Lu Yang, graduated from China University of Political Science and Law with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. He joined Tian Yuan in 2016 and was promoted to a partner in 2021. Before that, he worked in the legal compliance department of the headquarters of a large domestic insurance company. Lu Yang focuses on commercial litigation and arbitration, securities compliance and dispute resolution in the financial and insurance fields. In recent years, he has provided legal services such as dispute resolution, restructuring, asset and capital verification, and perennial consulting for many large enterprise groups, listed companies, insurance companies, banks and other clients.

 

Q: How did you change from the legal compliance department of the company to a practicing lawyer and quickly promoted to a partner?

 

A: When I first started working nine years ago, I remembered the teaching of "complete the transformation from a student to an employee as soon as possible" instructed by my superior. In fact, whether it is cross-industry or career transition, a legal practitioner is a process of continuous adaptation, and he must follow the role change, that is, "the position determines the idea".

 

The first is the change in the understanding of the position. The most essential difference between legal affairs and lawyers is that one is called "Party A" and the other is called "Party B". It is necessary to clarify one's own position. Different social roles determine the way each role thinks.

 

The second is to change your own requirements according to the needs of the position. The company's legal affairs are more about risk prevention, compliant operation, comprehensiveness, and focus on the breadth of knowledge and the connection with the

company's business; while lawyers need in-depth knowledge reserves, not necessarily proficient in all laws, but require to do their best in the field of practice, and need a lot of practical experience to provide support for legal services.

 

Besides, from a practicing lawyer to a partner, you need to look up from your desk work and think more about your own professional field and future development, team building, and investment in public affairs of the law firm from a higher perspective, which adds more management requirements.

 

Q: What are your considerations for taking insurance dispute resolution and securities compliance as areas of deep cultivation, and can you share how litigation lawyers take the professional path?

 

A: Professional services have become the current trend in the development of the legal industry. For dispute resolution lawyers, it is actually relatively difficult to choose a professional field, because the premise of choosing a professional field is to be familiar with the business in this field, and litigation lawyers are usually in contact with a certain link or issue of dispute resolution, and it is difficult to understand the whole picture of the business.

 

Benefiting from my previous work experience in an insurance company, I have a certain understanding and interest in the insurance industry and insurance business. In addition, there are few domestic law firms and lawyer teams specializing in dispute resolution in the insurance field, and Tian Yuan’s insurance team enjoys a leading position in the industry, so I chose dispute resolution in the insurance field as one of my professional fields.

 

The choice of the field of securities compliance is based on the interest and experience in securities affairs on the one hand, and has handled many representative cases in recent years. On the other hand, it is based on the understanding of the regulatory trend of strong supervision and strict law enforcement in the future. There will be more professional legal needs in the field of securities regulatory compliance, which will greatly promote the development of this type of business.

 

I understand that the professionalization path of litigation lawyers is mainly divided into two categories, one is the professionalization path rooted in the industry, such as the insurance or asset management industry, and the securities industry, and the other is the professionalization path based on the field of departmental law, such as the field of intellectual property and bankruptcy. At the same time, the choice of specialization also needs to have a higher threshold. For general civil disputes, contracts, infringement and other disputes, it is difficult to be a professional choice.

 

Finally, the choice of specialization should be based on one's own interests. In the process of legal services, lawyers need to continuously expand their understanding of industry knowledge and deepen their understanding of relevant laws. Part of their work will be to study or sort out cases, which requires them to be interested in their chosen industry or field. For example, at the beginning of this year, several lawyers from the insurance team and I completed two hot researches in subdivided fields, participated in the collection of papers on "insurance fraud and its prevention" organized by the Insurance Society of China, and published them in the journal "Insurance Theory and Practice" after review by many industry experts. One of them was also included in the special seminar topics organized by the society. We participated as the only group of lawyers and were affirmed by the participating experts. These jobs are paid by everyone outside the routine. If you are not interested in the industry, it will be difficult to persist in continuous learning or stay at the forefront of the industry.

 

Q: What suggestions do you have for young lawyers who are interested in becoming litigators?

 

A: First of all, it must be down-to-earth, hard-working and professional. This is career advice suitable for all young people.

 

The second is to be good at observation and careful comment, and it may also be general. Specific to litigation lawyers, it is necessary to look at not only senior lawyers and partners, but also clients, judges, arbitrators, and even opposing lawyers to discover the advantages of each person in a certain matter; they must also be good at observing people and things around them, such as the expression of the judge during the trial, the tone of a certain issue, what information is revealed by the body language of the opposing party and the opposing lawyer when discussing the case, etc. At the same time, prudent comments must be made. After all, litigation lawyers are a job that relies heavily on experience.

 

The third is to balance rigor and flexibility. An important part of a litigator's job is dealing with people and being able to obtain useful information in seemingly impossible circumstances. Whether it is court trials, negotiations, or investigations of property clues and debtors' ability to perform, you must give full play to your flexibility, not stick to textbooks and legal regulations, and really do your job well.

 

The fourth is to adapt to high-intensity work and maintain good physical fitness. Lawyers inevitably travel a lot and work overtime, especially for litigators. Young lawyers should be mentally prepared in advance, and know that although it is often an ideal state to feel that they are not afraid of hardship or tiredness, lawyers will finally struggle with physical strength under high-intensity mental work.

 

In the end, it depends on fate. People and work need to pay attention to fate, including the time when you find a job, which unit you enter, the fate of colleagues you meet at work, and the "self-fate" of whether you are really suitable to be a litigator. If you like to be a litigator, can do your job well, adapt to the content and rhythm of your work, and feel happy even though you are busy with work, then I understand that this is "fate has arrived". Being free or liking but lacking hard work or doing a good job but lacking passion may all be "destined but not destined". "Fate" is not the basis for judging whether a person is excellent, but only one of the reference standards for young legal professionals when choosing a career. It is suggested that young legal professionals can face this "fate" calmly, cherish the real fate, and don't be discouraged if there is no fate, maybe the fate is in a certain unit in the building next door.

 

Q: What are your future practice plans and goals?

 

A: I have been fortunate to have worked with the insurance team, dispute resolution team and other lawyers at Tian Yuan to handle some important projects and cases in the industry, such as the takeover of Anbang Group, the takeover of E’an Insurance, the restructuring project of Guo’an Group, the case of the largest penalty for a single securities in China, the first export buyer’s credit insurance dispute, and the first dispute over the definition of the identity of a member of the Issuing Examination Committee. My future goal is to continue to work hard in my own insurance dispute resolution and securities compliance, and strive to make more achievements.

 

Q: How is your working experience in Tian Yuan? What cultures attract you?

 

A: Although I have only been in Tian Yuan for more than five years, I still have a lot of feelings. It turned out that I had contacted many law firms and lawyers when I was in the company, and finally being able to join Tian Yuan was not only the fate mentioned just now, but also my luck. Tian Yuan is a place that can not only achieve the ultimate in legal work, but also implement humanistic care to the whole firm. Everyone is a comrade-in-arms at work and a friend when resting. The cooperation between the teams is very close, and everyone is willing to share, which is rare in the profession of lawyers who are used to working alone. Sincerely hope that we can continue to maintain, and I will strive to contribute more to the development of Tian Yuan.