On August 19, 2020, the well-known legal media Asian Law Magazine announced the list of "2020 ALB China Fastest Growing Firms", aiming to commend the law firm with the fastest growth, the most development strategy and the most outstanding overall market performance in that year. In this case, Hai Run Law Firm was honorably made the list due to its multi-faceted and multi-dimensional rapid development.
Thanks to years of accumulation, Hai Run Law Firm's development momentum continues to increase. In 2019, our firm showed strong growth rates in multiple dimensions: gratifying results in revenue growth, the number of newly established branches, the scale of personnel, service areas, standardized management, etc., and our industry influence, market reputation and customer recognition reached a new high.
Asian Legal Magazine is a legal magazine owned by Thomson Reuters, known as the "Forbes" in the legal world. It is one of the most influential legal media in the world. The legal awards issued by ALB are the benchmarks of the global legal community and are extremely authoritative. The fairness and objectivity of its evaluation of Asian law firms is recognized by the legal community. Every year, ALB conducts research, ranking, and selection of law firms and lawyers in Asia-Pacific region and economic hotspot countries and regions, and finally selects an authoritative list. The selection method of 2020 ALB China Fastest Growing Firms mainly considers the following indicators: growth of toll personnel, new core partners and business areas, new important customers, new offices, new business areas, turnover growth, and other related expansion indicators.
Achievements and Progresses
First of all, in terms of staff size
The staff size of Hai Run Law Firm has also shown a significant expansion. In the past year, we have 83 new professionals and has now formed an elite team of more than 300 people.
Secondly, in terms of professional construction
After the merger of Hai Run Law Firm and Tian Rui Law Firm, there have been significant improvements in the fields of securities, capital markets, bankruptcy, and dispute resolution. At present, our lawyer team engaged in securities business has reached the scale of 120-130 people, and ranking in this field has also risen year by year. In the field of bankruptcy, our comprehensive score was higher than that of Beijing High Court last year, which ranked first in the list of bankruptcy administrators; in addition, in the fields of banking, commercial dispute resolution, intellectual property and other fields, Hai Run Law Firm has also made progress in both scale and quality.
Third, in terms of the expansion of law firm’s layout
In recent years, Hai Run Law Firm has newly established Tianjin branch, Chongqing branch and Shenzhen branch, and Nanjing, Dalian and Zibo branches are currently in the process of establishment. "In the next two or three years, we hope to have a layout in major central cities or major regions across the country." Mr. Luo said.
In addition to the above three aspects, Mr. Luo also pointed out Hai Run Law Firm's achievements in brand influence and business management.
"Hai Run Law Firm's brand awareness has increased significantly in recent years. It not only appears more frequently in the lists of authoritative institutions, but also establishes a good reputation in the industry. At the same time, in terms of standardized business management, we also has a relatively fast growth rate, and has built a complete system, including internal risk control system, core system, personnel management, financial management, etc. We has truly moved from a "boutique firm" to a firm of scale and specialization."
Key Fctors
1. Business Quality "Business is the foundation of a law firm. If you want to grow quickly, you must have at least one or two strong business areas." Mr. Luo said. In his view, only by relying on high business quality can we build a good reputation and brand competitiveness, and attract more talents.
2. Solidarity and Collaborative Working Relationship Mr. Luo told ALB that a harmonious working relationship and consistent working philosophy between partners are particularly important for law firms. "When we recruit partners, an important standard is whether he agrees with our philosophy and whether he advocates harmony or not. Partners of the firm should maintain a united and harmonious working relationship so that they can truly work together to do a good job and make our firm stronger."
3. Absorption of Talents For a growing law firm, the core business area will inevitably need to develop well and quickly, which depends on the joining of outstanding talents. Mr. Luo said: “One of the reasons why Hai Run Law Firm has developed so fast in recent years is that it has absorbed a group of excellent partners. In the fields of securities business, banking and bankruptcy business, our firm has already established a solid foundation, and these new partners is undoubtedly a plus for us."
4. Law Firm Brand "The rapid growth of Hai Run Law Firm in recent years is not unrelated to its good reputation among clients," Mr. Luo shared, "Although we have always maintained a relatively low-key office style, but from the perspective of our customers, we can truly consider about them. Our high-quality service for many years has won us a good reputation in the industry, which has created a strong customer stickiness. Many customers have cooperated with us for more than ten years or even longer, which shows the importance of the brand to the growth of law firm."
5. Management System That Takes into Account Both Scale and Quality. Mr. Luo also said: “In the process of scale expansion, we always insist that business comes first. Although in terms of influence and talent attraction, the larger scale absolutely benefit us, but we have always valued service quality more.” This year, Hai Run Law Firm will slow down the development of branch offices and ensure that they are synchronized and consistent with the head office in terms of business management, process and risk control through an integrated management model, so as to ensure the quality of business.
Current Positioning
Hai Run Law Firm is currently a relatively large law firm undergoing rapid growth and development. He said: "In recent years, our development speed is indeed very fast. The firm's standardized management and information construction are extreme important. The only goal and standard is the healthy development of the firm, which is also the source of motivation for our business to move forward.
Future Development
Hai Run Law Firm's plan for the next three to five years is to enter the ranks of China's leading institutions. "This not only refers to the scale of personnel and income level, but more importantly, the management level and business quality of us can be comparable to the first-class ones," said Mr. Luo. "At the same time, we also hope to expand the brand's influence in the industry and also create a better reputation."
——Compiled from the interview with ALB by Lawyer Luo Huiyuan, the managing partner of Hai Run Law Firm
