What does an old man rely on to keep his life forever-the way to develop and manage the firm of Zhongcheng Renhe Law Group (Jinan)

In 1988, Wang Guangren led three lawyers to set up a state-owned foreign-related law firm in Jinan (the predecessor of Zhongcheng Renhe Institute) in a humble office. The 20-year road of harmony is a microcosm of the development of China's lawyer industry. Like many law firms, they have experienced the hardships of starting a business that is difficult at the beginning of everything. Taste the joy of the first victory-in 1996, together with Qindao Institute, they became the first two provincial civilized institutions in the province. Experienced a low point of brain drain and stagnation due to the institutional obstacles of the state-owned capital institute. They firmly seized the development opportunity after the restructuring into a partnership in 2000, after breaking through all the ideological obstacles and system drawbacks that affect development, we successfully realized the second entrepreneurship, and the team and business increased at a rate of 30% every year. In 2005, Zhong Chengren and Wang Guangren were awarded the titles of National Excellent Law Firm and Excellent Lawyer respectively. In 2006, they purchased a new office space of 2000 square meters, recruited 15 masters of law to join, adjusted and enriched 8 professional departments, and took another big step towards the Hundred Talents Institute. In 2007, Zhongcheng Renhe Law Group, led by Zhongcheng Renhe and joined by 7 law firms in the provincial capital metropolitan area, was established. It can be said that whether it is in the era when state-owned assets dominate the world, or today when partnerships occupy a dominant position, Zhongcheng Renhe is a famous brand of Shandong lawyers. What does an old man rely on to maintain his vitality forever?
Rely on leadership
In his book Developing and Managing a Successful Law Firm, Milton W. Swick argues that aggressive law firms need strong leaders, and aggressive law firms encourage and develop strong leaders. In China's lawyer industry, which has only 28 years of development history, the development and management of a successful law firm really needs a strong leadership core and a soul figure to play a leading role in uniting people with its personality charm and prestige.
The reason why Zhongcheng Renhe has today's achievements is inseparable from the founder, Director Wang Guangren. As the first generation of lawyers who have been practicing since 1980, their character, ability, qualifications and prestige have great cohesion and appeal in Zhongchengren. In some cases, Wang Guangren is a kind of resource, an intangible asset and a "gold lettered signboard", which is the most important weight of Zhongchengren and this famous brand, many lawyers, many clients are because of his presence into the public. He played an irreplaceable leadership role in the following areas:
As a representative of the Ninth Provincial Party Congress, Wang Guangren has strong political quality, overall awareness and decision-making ability. He stands high and sees far, and has a good grasp of the development direction and opportunity of Zhongchengbenevolence and Institute. Advocated and actively promoted by him, in 1992, Jinan lawyers took the lead in breaking the iron rice bowl of state-owned assets and implementing efficiency wages; in 1994, "one institute, two systems" was launched to openly recruit talents who did not occupy the staff. These two reform measures played a positive role in solving the "bottleneck" problem that restricted the development of state-owned assets at that time as much as possible, and ensuring that the brand of Zhongcheng Institute did not fail under special historical conditions. In 1999, when many state-owned assets were still hesitant to wait and see about decoupling and restructuring, he took the initiative to strive to become a provincial and municipal reform pilot unit, taking the lead in the overall transformation into a partnership, ushering in the second spring of development.
He solved the contradiction between democracy and efficiency in management. There are two diametrically opposite situations in the management of many law firms. Either they are too democratic and inefficient, and partner meetings are held for major and minor matters, but they are often discussed without decision. Either it is called a partnership, but it is actually the director's own place. Although it is efficient, it has no democracy. The author believes that the ideal democratic model should not only ensure that each partner enjoys the equal rights conferred by the partnership system, but also have a partner who is well received, good at absorbing, refining, synthesizing and concentrating the will and wisdom of all partners, dare to make decisions at critical moments, and achieve a balance between democracy and efficiency. Wang Guangren undoubtedly has a high prestige in Zhongcheng Renhe, but he not only respects the rights of other partners, but also dares and dares to take responsibility. It is precisely because of the good practice of this ideal democratic model that Zhongcheng Renhe ensures the rapid development after the reform.
