Super Idea

What is identification? 

Please firstly look at a dialogue between Lawyer A and General Counsel B: 

Lawyer A: Are you familiar with the law firm selected by you? 

General Counsel B: I am not sure, but I must know them. 

Lawyer A: Why do you select an unfamiliar law firm? 

General Counsel B: Because we identify it. 

Lawyer A: What do you identify? 

General Counsel B: We identify its brand, profession, team, idea, etc. 

Lawyer A: What do you rely on for judgment? 

General Counsel B: We rely on feeling. We hope that we are matched.。We must be perfectly matched. 

Lawyer A: Please give an example. 

General Counsel B: For example, we mustn’t employ the law firms which are employed by our major competitors, but we must employ the law firms with the same brand and industry influence, or else, we feel that we are not matched. 

Lawyer A: Why? 

General Counsel B: Because we don’t hope that our name seems especially abrupt in the list of similar clients, even if the law firm is very excellent in other aspects. 

How interesting it is! The “identification” controls the destiny of lawyers? What is “identification”? Is it really a kind of feeling? Our law firm finally wins the clients, besides based on sense of security, what do we rely on? It is really worthy of being thought by us as lawyers, and is more worthy of being thought by us as law firms. 

When I began to be a lawyer, there were only more than 3,000 lawyers in Beijing, and the network was undeveloped, the information was not also symmetric, and the lawyers basically did the business of the acquaintance at that time. It seemed to be thoroughly changed for 20 years. The age when relation, acquaintance and resource were relied on to look for source of case originally might have been gone gradually, but the age when brand, scale, team, profession and performance are relied on to seize the source of case became the trend and irreversible. Perhaps the “identification” said by General Counsel means these aspects. 

It is not difficult to find that the lawyers with good performance own more and more old clients, and the old clients also constantly introduce new clients; The law firms who own more old clients must identify the lawyers and law firms. 

It is not difficult to find that the brand of the law firms with rapid performance growth is more and more prominent, the positive effect is stronger and stronger, and it is recognized by the industry and clients. 

How does the law firm make the clients have more sense of identity? 

How does the law firm make the clients have more sense of identity? 

In my opinion, in order to obtain the sense of identity of clients, the following rules must be followed: 

Firstly, it is a process for a law firm forming the word of mouth in the industry and among clients. The process takes a long time and has its objective laws. Lawyers live and develop with their specialty and compete with their performance. Both specialty and performance require time to harden and accumulate and can be presented in an objective and external form, and will not be shifted due to any accidental events. It will not be subject to the self-evaluation and publicity of the law firm. Therefore, we always believe that no matter what kind of management mechanism which the law firm adopts, it is always the right way, even the only way, to choose a professional way and keep on accumulating performance. 

Secondly, from the recognition to the identification of a law firm, the clients not only need full communication, but also need the inspection and reinforcement through actual cooperation. "Only the wearer knows if the shoes fit or not." For the same reason, the clients can know whether a law firm fits through cooperation. Industry reputation and brand can only settle the basic sense of security and initial identification, practice is necessary for really obtaining the identification. Therefore, the lawyers must fully grasp each opportunity of cooperation, especially the first opportunity of cooperation, to make the clients really feel the level of specialty and service, and fully demonstrate the service mode and management mechanism. 

Thirdly, sense of identity is not just about brand and scale, or specialty and team, but also about culture and philosophy. Generally, there are many law firms can well treat the same business. However, some clients will give up or distance themselves after working with some law firms. Why? It is really a matter of culture and philosophy, for example, does a law firm internally advocates unconditional support for any client? Is it integrated management? Is it willing to grow with the clients? Is it willing to do the best for your clients while maintaining the independence? Does it matter even in some small aspects, such as whether to be calculating in charging? Is it willing to work without contract when necessary? Etc. 

