The Ten Years of Winners in the LAW

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"Later, I gradually learned that the rules of the Union are very reasonable, such as that if a member applies as the Host to organize Union meeting, the member does not bear any fees. This is unlike the 2008 China Olympic Games, because the construction of many venues made the subsequent host countries difficult to do ... "

"In 2007, after two years of observation (I would like to be observed, because members who are in observation do not pay the fee), the Winners Law Firm formally obtained the membership in January ... ..."

"The seven Chinese members are the largest team in the Asia-Pacific region. The alliance desires to develop more members in China, especially in Beijing, the middle and western regions..."

The Ten Years of Winners in the LAW

A Union with clear rules

A story of dog-donkey village

The Union has following characteristics:

01. In principle, only one member is developed in a city. Later, there may be two members in some particularly large cities through the resolution to amend the statute because some members in big cities are not proportional to the size of their city.

02. The Union is not exclusive, nor does it restrict membership to join other forms of coalition.

03. The Union holds global and regional annual meetings. It is required that members should attend meetings at least annually. Through meetings, members are able to mutual understand, be familiar, become close friends and to establish a relationship of trust, to facilitate future cooperation with each other.

04. Operators who can speak fluent English are required in every member firm by the Union so that it is able to contact certain lawyers in time. There are usually one or two main operators. A large number of contacts are achieved by email: voting, looking for cooperative lawyers, issuing announcements and sharing business information.

05. For assistance requests from any member in the Union, a response should be given within 48 hours, but it is not necessary to provide assistance, nor is it confined to work with members every case.

06. The Union encourages members to introduce business between each other. The secretariat timely inform members on statistics of mutual business introduction situation.

07. Emails of seeking assistance are sent by secretariat among all the members, like “Who can recommend a lawyer in Kazakhstan for a member in US?” Members are willing to recommend lawyers.

08. Members also regularly publish their local business information by themselves or secretarial office, such as “My clients desire to buy several resort hotels in China. Relevant information is highly appreciated.” Members can use a wide range of international resources to provide valuable service for customers.

In 2015, Leon, a lawyer in Darwin, Australia, came to China with his client, who built a mineral water plant in Australia to produce high quality mineral water and desire to develop the Chinese market. One of our customers in Tianjin has built a complete network of food and beverage sales all over the China, who is the ideal partner of the Australian client. In this case, we help to build cooperative partnership between the clients from Australia and China.

One day, I received a message from the chairman of the Union, Brian, in New Zealand, saying that his client and a carpet factory at Dog Lv Village in Wuqing Distract in Tianjin were discussing business and need us to investigate the creditworthiness of this carpet company. I wondered whether there is a “Dog-donkey village” (Lv is Chinese pronunciation of donkey ) in Wuqing. However, the “Dog-donkey village” was not exist on any map even through Baidu search. After repeated study of the map, a Dong-lv village was finally found. The misunderstanding was due to the misspelling of Dong-lv village in to “Dog Lv Village”. At last, I introduced a friend in Wuqing to help this client to contact the carpet factory and they built solid cooperative relationship.

09. The membership fee (entry fee) is required to every new member joining the Union. The original annual fee was 3,000 US dollar and now is 5,000 US dollar. Besides, the meeting fee and the travel expenses for the meeting is paid by firms themselves. For domestic small and medium-sized law firms, this expense is not cheap at all, but it depends on how you consider the value.

10. Members are approved with strict conditions by the Union so that only qualified firms are able to join in the Union. There is thorough investigation to firms which apply membership and the final decision is made by vote of previous members. Years ago, a Thai member lost its membership because it did not pay the annual fee. The Thai firm had to re-apply to join and pay the entrance fee again because membership cannot be recovered by making up lost annual fees.

11. The annual meeting covers a wide range of content, including exchange of experience, introduction of new business, stories about success, and introduction of the economic situation of each country.

The rules within the Union are also discussed. It is typical form of Western democracy in voting financial budget, the final accounts, the election executive member and chairman.

The Winners was invited as an observer to attend the Asia-Pacific Annual Conference in Hong Kong in 2005 and the global annual meeting held in Beijing in 2006. In 2007, the Winners became a formal member and served as the host of the China Sub-regional meeting. In 2009, Mr. Bai Xianyue was elected as representative in the Asia Pacific region and global executive member. Additionally, the Winners organized the Asia Pacific Annual Conference in 2012. The Winners has been focused on the establishment of an international network. After joining the LAW, there are following advantages:

01. After joining the Union, the Winners can provide customers global legal services with trusted partners all over the world. Through the Union network, we assist the China Development Bank in Central America business with the support and a lot of resources from LAW in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela and other areas, which also help us maintain customer relationship. Customers would choose other law firms and we would lose not only international business, but also domestic business if there are not reliable international resources in the Winners from the Law.

02. The Winners received plenty of business in diverse fields introduced by LAW members and the business volume have been increasing year by year.

03. Lawyers from the Winners have precious opportunities to participate in international conferences. Through these meetings, lawyers gained knowledge, expanded horizons and enhance the ability to deal with international business.

04. A close and cooperative relationship is established among Chinese members. At present, the Chinese members exchange a variety of information through email. It is welcome to have more Chinese law firms joining the Union.

05. The Winners expands the influence as a member of LAW, an international union. One of the reasons that the Winners consecutively won prices from ALB, China Law & Practice and Chambers is the membership of LAW.