He brought out a good team, a good wind. Wang Guangren is soberly aware that since we want to open a "century-old shop", after a certain stage of development, we should not rely too much on the personal role of a certain person, so that more efforts can be spent on training young lawyers, establishing a standardized and scientific management mechanism, and cultivating a unique lawyer culture. He is open-minded to attract outstanding lawyers to join the ranks of partners, and many years of management experience unreservedly passed on to them. As a successful barrister and lawyer, he is still so dedicated, rigorous and meticulous in treating every case, setting an example for young lawyers. As a founder, he never takes credit for himself, but is willing to suffer losses and is willing to contribute. A lot of the business in the institute is directed at him, but he is the common source of the whole institute. In 1993, when the State-owned Institute implemented the benefit wage, he offered to take the average. After the restructuring, he looked at the business situation and income of the whole lawyer every month, and found that whichever young lawyer has less business will give part of his business to which lawyer. He said that he must strive not to let a lawyer's income decline while the overall income of the whole firm increases year by year, so that everyone can live a good life together. It is precisely because of Wang Guangren's exemplary and leading role at all times that he has a good team and a good style.
by culture
If a law firm can form its own unique mature culture, it will have a spirit and soul. As long as the spirit does not fall and the soul does not die, the law firm will remain alive forever. After an in-depth study of many well-known enterprises, the author of "Everlasting Foundation" found that those companies that live forever and those that continue to grow and move forward must have a common spirit and philosophy. it must have established a corporate culture that embodies the core values of the enterprise. This finding is equally applicable to the legal profession. In the past 20 years, it is precisely by relying on the cohesive, guiding, and educational effects of the benevolence and culture that the common vision, mission and core values of all adults have been subtly formed, and they have become the spiritual pillar of all benevolence and people, and become the tree of all benevolence. The foundation of flourishing leaves for 20 years.
To be a lawyer is a noble cause. This is the core of Zhongcheng culture, and it is also the Zhongcheng spirit that Zhongcheng adults speak year after year, month after month, and every day. Chinese people often say that people do things and get things done by people. The Analects of Confucius says: "He is also filial and friendly, but he is good at committing crimes, which is rare; he is not good at committing crimes but good at committing crimes, which is not good at all. A gentleman is based on his principles and is born by his principles." All adults are well aware of this, so they have always adhered to their own principles of employing and being a human being, emphasizing being a human being in advance and being a lawyer in advance. They believe that if a lawyer does not have a noble, upright and honest character and ethics, the lawyer profession is likely to become a tool to satisfy his personal desires, and he will not truly reflect the value of the lawyer profession in the practice process, nor will he truly integrate into the culture of taking the lawyer profession as a noble cause. No matter how much income such a person can bring to the people, they will not hesitate to shut it out. It is with such a group of like-minded people with lofty ideals that, in the eyes of all adults, lawyers are not only a profession to support their families, but also a noble cause for which they are willing to devote all their enthusiasm and painstaking efforts. in order to do great things and create great undertakings, we have achieved all benevolence and today's brilliant cause.
Responsible for customers, employees and society. These are the core values of all adults. -- Be responsible to customers, regard service first as the foundation of law firms to settle down, and put forward the service standard of "excellence and perfection". It is precisely because of this seemingly harsh standard that Zhongchengbenevolence has maintained a proud record of zero complaints since its establishment 20 years ago, that is, no lawyer has been reported for violating professional ethics and practice discipline, and no client has complained because of dissatisfaction with the quality of service, there has not been a single incident of loss to the client due to the fault of the lawyer's work. -Be responsible to the employees. For every lawyer and administrative assistant, give opportunities to those who want to do things, give positions to those who can do things, and give status to those who do things, so as to leave a way for each employee to rise in his career. At the same time, it effectively addresses the risks of lawyers' practice and the worries of employees. In Jinan City, it took the lead in insuring the lawyer's practice liability insurance with a maximum amount of 6 million yuan, insured all employees with endowment insurance, unemployment insurance, personal injury accident insurance, social medical insurance, commercial medical insurance, and paid the housing accumulation fund. All the above expenses are borne by the partners.