Fourthly, because a law firm is a whole, any behavior of a lawyer may affect the sense of identity of clients to this law firm. One partner of a law firm managed to obtain a large IPO order. Less than a month after it started the order, another partner of this law firm was investigated for violating the regulations in the securities market service process without formal punishment. After the news was disclosed, this client terminated their cooperation in the IPO project. It shows that two partners, seemingly unrelated, are linked together. At this time, the risk control of the law firm is particularly important.

As for the specific approach, it is very simple. In my opinion, we only need to do three things. 

Firstly, be yourself, make differentiation, and form core competitiveness. We are often impressed by the brand and influence of some law firms and respect the specialty of a lawyer. However, we often cannot pay attention to the previous efforts of this law firm or this lawyer. All law firms which can obtain clients’ identification must have its differentiation and core competitiveness. The competitiveness includes scale, specialty and service. A brand is to do well in specialty and service and distinguish itself with others. The best brand is do well in the aspect which cannot be handled by others. Sometimes, the narrower the specialty is, the wider the market is. Just as there are no two identical cases in the world, there are no two identical law firms or lawyers in the industry. Do not imitate others in the construction and management of the law firm. The best law firm is the one which most fits you. The competitiveness is to do your best. The scariest thing is to want to do everything and do nothing well. 

Secondly, keep holding on, endure the loneliness and believe in the objective laws of market. Unlike some new business models that can become famous overnight and rise suddenly, enduring the loneliness is necessary for the lawyer industry. All of our current industry elites have been holding on for ten years, twenty years, or even longer. No matter how the industry changes, the lawyers are craftsmen firstly, and shall prove themselves with their classic works. The classic works require time and concentration. Although there is new and old replacement and survival of the fittest in the lawyer industry, but we believe that "experience counts" more! At any time, the industry successors shall have respect and thank to the predecessors in the industry. Moreover, we shall believe the market rules, do not be superstitious in the publicity and the media. Therefore, even if a lawyer can be famous for a while, it's hard to last. Because only “true gold” does not fear “fire”. 

Thirdly, abide by the industry rules, and maintain the legitimate interests of clients. Are there rules in the industry? Yes! Because the lawyers are capable of writing and conscious of rules, there must be many rules. However, as for the rules, I believe that they are not just the written norms and guidelines, but also the real and internal rules of the industry. For example, the lawyers shall have healthy and fair competition, and the industry shall respect each other, fulfill their social responsibilities, adhere to the baseline of morality and promote social progress. In addition, to safeguard the legitimate interests of customers, on account of that legitimacy represents legality and rationality, lawyers must safeguard the legitimate interests of customers while abiding by the rules of the industry, which is the fundamental to obtain customers’ sense of identity. Many of lawyers or law firms end up with problems of one kind or another. They may not be professional problems, nor a problems of scale or brand, but problems about the two principles. 

They seems like empty and insubstantial. Those who did it are successful, for both lawyers and law firms. 

Docvit is no exception and keeps moving forward. 

We insist on being a high-quality and powerful law firm, on specialization, on integrated management, on business innovation, on the corporate system model, on the service industry, on the cross-industry development. All these are gradually becoming our labels. We salute the industry pioneers, but never blindly follow, simply copy; We are committed to industry innovation, but never violate the rules of the industry or break the bottom line of the industry. 

Take specialization as the example. 

One of our main business areas is the financial capital market. Over the years, we have deepened our efforts in relevant fields. There are nearly a thousand project cases covering almost every field of the industry. Many cases are the first of their kind. There are more than 10 professional books, with many topics pioneered in the industry. 

We insist on compilation of professional articles. Less than three years, our professional original articles have reached more than 1,000. 

We insist on subject research and product development. Only in 2018, we studied six topics and developed 14 product lines. 

We focus on internal training with hundreds of trainings in a year, regardless of the scale. 

We advocate communication and research and conduct “the power of profession” activities per two weeks. 

We know this is a bit silly, but we think it's probably the only right thing to do.