Team size: Twelve

What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

I have handled over 10 commercial arbitration cases involving distributors, all of which resulted in favorable outcomes or victories. I have managed multiple civil litigation cases for the recovery of overdue accounts receivable, successfully recovering around RMB100 million for the company. I have also secured favorable judgments in multiple civil lawsuits regarding counterfeit product infringement/unfair competition and obtained civil compensation ranging from RMB800 thousand to RMB6 million. In addition, I have comprehensively upgraded the AI-powered legal business management system, covering contracts, electronic signing, intellectual property practice, etc.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

At times of instability or crisis, the core approach is to build a comprehensive, end-to-end legal risk mitigating system. One the one hand, this involves proactively mapping the company’s dynamic risk profile, monitoring internal and external risks, and developing specialised contingency plans. On the other, we update compliance systems and strengthen compliance controls and company-wide training in key areas such as labour employment, data security, and contract management. When a crisis occurs, we lead an inter-departmental emergency response team to precisely tackle incidents like litigation and regulatory investigations, collaborating with public relations team to protect the company’s reputation. The legal team plays a critical role throughout the entire process of major decision-making, providing legal analysis and implementing safeguards. We integrate resources from external law firms, regulatory bodies, and others to form a synergistic effort. Furthermore, conducting post-mortem analyses, summarising lessons learned, optimising the prevention and control system, and enhancing the professional capabilities of the legal team are also crucial factors in fortifying the company’s legal defences against risks.

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?

Yes, it has had a substantive impact. AI has significantly enhanced the legal team’s work efficiency. For instance, AI functionalities enable the rapid completion of repetitive tasks such as contract review, case law research, and compliance screening, shortening processing cycles for routine matters. Meanwhile, AI facilitates precise pre-warning against risks, hence freeing up legal personnel to focus on core legal work such as major legal decision-making.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

The key factors include the complexity of the matter, expertise/specialisation match, cost-effectiveness, and confidentiality requirements. When evaluating external service providers, we assess their professional capability, responsiveness and efficiency, service quality, cost control, and the final outcomes achieved in cases/projects.