2024 Worth the Trip | Review of Zhongcheng Qingtai's Business Operations in the Jinan Region

On January 19, 2024, ALB China announced the list of law firms and lawyers in the Bohai Rim region, with Zhongcheng Qingtai Law Firm making the Rising Stars list, and lawyer Cui Shouxu from Zhongcheng Qingtai (Jinan) Law Firm also making the Rising Stars list.

On January 30, Greentown China Holdings Limited held a commendation conference for 'Outstanding Legal Service Providers in 2023' in Hangzhou, where Du Wentang, Deputy Director and Senior Partner of Zhongcheng Qingtai (Jinan) Law Firm, represented the firm and received the 'Best Collaborative Team Award.'

The General Office of the Central Committee of the Democratic National Construction Association issued a notice to commend the outstanding results of key theoretical research topics in 2023, with 66 theoretical topics recognized, including 10 first prizes, 16 second prizes, 20 third prizes, and 20 excellence awards. The article 'Upholding Integrity and Innovation in Major Theoretical and Practical Issues of United Front Work in the New Era' written by lawyer Tian Yuanying from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office won the second prize.

In March, the Intellectual Property Dispute Mediation Committee of the Shandong Provincial National Intellectual Property Protection Center selected the first batch of part-time mediators after a rigorous review process, totaling 36 people. Senior Partner Mu Xun and lawyer Miao Zezhuang from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office were appointed.

In May, the Dongying City Intellectual Property Center announced the list of intellectual property rights protection assistance experts and the third batch of overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance experts. Senior Partner Mu Xun from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office was included in the expert database.

On May 18, the founding conference of the National Enterprise Compliance Industry-Education Integration Community and the Enterprise Compliance Development Forum was successfully held in Jinan, attended by over 200 representatives from initiating and member units.

On July 4, the authoritative international legal media 'Asian Legal Business (ALB)' announced the shortlist for the '2024 ALB China Regional Market Legal Awards: East China Region.' With solid professional capabilities and high-quality legal services in East China, Zhongcheng Qingtai stood out in fierce competition, successfully nominated for 8 awards, winning the 'Annual Shandong Region Law Firm Award' and 'Annual East China Region Law Firm Award' in the law firm category, as well as two professional field awards: 'Annual East China Region Banking and Finance Law Firm Award' and 'Annual East China Region Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law Firm Award.' Senior partners Lin Yang, Shi Guangbo, Lan Fei, and Deng Pu each received individual awards.

In September, the Provincial Lawyers Association organized the selection of excellent papers by lawyers in the province for 2023. After preliminary evaluation, plagiarism detection, and expert review, 33 first prizes, 45 second prizes, and 66 third prizes were awarded, along with 20 units receiving the Excellent Organization Award. Zhongcheng Qingtai lawyers wrote 25 excellent papers that won awards, including 7 first prizes, 10 second prizes, and 8 third prizes, with the Jinan Office receiving the Excellent Organization Award.

In September, Shandong Zhongcheng Qingtai Law Firm successfully selected for the external lawyer pool of China Forestry Group Co., Ltd. for the 2024-2025 period, becoming the only selected law firm in Shandong Province.

On October 15, the results of the '2024 Outstanding Law Firm Awards (Regional Awards)' announced by China Business Law Journal were released. With outstanding professional performance and good client evaluations, Zhongcheng Qingtai won the 'Outstanding Comprehensive Strength Law Firm' award in Shandong region.

On April 1, the Luzhi Hui system was officially put into use, achieving full coverage and integration of business, human resources, finance, archives, and knowledge achievements in the law firm management platform system. The system has completed the docking and implementation of the business approval process of the law firm management system and is gradually improving the system registration content to achieve data analysis.

Establish and maintain a knowledge achievement database, Luzhi Hui knowledge management platform, and other media for centralized display. At the same time, continuously enrich shared content, and systematically introduce training materials, training videos, and other knowledge achievements into the knowledge achievement database.

