About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

In the past two years, being in charge of the Group’s legal work, I have led the legal team to participate in the management and decision making process of the Group’s major non-litigation projects and important cases. These include domestic and foreign mergers and acquisitions, mixed ownership reform and pilot projects for state-owned SOE reform, the Belt and Road Initiative’s overseas engineering projects, non-litigation projects such as capital operation and asset management, as well as a property dispute case that involved hundreds of millions of Yuan.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

As in-house lawyers, we must first recognise the importance of becoming a key business partner. In-house lawyers form an important part of the overall management system. Only by working with the business can we fulfil our duties and ensure the regular and effective operation of the company. Having the right understanding on this subject is the foundation of an in-house lawyers’ work and our collaboration with the others. In-house legal counsel should also break through the inherent limitations of being professionals, and try to think more from others’ perspectives. We should try to learn and communicate more, understand the company’s strategy, business and development direction more deeply, keep abreast of the needs of business development, ensure legal and business are going in the same direction, and be able to grasp the key points. We should avoid acting blindly, making indiscreet remarks or criticisms, or making simple assumptions. In-house lawyers should dedicate themselves to work together with business partners in order to discover, analyse, and solve problems. Finally, in-house lawyers should be professional, reliable, and useful. We should ensure our independence, by working with the business rather than accommodating without principles. In-house lawyers shall promote the law through appropriate methods, set an example by establishing legal authority, promote compliance awareness and a culture of rule of law, and create a good environment for the rule of law. Through hard and skilful work, in-house counsel will be able to truly reflect the unique value of the legal function and establish a good reputation.

What “legal tech” products do you currently utilise, and do you foresee implementing more of these in the near future?

Legal risk management needs to be achieved by effective means and is founded on informatisation and process management. Case management systems, risk assessment processes and systems, contract management and model optimisation all require technical support. Every day we use the industry’s authoritative organisations and well-known websites to conduct legal-related searches. These peripheral searches can help us quickly find the latest laws, past cases, relevant legal articles and opinions, and help us carry out due diligence work. In the future, legal informatisation and intelligence are the general trend, and its application in legal work will be broader and deeper. Shanghai Electric Group is also making efforts to promote the construction of legal informatisation as well as strengthen internal and external resource management and risk management.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

Shanghai Electric Group’s business covers a wide range of areas. The legal environment and regulatory requirements faced by different industries, regions and entities are very specific and there are considerable differences. In short, important laws, regulations, policies and judicial practices at home and abroad all have impacts on the Group’s operations and legal work. The development and changes in company law, contract law, fiscal and taxation law, environmental law, and procedural law are relatively influential. Recently, the Chinese government has vigorously promoted the optimisation of business environments and has introduced many new laws, regulations and policies, which have greatly affected enterprises. Changes in the international economic and trade situation will also have an impact on the external legal environment, and will also affect business decisions to varying degrees.

When selecting a law firm, what criteria do you evaluate the potential firms by?

Quality first: When selecting external counsels, we first consider whether they have the relevant and professional competence in the field, as well as if they can provide high quality legal services, and are able to grab the key legal points. Timely response: The response speed is also an issue to consider when it comes to selecting a lawyer. In particular, for some urgent questions or projects, it’s important to have prompt responses in line with the overall time requirement. Be practical and reliable: We also consider if they are familiar with the company and are able to provide suggestions regarding management issues. Lawyers who are familiar with the company can improve communication efficiency, reduce communication costs and obstacles. Because they understand the company’s needs, they may propose more tailor-made management advice after providing legal services to help the company continue to improve and avoid risks. Be cost-effective: The price of legal services is not the only factor we consider in choosing law firms, but it is an important factor. It is also an important duty for in-house lawyers to choose a cost-effective law firm. Value-added services: For example, the law firm can provide relevant trainings and legal information for the company. Be loyal and credible: External counsels that we work with for the long term must be compatible and have similar values with the company.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

With the continuous development of the Group, it is believed that our legal team will play an increasingly important role. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen cooperation with external legal counsels, achieving greater effectiveness. In the future, when the company’s strategy is formulated, we can analyse the judicial environment and pre-judge the legislative trend. In the specific implementation process of the company’s strategy, we’ll comprehensively analyse specific problems from the perspectives of both business and legal. We as in-house lawyers will play an irreplaceable role on the basis of professionalism and management experience.