Event Report

The Legal 500’s first-ever in-person event in China since the pandemic was a huge success, with a wide selection of the top in-house lawyers in Shanghai attending Joint-Win Partners’ beautiful Shanghai Tower offices to share best practice on dispute resolution in the financial sector, while also discussing the burning issues of the day.

With the discussion overseen by Joint-Win executive director Hongyi Lu, proceedings were kicked off by The Legal 500’s Joe Boswell and Ben Lovell, who spoke about the importance of collaboration with China and the plans we have to build and consolidate our network in the world’s industrial powerhouse.

The respective sections of the two-hour long discussion were opened with an introduction from Joint-Win subject matter experts. Meng Tang held court first on the collaborative relationship between dispute resolution lawyer and clients, with the following conversation delving into getting the client-lawyer relationship right.

Zhenming Guan then kicked off a deep dive into the rapidly changing compliance challenges faced by financial institutions in litigation. A key discussion point here was the need to be objective while establishing the facts of the case, before becoming as subjective as possible when providing counsel.

Xin Qian’s section, new ideas on claims in financial litigation, outlined some of the avenues they have seen in their recent cases that may prove fruitful for their clients in the future. In particular, the intricacies of bankruptcy proceedings were outlined in detail, with the audience getting involved with potential future scenarios.

Yichen Zhang then investigated the changing role of commercial litigators in the digital age, as big data and other analytical tools provide a potential new paradigm for the profession. As always, the AI-focused section led to a forthright exchange of views from those in attendance.

This was an event that truly lived up to expectations, and a fine way to restart The Legal 500’s events in the People’s Republic of China. In a truly unforgettable setting, with panoramic views of the Huangpu river as the backdrop and a top-notch roster of both Joint-Win Partners and in-house legal talent taking part in the conversation, this was an event that will live long in the memory of those who were there.

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