On May 1, Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan region officially implemented the 'One Main and Two Assistants' professional development method, determining the professional types and business scope of 'One Main and Two Assistants,' ultimately identifying fourteen professional types and business scopes, and reporting them across the firm, achieving the implementation of 'One Main and Two Assistants' and the docking and construction of the office system 'Luzhi Hui.'

Further update and supplement the industry (sector) teams, proposing fields such as healthcare, elderly care, new energy, carbon peak, carbon neutrality, automotive business, live streaming, rural revitalization, and family wealth for our lawyers to choose from, and encouraging team leaders to recruit and involve young lawyers in the formation and reporting of industry (sector) teams. At the end of the year, organize expert reviews to assess the work results of each industry (sector) team, with ten teams passing the assessment, and the data industry, financial dispute multi-resolution industry, and digital economy teams awarded the title of excellent industry (sector) teams.

The "Zhongcheng Qingtai Legal Lecture Hall" is organized and planned by the Zhongcheng Qingtai Law Research Institute, adopting a format of simultaneous online and offline lectures. After the course ends, a news link is published, and a playback option is set up, allowing viewers to watch the replay at any time through a WeChat link, maximizing the purpose of sharing excellent courses and receiving widespread acclaim.

On May 11, the ninth session of the "Zhongcheng Qingtai Legal Lecture Hall" invited Tang Yangqin, a senior partner at Beijing Yingke (Shenzhen) Law Firm, a part-time professor at the Law School of Central South University, and a practical mentor at the Shenzhen University Compliance Research Institute, as the guest speaker to teach "Financial Lessons for Lawyers."

On July 10, the tenth session of the "Zhongcheng Qingtai Legal Lecture Hall" invited Professor Pan Lin from the Law School of Shandong University and a doctoral supervisor to teach "Company Capital and Corporate Governance under the New Company Law."

On October 19, the research institute, in collaboration with branches in Jinan, Qingdao, Dezhou, Liaocheng, and Tai'an, hosted the "Intellectual Property Legal Practice Seminar and 2023 Excellent Topic Sharing Conference" at the Jinan branch, promoting and sharing topics related to patent protection, data asset intellectual property protection, and other subjects that passed acceptance and received awards in 2023.

The Jinan region published 520 articles on the Zhongcheng Qingtai public account, including 268 professional articles and 195 dynamic articles, with a more reasonable proportion of promotional document types, continuously improving the quantity and quality of professional articles. At the end of the year, the Jinan region will select excellent manuscripts, and the following are the links to the award-winning articles:

Perspective | Legal responsibilities and consequences of shareholders of limited liability companies failing to pay contributions on time and in full under the new Company Law

Perspective | Analysis of the relief avenues for applicants after a retrial application is rejected

Perspective | Practical key points for sorting out alimony disputes (Part 1)

Perspective | Specific steps and operations for lawyers handling company self-liquidation and cancellation - against the backdrop of the new Company Law

Perspective | Practical key points for sorting out alimony disputes (Part 2)

Perspective | Analysis of the establishment of the audit committee under the new Company Law

Perspective | Sorting out and common issues of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds and the crime of profits from criminal proceeds

Perspective | Defense analysis of organizing others to illegally cross the national (border) boundary

Civil and Commercial Perspective | A brief analysis of the identification and repayment principles of joint debts of spouses

Franchising | Disputes and analysis regarding the identification of commercial franchise contracts

Perspective | Analysis of civil liability for "lending bank accounts"

On June 22, a forum titled "Strengthening Compliance Construction of Private Enterprises to Support High-Quality Development" was held, focusing on compliance operation and development of private enterprises from the perspective of the new Company Law, with the Shandong Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, Shandong Provincial Social Organization Federation, Shandong Provincial Private Entrepreneurs Association, and Shandong Provincial Young Entrepreneurs Association as guiding and hosting units, deeply assisting in forum promotion and potential client invitations.

