With a profoundly deep understanding of law, Cui Qiang has accumulated extended experience as arbitral agent and litigator, and helped clients secure favourable results in most (over 95%) of the cases he has handled. In 2017 alone, he has been nominated as Rising Star by Asian Legal Business, and was recently selected as the youngest Panel Arbitrator of China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC), one of the major maritime arbitration institutions in the world. Mr. Cui reveals the secret behind his high success rate with legal cases, the challenges he has overcome along the way, and the ways in which the landscape of dispute resolution in China is evolving.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in order to be as established as you are now? What advice would you offer aspiring lawyers, in order to help them overcome potential hurdles?
While lawyers are expected to solve clients’ demanding problems, some of which are inevitably industry-specific, almost every question to solve in the cases I handled in my early career was outside my boundary of knowledge. This has been the biggest challenge for me for quite a long time. For instance, when I represented an equity investor, I had to handle issues concerning reassessment of equity price; when I acted for Schindler Elevator, I had to figure out issues concerning deficiency of design, manufacturing and installation; when I assisted CapitalMalls Asia in its real estate-related disputes, I had to research foreign investment regulation, restrictions and administrative approval on real estate transfer.
In order to secure the most favourable results for clients, a qualified lawyer is expected and required to gain a profoundly deep understanding of the specific laws for the cases he or she dealt with and have solid industry knowledge to at least enable himself or herself to understand and exchange technical opinions with industrial professionals. This means that every case needs a tremendous investment of time and energy, and more substantively, concentration and patience.
Young associates are advised to take good care of each and every assignment from their partners and seniors. Success is rather a by-product of continuous pursuit of professional excellence than what one “deserves” solely for his or her outstanding talents. Take nothing for granted. Build up your career step by step. You will succeed in the near future.
What was your main motivation behind specialising in the legal sector?
Under the capacity of a commercial lawyer, my job is primarily to promote economic efficiency, say, to take advantage of my knowledge, logic power and intelligence in avoiding or reducing misunderstandings, settling differences, and improving usage of capital, property and goods. When I seat as an arbitrator, I have two goals in mind: improving economic efficiency on the one hand, and pursuing justice and fairness on the other hand.
How are you hoping to see the Chinese legal sector progress in the future?
The Chinese legal sector has already come into the era of professionalism: judges, procurators, arbitrators, lawyers, in-house counsels, and law professionals are mostly law school graduates. While certain group of legal professionals have caught up with international standards, the overall level of Chinese legal community is not so satisfactory. Clients may find it difficult to put all their trust onto their legal counsel; lawyers are not confident in predicting judicial judgments. To sum, a long march is yet to cover for the Chinese legal progress.
What further advantage did you get from when you obtained your masters? What aspects took you by surprise when you were studying towards it?
I obtained a LLM degree from Penn Law in 2013, where I had a systematic understanding of case law study. Distinct from Chinese legal system, common law contains an actually quite accurate and user-friendly mechanism and way of thinking. During the past five years, Westlaw, LexisNexis, Kluwer and other premier legal databases have consecutively entered into Chinese market. The Supreme Court of the PRC established websites to publish judgements and rulings. Chinese legal practice has been exposed to increasing influence of common law. Nowadays, more and more legal professionals study and take reference to case law, of which some cases have gained status of quasi precedents. The one-year study at Penn Law let me know the importance and implications of common law, which, in a broader sense, will contribute to a more transparent judicial environment for China in the days to come.
What would you claim is key to being successful in your role? Share with us your secret for the high win ratio (over 95%) of your team.
- Stay 100% diligent, responsive and responsible;
- Keep learning and update skillset on a daily basis;
- Maintain good social network and,
- Always work with outstanding people in a given area.
Our team has been following the principles listed above and benefit a lot from them.
What is the landscape of dispute resolution in China?
The caseload is quite large while amounts in dispute are increasingly big. Normally, the duration for dispute resolution proceedings on average is shorter than that of the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and other developed jurisdictions. The transparency of procedure and fairness of case outcomes have been improved largely compared to those of 10 years ago. A noteworthy feature is that the number of arbitration cases have been rising with business community is more willing and likely to choose arbitration. During the past 30 years, Chinese court has established their arbitration-friendly standing. Only in exceptional situations, arbitral awards would be set aside or refused for recognition and enforcement.
Tell us about your firm, Commerce & Finance Law Offices or the connection between your success with your platform.
Commerce & Finance is a boutique firm highly specialised in providing bespoke legal solution for the capital chains. The practice areas of the firm include direct investment, VC, PE, M&A, IPO, international trade, anti-trust, and maritime, etc. The firm concentrates largely on legal matters within or closely connected with the capital chains, while paying little attention criminal defence, administrative litigations and other non-commercial legal affairs. As cases handled by our team are largely of commercial disputes, we have built and maintained a mutually complementary and supportive relationship with the transaction teams of the firm. In this regard, our clients, whether MNCs or local companies, do have full access to excellent legal support in both their transaction and dispute resolution.
CUI Qiang
Commerce & Finance Law Offices
Tel: 86-10-65693399
Phone: 86-13911457439
Fax: 86-10-65693838
Email: cuiqiang@tongshang.com
Partner at Commerce & Finance Law Offices, a leading PRC law firm headquartered in Beijing. His primary practice area is dispute resolution (arbitration and litigation) while he also advises clients on their daily operations especially for disputes-related issues.
Founded in 1992, Commerce & Finance is a pioneer and top competitor in the Chinese legal market. With 3 offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and approximately 300 legal professionals, the firm dedicates itself to providing solutions at the highest international standard and solving the clients' most demanding problems in a cost-effective way.
Commerce & Finance has unparalleled experience in full range of practice areas, with special focus on dispute resolution, corporate investment & finance, and securities. The firm handles the most complex and high-profile matters, contentious and non-contentious, in China and beyond, and advises clients from a broad array of industries in both their daily operation and critical situations.
