What’s needed in the legal circle is not activity, but effective activity. With the reputation as always, the activities of Legal Guru Club have been praised and recognized by the insiders for its high level, depth, content, sentiment, discussion and communication. The series of the “Salon of Legal Guru Club” has drawn wide attention right after its launch, especially the session attended by the legal team of Baidu.com for which the quota had been full soon after the registration was started. Everyone expected a lot for this salon event.

On the evening of June 2, Mr. Victor Liang, the vice president and general counsel of Baidu and one of the founders of Legal Guru Club, led the Baidu team to attend the salon, shared their experience and feelings and had a collision of thoughts together with more than 20 legal counsels from well-known enterprises, including David Chen, the global vice president of Microsoft and the general manager of public and legal affairs department of Greater China Region, Qiao Gangliang, the vice president and general counsel of the Asia Pacific Region of Danaher Group, Zhang Xi, the vice president of Bayer (China), Tom Tang, the legal affairs director of Boeing (China), and Bai Feipeng, the general manager of the legal compliance department of PICC, as well as the partners of law firms including Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Zhong Lun, JunHe LLP, Dentons, Grandall Law Firm, Jingtian & Gongcheng, Finnegan, etc., in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

Ms Angel Yingjun Wang, the founder of Legal Guru Club and the Chairperson of the China International Legal Affaires & Culture Exchange Center, opened the salon and delivered a speech.

Regarding how in-house lawyers and external lawyers to create a win-win situation and work together, Mr. Liang shared some thoughts and feelings about the legal profession over the past decade and summarized the major changes in the legal profession over the past decade.

Change I. The legal service market no longer depends on relationships, but on professionalism. Selecting external legal services is no longer decided by the business leaders like general manager or CEO, as a decade ago, but more depends on the professional opinions of the legal department of the company.

Change II. The operation mode of law firms and the working mode of lawyers have changed, which no longer purely focus on laws and regulations. To win customers, especially Chinese customers, the lawyers need to conduct in-depth research and understanding of the clients, and analyze and consider the history and future development of the industry where the client is engaged in, other than proficient legal expertise. The value of a lawyer cannot only lie in risk control by telling the clients what they shouldn’t do, but to focus on how to solve the business problems of clients and guarantee them to reach their business goals.

Change III. The legal professionals must keep learning and improving themselves. Ten years ago, information was obtained in few ways, so lawyers could guarantee a certain professional status by relying on information inequality. With the development of the network, any information can be obtained through Baidu.com. In the era of AI, the legal professionals can only ensure their personal value by continuously learning and improving their abilities.

In addition to learning expertise, the legal professionals shall cultivate their business thinking habits and perspectives on the overall situation. They shall learn with an open mind without setting barriers and restrictions for themselves. Communication with people is very important, as everyone is an encyclopedia. They shall forget about their title and communicate with frontline employees.

All the guests shared one good case and one bad case in their careers with regard to the three major changes mentioned above. Some people smiled and nodded frequently to show understanding, while some had doubts or shook their heads.

In the 1st session of the Salon of Legal Guru Club, the guests opened their hearts, sincerely exchanged with each other, broke down the barriers and felt time was too short. We are also looking forward to more passionate sharing of legal counsels and lawyers in the future.

The Salon of Legal Guru Club – with content, sentiment, discussion, communication, customers and friends.