On June 3, a roadshow exchange on "Basic Knowledge Sharing of Foreign-related Legal Services" was held; on July 17, a roadshow exchange on "In-depth Exploration of Legal Services for Executing Final Cases" was held; on October 12, a roadshow exchange on "Civil and Commercial Mediation Center + Digital Platform Empowerment - Diversified Dispute Resolution Mechanism" was held; on November 7, a roadshow exchange on "From the Client's Perspective, What Constitutes a Reliable Lawyer" was held; on December 4, a roadshow exchange on "Effective Defense in Guilty Plea Cases" was held; on December 30, a roadshow exchange on "Accumulating Experience in Family Business Handling, Focusing on Future Wealth Inheritance" was held.

On April 23, Mao Xiang, a part-time lawyer at Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office, gave an in-depth interpretation on "Legal Services for Data Compliance in State-owned Enterprises," focusing on the basic ideas of data compliance for state-owned enterprises, the main content of enterprise compliance work, and compliance work throughout the data lifecycle.

On May 16, Lawyer Zhang Yu from Beijing Deheng (Jinan) Law Firm and Lawyer Zhao Zhigang from our firm explained emerging fields such as data asset entry and compliance, and presented our firm's advantages and expertise in this field, titled "Analysis of Key Points for Legal Compliance of Data Assets."

On June 15, Lawyer Li Heng from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office gave a detailed explanation on legal disputes regarding supplier disputes, combining his case handling experience, titled "Main Issues for Construction Enterprises in Responding to Supplier Dispute Cases under Current Circumstances," focusing on the increasing proportion of engineering contracting business in infrastructure and new energy fields, the continuous decline in profit margins in the construction industry despite the annual growth in engineering contracting business volume, and the increasing difficulty in collecting accounts receivable.

On August 19, Lawyer Qiu Xueda from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office gave a detailed account of methods for wealth inheritance from both domestic and international perspectives, titled "Family Wealth Inheritance and Legal Services from an International Perspective."

On August 28, Lawyer Yue Dongxue from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office provided a detailed interpretation of the revision of the "Interpretation (II) on Legal Issues Applicable to Labor Dispute Cases" (Draft for Comments) issued by the Supreme People's Court, titled "Interpretation (II) on Legal Issues Applicable to Labor Dispute Cases" (Draft for Comments).

On September 27, Lawyer Fang Quan from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office combined the new Company Law's provision allowing companies to issue different categories of shares with rights different from ordinary shares according to the company's articles of association, providing a detailed explanation of the company structure of category shares from the perspective of the capital market, titled "Application of the 'Category Shares' System under the New Company Law."

On October 11, Lawyer Cai Benjie from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office analyzed the techniques of criminal litigation based on his courtroom experience, titled "Techniques for Questioning in Criminal Cases."

On October 30, Lawyer Zhang Jian from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office provided an in-depth and accessible explanation based on the "Measures for the Registration and Filing of Private Investment Funds" and supporting guidelines, drawing on his rich experience in the private equity field, titled "Legal Practices Related to Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds."

On December 6, Lawyer He Zefeng from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office explained the significant revisions of the new Company Law, distinguishing key points based on his teaching experience with consulting units and his research outcomes on the new Company Law, titled "Legal Practices of the New Company Law."

On December 25, lawyers from Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Office, based on their experience in teaching and civil servant exam training, guided everyone to immerse themselves in specific scenarios, simulating crisis public relations, with the topic "The Speaker's Speaking Skills - Practical Dialogue Explanation for Lawyers in Real Situations."

On July 6, the Jinan area 2024 market analysis meeting and resource docking meeting conducted a market analysis and resource docking regarding legal services for corporate relief in the current economic situation, achieving good results.

On December 21, the Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan area 2024 annual data compliance legal service market analysis meeting and resource docking meeting was successfully held. The meeting further analyzed and discussed the current situation and future development trends of the data compliance legal service market, jointly seeking new paths for market expansion.