completely different. They must open the door to production, bring lawyers to the market, cultivate their practical working abilities and accumulate social resources through personal social practice and exchanges. Law firms are just the backend of lawyers, and the battlefield is always the market. If law firms still keep lawyers in law firm offices as skilled workers such as lathes or fitters, no one will ever develop. Once you leave that work environment, you have to start all over again. No lawyer wants to be confined to such an environment for a long time.
2. The corporatization of a law firm does not mean 100 commercialization. Law firm investors (including actual lawyers and non-lawyer investors) are often too eager for quick success. If they invest today, they will make a profit tomorrow. Under this investment philosophy and operating model, whether you are a lawyer or a lawyer, if you do not make money for a year or two, you will immediately lose confidence or withdraw your investment.
3. The salary system has seriously hindered the development of corporate lawyers. Some time ago, the commission system caused a big controversy in the industry. Some people use the commission system to seriously hinder the development of the legal industry, thinking that the salary system can save lawyers. Because I was busy writing "Corporate Management Essays", I did not participate.
In fact, opposing the commission system is as wrong and absurd as advocating the salary system. Both are enemies that hinder the development of China's legal profession. Strictly speaking, without the commission system, there would be no past and present of Chinese lawyers, and there would be no future for Chinese lawyers.
According to the author's personal experience, under the conditions of the salary system, lawyers have no enthusiasm for market development at all. Because the profit distribution is far lower than their expectations, corporatization has become a matter of partners or investors trying their best to develop the business, and ordinary lawyers handling the business carefully. Finally, corporatization has returned to the old path of "one day, the monk will ring the bell."
Of course, it is an indisputable fact that a complete commission system is not conducive to the formation of cohesion and combat effectiveness required for a team of lawyers and corporate operations.
There are two extremes, because:
First, the misunderstanding is to regard abstract legal services as the product of a law firm. In fact, the real product of a law firm is a lawyer. People rather than services and products. As a result, all law firms do not cultivate and build influential lawyers based on service, leading to misunderstandings about corporatization from the beginning.
If corporatization is not based on training lawyers, goes against the market, goes against the traditional concepts formed over thousands of years, and goes against the stylistic characteristics of the lawyer profession itself, then of course it will not There is a future.
b. The relationship between law firms and lawyers is too vulgar, and cooperative relationships are often determined by interest relationships. There is neither a common career mission nor a common social mission. It is normal for a company to be small and weak, but it is strange for it to be really big and strong. How can a group of mediocre people get together temporarily for profit? How can they achieve anything?
4. Necessary conditions for corporatization of law firms
A. Investors and partners: As far as the legal industry is concerned, those with less than 20 years of practice or less than 5 years of practice Only those who have completed their first business venture or accumulated wealth, and also have the desire to start a second business, can become a company investor; lawyers who have been under five years old often encounter development bottlenecks and have the strongest willingness to cooperate, corporatization, and teamwork .
Generally, after five years of development, lawyers with stable business and income basically have no desire to cooperate. Even if they do, they are people with particularly poor ability and character.
Of course, the legal industry now needs investment from outside the industry, mainly people who have accumulated considerable wealth and have a strong desire to invest in the legal career.
b. Because the company is basically a combination of old lawyers and young lawyers, the life and survival of young lawyers need to be guaranteed, so a certain level of living security needs to be provided, and the needs of young lawyers can be solved by paying wages or borrowing money. Survival and life issues; in order to increase the enthusiasm of lawyers to explore the market, the commission system is indispensable, so law firms must have a profit distribution mechanism that combines the salary system and the commission system.
C. Corporate law firms are schools first and then law firms. It must first be responsible for the training and training of young lawyers, and gain the cohesion of the lawyer team by caring for the growth of young lawyers. If the training is not in place, corporatization becomes an empty talk and there is no cohesion at all. Once a lawyer has certain skills and social connections, he will fly away.
d. Corporatization must have its own social mission and responsibilities, otherwise it will have no impact on society and will not attract lawyers.
Thoughts on the practical exploration of verb (abbreviation of verb)
As for the future of Chinese law firms, after several years of exploration and practice, the author has initially accumulated relevant experience and Through personal experiments, the feasibility study of the law firm was completed from aspects such as system, investment model efficiency, distribution mechanism, management process, and market operation model. The only shortcoming now is that he has not yet found suitable investors and partners, and is currently actively looking and waiting.
I also summarized the basic model of future law firms as follows: In principle, lawyers, assistants, market development, and administrative personnel who have not been trained by law firms will not be hired in future law firm teams.
This choice was made because:
First, the lawyer profession has its own particularities. The biggest feature is that there are no unified standards for work and no unified operating procedures. Lawyers often follow different teachers and go their own way. As a result, the lawyers in front of them are unable to take over the work when forming a team and often have to start all over again.
Second, lawyers often have their own professional background and experience, and form their own style and operating procedures in practice. This is a habit and style that is difficult to change. The cost of changing such styles and habits is often ten, twenty, or even higher than training a new lawyer.
Thirdly, it is difficult for the legal profession to start, develop and change based on individual efforts. Lawyers working alone can no longer adapt to the new situation and market demands. To form a team, you must have beliefs, goals, paths, and methods that must be followed. Through training, we will find and train the lawyers our team needs as quickly as possible.
Fourth, we need professional lawyers who know how to manage, operate and serve. They have a strong sense of mission and responsibility. Like seeds, they will take root and sprout wherever they are thrown. It is difficult for such lawyers to grow without training.
After unified training, the lawyer team can achieve the following results:
First, the training process is a two-way interactive process. It takes less than a week to determine which lawyers are suitable for the team. Which ones don't fit.
2. After one year of training and internship, the skills can reach a level equivalent to three years of working in the court or three to five years of working as an ordinary lawyer.
Third, it has strong combat effectiveness and teamwork spirit, and can activate any unfamiliar market within half a year to a year.
Fourth, through training, we should establish lawyers’ sense of social mission and responsibility, establish common professional goals, and establish a reasonable benefit distribution mechanism so that everyone is first responsible for their own growth and works for their own growth. , promoting the development of the team through the personal development of lawyers. In short, noble sentiments and a broad mind are the foundation of the legal profession and the foundation of the future of the Chinese legal profession.
Great times create great missions, great missions create great teams, and great teams create great lawyers. Only with a high sense of mission and responsibility for the times and history can a strong legal profession be built.
The overall plan is to establish core parent law firms in developed cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing, and to complete the investment and establishment of law firms in large and medium-sized cities across the country within ten years. The parent firm will uniformly introduce standardized business models and management models, build the largest lawyer group and alliance in China, and initially complete resource integration with international and domestic law firms, accounting firms, and management consulting companies; and strive to build a global The largest intermediary service alliance or group with legal services, financial services and management services as its core.
The goal has been found and the path has been clarified. What is missing now is to put it into practice. I sincerely hope and appeal to lawyers and all sectors of society to care about and support the development of Chinese lawyers, and even the industrialization and groupization of the entire intermediary service market.
The above is the author’s life goal and mission. "The road is long, and I will search up and down." (Qiu) According to