On 16 and 17 April 2004, in response to the call of the Beijing Bureau of Justice to enhance the overall qualifications of lawyers, Zhong Lun held a conference for all its lawyers, legal assistants and other support staff.  During the conference, Zhong Lun provided professional training to the lawyers, legal assistants and secretaries in respect of professional ethics, rules of conduct, and professional skills including drafting legal opinions, and confidentiality obligations to clients, etc.


In the morning of 16 April, Mr. Wu Peng, Managing Partner of Zhong Lun, gave an opening speech for the training activities, in which he required all lawyers and secretaries to take the training seriously, to study carefully and implement the documents regarding the fostering of the lawyer team, issued by Ministry of Justice and Beijing Bureau of Justice, to observe professional ethics and rules of conduct, and to improve their ethical and professional standards.

In addition, Mr. Zhang Xuebing read “The Important Speech Regarding Further Strengthening the Construction of Lawyer Team" made by Mr. Hu Jintao, Secretary-General, and other leaders of the Central Government, and addressed the significance of regulated legal practice.  Moreover, Mr. Zhang made reference to “Regulations of Lawyer Practices (Trial)", “Certain Provisions Regarding the Adjustment of Relationships Between Judges and Lawyers and Safeguarding the Judicial Justice" issued by the People’s Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice, and “Punitive Measures For Illegitimate Activities of Lawyers and Law Firms" issued by the Ministry of Justice.  Mr. Zhang explained in detail the responsibilities of lawyers in their practice, what constitute forbidden activities, the need for standardized management, practicing requirements and professional discipline, in order to improve the quality of our service, and enhance our image among our clients.  He also stressed the need for thorough research on conflict of interests, and the need to avoid inappropriate contacts with judges.  In addition, Mr. Zhang proposed more specific and stricter requirements for the daily work of Zhong Lun lawyers in light of the actual situation of the legal practice at Zhong Lun.

Mr. Liu Fengliang gave a seminar on how to draft legal opinions.  By analyzing three different sample legal opinions, Mr. Liu explained the concepts, structure and the drafting of the legal opinion, especially emphasizing the risk control of the lawyers when drafting legal opinions.

In the afternoon, Ms. Wang Lihua gave a speech on “Risks and Skills of Lawyer’s Practice", explaining the causes of risks in legal practice and the main methods of risk control and risk avoidance.  She pointed out that the law firm should develop its quality control system, improve its conflict research system, strengthen training and guidance for the lawyers, and further increase consciousnesses of risk control of the lawyers.

Afterwards, Mr. Li Qian gave a seminar on the relationships between the lawyers and clients.  With reference to the professional ethics and industry criteria, he stated that, relationships between lawyers and clients should follow the principles of “observance of confidentiality obligations, loyalty to the clients’ interests, dedication to services, and protection of the firm’s rights and interests".  Especially, he addressed the principle of observance of the confidentiality obligations, stating that without expressed consent or the implied permission deemed as necessary for the proxy activities for clients’ interests, any clients’ information, whether provided by the clients directly or by implication, should not be disclosed.

Centered on the requirement of “persistence in faith, expert in law, safeguarding justice and observing good faith", advocated by the Ministry of Justice, this training conference further reinforced the ethical and professional education of Zhong Lun lawyers, enhanced our lawyers’ sense of providing the best quality service to our clients and good faith to our clients, and actively encouraged the lawyers to play a greater role in the implementation of the rule of law in China, construction of socialist political civilization, and the establishment of a reasonably well-off society.