-- Being responsible to society, being enthusiastic about public welfare, repaying society, and helping the poor are the conscious actions of all adults. In the 20 years since the establishment of the institute, they have always been scrambling for disaster relief, donations and materials, and the amount of donations is always the largest in the Jinan lawyer circle; the province's first youth lawyer volunteer service team was established in Zhongcheng, and regularly went to schools or juvenile control The school conducts legal publicity and education; the province's first compulsory legal consultation room for the disabled was set up by Zhongcheng in Jinan Disabled Persons' Federation, and so far it has provided free legal services to more than 200 disabled people; established the province's first environmental sanitation worker rights protection lawyer group; since 2001, every year on the eve of Teacher's Day, Zhongcheng lawyers will award the "Excellent Gardener Award" and "Excellent Student Award" to teachers and students of Niubao Township Middle School in Shanghe County; For the investigation and evidence collection of labor claims in Shandong Province against Japan, many lawyers traveled to Jinan, Weifang, Dezhou and other places, and traveled tens of thousands of miles to Japan to participate in lawsuits with victimized workers, all expenses are paid by the office. It is through such activities that all adults cultivate lawyers' sense of social responsibility and establish a good image of the lawyer industry.
One family, one mind, one strength, doing great things and creating great undertakings. This is the team spirit of all adults. The party, labor, youth, and women's organizations of Zhongcheng Institute are all available. They not only organize and carry out various activities, but also shoulder the important task of "asking about the cold and warmth" and doing a good job in logistics and welfare work. The same people help each other, comrades together. In Zhongcheng Institute, if you are ill and hospitalized, the institute will visit you in time and arrange escort; when everyone celebrates his birthday, the trade union will give you a cake; the "March 8th" female compatriots will receive the care of the women's workers' committee; the children of lawyers on June 1 will receive a gift; and the Mid Autumn Festival and Spring Festival every year are the days for the "legal" family members of all employees to reunite. Through these activities, Zhongcheng has become a haven, a warm home, and a kind of emotional support for lawyers who have been busy for many years, so that everyone has a sense of belonging, trust, and intimacy. Conducive to the formation of a good interpersonal relationship between lawyers and enhance cohesion, and at the same time subtly cultivate the team spirit of "holding together to fight the world.
by operating
Business, according to the dictionary explanation, contains the meaning of planning, planning, organization. According to management scientists, management is a process of analyzing, formulating and implementing strategic objectives. At present, many excellent law firms are exploring the introduction of successful business philosophy, operating mechanism, and operating methods into law firms. The most important thing is to determine the business philosophy that suits you. After the successful restructuring of Zhongchengrenhe Institute, it put forward the business philosophy of "seeking momentum first, then profit", centering on the work center of the party and the government, serving the overall situation of economic and social development, seizing the high-end market of legal services as a breakthrough, grasping the development direction and market positioning, seizing the rare opportunity of accelerating development, thus creating the glory of the second entrepreneurship.
