Moving with purpose

What do stellar young lawyers talk about when they consider their career developments? Pan Xinyi reports

A professional career, much like running a marathon, places equal emphasis on the right strategy and unrelenting effort. During our preparations earlier this year for Rising Stars 2023, China Business Law Journal noticed some lawyers outpaced their peers, rapidly advancing and achieving notable success early in their professional journeys.

To unveil the secrets behind this phenomenon, we surveyed 100 winning lawyers from both domestic and international law firms about their career development plans and insights.

Due to space constraints, we cannot present all the career development experiences and strategies shared by these rising stars. Nevertheless, what is striking is the unexpected alignment of their perspectives on achieving professional excellence. Their common ground largely centres on personal development and enhancing their professional capabilities.

Diverse beginnings

Through the sharing of these lawyers, what is clear is there are no predefined paths and no uniform start or end points, although all their achievements were accumulated within conquered milestones and self-improvement.

“For me, it’s all about focusing on what I’m good at or passionate about, and sticking with it,” says Wallace Li, a Shanghai-based partner at Dacheng Law Offices. After completing his postgraduate studies, Li chose to become a lawyer specialising in intellectual property (IP). During the past 12 years, he has handled hundreds of IP litigation and non-litigation cases.

The strengths and passions of some of these young lawyers were not always immediately apparent. Qiu Pingping, a Wuhan-based partner at East & Concord Partners, says: “Before entering the legal profession, I systematically tried various careers, including civil service, state-owned enterprises and private sector jobs. I ultimately chose the legal industry, which I loved the most and was most suited for, and decided to commit to it for life.”

Choice of practice area

Selecting a legal practice area is crucial for a lawyer’s career. It determines where their time, energy and effort will be directed and can significantly influence their future legal success.

Some lawyers’ interests are clear from the outset and they dive deep into their chosen field early on. “Interest is the best teacher,” says Zhou Yang, a partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng in Beijing, “It infuses your work with passion and curiosity, helping to turn pressure into a challenge while maintaining a positive mindset.”

Likewise, Zhang Shiwen, a partner at Hui Ye Law Firm and based in Shanghai and Los Angeles, carved a path in entertainment law, including IP law, when she first joined the firm. She chose this path even though the field was still in its infancy in China, and its terminology was barely known in the legal market. “For almost a decade, my career was maturing and developing alongside China’s own entertainment law,” she says.

Dong Liyang, a Beijing-based partner at DeHeng Law Offices, offers a unique insight on choosing a practice area and industry. He says non-litigation lawyers “are best served by focusing on two or three specialised fields, staying attuned to regulatory changes within those fields, and promptly keeping up with updates”.

Dong believes it is best to avoid spreading oneself too thin, and choosing an industry that “has depth, a significant client base, is not in a regulatory grey area, and ideally has substantial growth potential”.

Jane Zhang, a Beijing-based partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng, says: “Choosing a direction should be based on a combination of one’s expertise, personal preferences and societal needs of the time”.

Calibrating the course

Determining the broad direction in practice area is just the first step, and it may be necessary to continually adjust the course in response to real-world situations, practical experience and individual circumstances.

During her internship at Joint-Win Partners in Shanghai, Chen Chang, now a partner at the firm, solidified her commitment to becoming a litigation lawyer by participating in both litigation and non-litigation projects. She actively engaged in various corporate disputes, gradually gaining insights into corporate management and crisis resolution.

However, after five busy years as a litigation lawyer, she realised a pressing need for specialisation in her practice area. This led her to reconsider her career direction, setting her primary goal as “clarifying her client type and business focus within the next three to four years to become a specialist in that field”.

David Li, founding partner at Landing Law Offices in Shanghai, aspired to be an outstanding international commercial lawyer in his second year of practice. As he continually progressed toward this goal, he kept seeking a more suitable platform for his development, moving from a 30-person local law firm to one of the world’s largest outfits, and eventually founding Landing.

Taking strategic steps

Many lawyers set phased goals as a practical approach to methodically advance their careers. This not only allows them to concentrate their energy and resources over a specific period, but also breaks down larger objectives into manageable milestones. By doing so, they increase the likelihood of achievement which, in turn, fosters a sense of accomplishment, confidence and the motivation to persevere.

Liu Shanli, a partner at Jian Da Law Firm in Fuzhou, views a lawyer’s practice and growth as a process of gradual accumulation. He structured his career around five-year plans, progressing from building a solid foundation of legal expertise and service quality to becoming a team leader.

Ultimately, he aspires to establish a strong foothold in Fujian and expand his practice nationwide. “In over a decade of practice, the achievements I’ve attained today are the result of long-term learning and sensible planning,” he says.

Alex Sun, a member of the management committee and senior partner at Ronly & Tenwen Partners, and a strong advocate for methodical career planning, says: “Progress and development in a lawyer’s career essentially requires a long-haul strategy.”

Emphasising the necessity of systematically advancing one’s professional journey, Sun sets phase-appropriate goals tailored to his career growth, steering towards both better leadership and firm development.