After the restructuring, the adults made a high-level decision, judged the hour and sized up the situation, promptly transferred their main forces to the main battlefield serving the overall situation of economic and social development, grasped the big and put the small, and focused their services on relying on the team to provide comprehensive supporting services for large projects. we will vigorously expand the high-end market dominated by non-litigation business. In Zhongcheng Institute, politics is not empty or empty. Whenever the party and the state hold an important meeting, promulgate an important document, or the leader makes an important speech, the institute should hold a meeting in time to organize all lawyers to study and understand the spiritual essence. At the beginning of each year, it is a compulsory course for them to earnestly study the work reports of the central, provincial, and municipal governments. They know that they do not understand politics, the situation, and policies, and they cannot grasp the direction or the market. The construction of provincial capital urban agglomeration is a major strategic measure for Shandong Province to accelerate regional economic integration and promote the coordinated development of the province's economy and society during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhongcheng Renhe chose an excellent law firm in each of the seven cities in the provincial capital city group to form a lawyer group. The purpose is to further expand and strengthen itself in the process of providing legal services for the development of provincial capital urban agglomerations. This practice of Zhongcheng Renhe has been highly valued by the provincial and municipal party committees and governments. Comrade Jiang Daming, then deputy secretary of the provincial party committee and secretary of the Jinan Municipal CPC Committee, specially gave instructions to care about the development of Zhongcheng Renhe Lawyers Group and give support to its work.
Relying on keen political awareness, overall situation awareness, and market awareness, Zhongcheng has served as the legal consultant of nearly 100 government departments and large enterprises and institutions in Jinan in recent years, and has participated in a series of major construction projects and key projects in the provincial capital. Legal service work. In 2003, Jinan City began a new round of large-scale urban construction. They signed a contract with the Urban Construction Headquarters to provide full-process legal services, which became an important symbol of Jinan City's urban reconstruction in accordance with the law; in the Luneng Fuji with an investment of up to 3.2 billion yen In the electric co., Ltd. project, the contract and articles of association drafted by Zhongcheng lawyers have now become the model for the entrusting party to start a joint venture project; when Sinotruk and Volvo of Sweden invested 1.6 billion yuan to build Asia's largest heavy truck production base, the outstanding performance of all adults won sincere praise from their negotiating opponents: "Chinese lawyers are well prepared in relevant materials and have profound knowledge in foreign investment legal affairs. Without the high-level professional work of Chinese lawyers, the project could not have been signed so quickly and smoothly." The adults of this project have worked hard for two months, and the remuneration is only 20000 yuan, and the service fee of foreign lawyers is calculated at a few hundred dollars per hour, but Wang Guangren said: "This is a big project in the city. Do it with all your heart." Other major construction projects such as "Sunshine 100 International New City" and "Wal-Mart Mall" in Jinan have busy adults.
Those who are good at playing games seek momentum, while those who are not good at playing games seek children. All adults know that only by taking into account the overall situation and planning the overall situation can we grasp the general trend, otherwise, even if one thing is slightly small, it will eventually lose the long-term. Therefore, they serve the overall situation with the awareness of the overall situation, always put the quality of service in the first place, and never care about those petty profits. When doing the asset write-off business for Laigang Group, time was tight and the task was heavy. Nine lawyers worked more than ten hours a day for more than a month, and analyzed and verified 1676 asset loss items one by one. The remuneration was only more than 70000 yuan. However, they still issued 378 legal opinions meticulously in accordance with the service standards of all adults who strive for perfection and perfection. It is precisely by relying on the correct business philosophy and high-quality service that all adults have won the overall situation, won the long-term, and won the due returns, and have achieved both social and economic benefits year after year.
by management
One person relies on struggle, two people rely on cooperation, and three people rely on management. As long as three people become a crowd, they need management. The management of a law firm is not only a cliché, but also an eternal theme, and it is an unavoidable topic to explore the road to success of any law firm. Speaking of the management of law firms, people will first think of establishing rules and regulations. Indeed, this is the basis of management. However, in fact, there is no shortage of rules and regulations in any law firm in China. In the annual inspection, the author found that a small office with only five or six people copied the rules and regulations of a large office with more than a dozen business departments. After many years of restructuring, the rules and regulations of the state-owned capital office are still in use. What's the use of more rules and regulations written on paper, pasted on the wall and shown to the administrative organs. Therefore, the biggest problem in the management of law firms is not the lack of systems, but whether the systems can be strictly implemented. However, as the best-selling book "Implementation" that once swept the world, implementation is a worldwide management problem. In the past 20 years, Zhongcheng Institute has established 78 rules and regulations with more than 140000 words in 7 categories, ranging from political learning to democratic management, from job responsibilities to daily management, from practice norms to business rules, from case receipt to filing, from quality control to integrity construction. How can such a large number of systems be implemented in place? There are only two secrets.
One is to grab from the seemingly trivial details. Lao Zi said: If the world is difficult, it must be done easily. Great events in the world must be done in detail. Details determine success or failure. Therefore, Zhongcheng's management starts from the speech and behavior of all employees to their clothes, from indoor hygiene to office sitting posture, from the tone of answering the phone to the attitude of receiving customers, and even from the placement of table cards and flowerpots. On the morning of the second day when he went to work in Zhongcheng Institute, a young lawyer was busy keeping the work log of the previous day. At this time, two old lawyers were cleaning up. When Wang Guangren saw this, he taught him to know how to be a person in advance. A few days later, the lawyer was late again while taking turns on duty. Wang Guangren criticized him for not being able to do such small things as observing the time. Can he do his duty in serving customers. Later, the lawyer wrote about these past events with emotion in the essay "I and Zhongcheng" held on the 16th anniversary of the founding of Zhongcheng Institute, and thanked Zhongcheng Institute for its strict management, which made him develop good habits in the initial stage of his career as a lawyer. These are often regarded as trivial details of the daily code of conduct, these seemingly simple, ordinary "trivial", but it is precisely the most difficult for many law firms to do for a long time, but they actually determine the authority of law firm management, determines whether the law firm can carry out effective management. When introducing Haier's management, Zhang Ruimin said: It is not simple to do every simple thing well, and it is extraordinary to do every ordinary thing well. Over the past 20 years, Zhongcheng Institute has persistently and unremittingly asked its employees, whether they are doing things or being human, to start with small things, to start with details, and to be able to do small things well in order to make the career bigger, so that simple and ordinary small things become not simple and extraordinary.
The second is to work hard and use stupid methods to grasp and grasp repeatedly. The various management systems of many law firms are not lax, untrue, and not detailed. They have also been ruthlessly implemented and implemented, but they can persist for three months, half a year, and one year. After a long period of time, they will be tired before they know it. A little looser today, a little looser tomorrow, and soon the same old habits will recur. All adults know that the management of a law firm is a very boring task. It is impossible to do it once and for all, nor can it achieve results overnight. There is no opportunity to vote, and there is no chance to take it. It can only rely on painstaking, patience, and perseverance. Year after year, day after day, grasp repeatedly. For example, it is required to dress uniformly in the office during working hours. For a period of time when it was first implemented, some employees could not meet this requirement in midsummer and severe winter. For this reason, the institute specially purchased two sets of clothes for each person and put one set in the institute, so as to ensure the implementation of this system. It is through years of strict management that all adults have realized the transformation from habit to habit, from habit to nature, from nature to part of public culture, imperceptibly permeating every employee and completing the transformation from heteronomy to self-discipline.
Over the past 20 years, Zhongchengrenhe has experienced the process of starting, growing, frustrating, re-starting and re-growing of a law firm, which is very rare. It is a wealth and a textbook for us to discuss the management and development of law firms. In the era of many state-owned "time-honored brand" after the ashes, public benevolence and because of this "four rely on", still become one of the industry pioneers leading the development of Shandong lawyer industry, in the lawyer industry there are too many "you sing I appear, each leading the coquettish three to five years", "a poor and two white when the joys and sorrows, rich when the family break up" phenomenon today, the significance of benevolence and management of the special reference.

(This article was published in the 9th issue of Chinese Lawyer magazine in 2007)