Text / Cao Yuanjun

This article was published in the second issue of 2023 of the magazine "China Lawyers."

In today’s rapidly developing digital economy, the young lawyer community holds significant social value and plays a crucial role in driving economic growth. The legal profession possesses both strong public-interest characteristics and distinctly prominent market-oriented attributes. Comprehensively enhancing lawyers’ political awareness and professional competence, and systematically conducting learning supervision and competency competitions, are vital pathways for promoting the sustainable improvement of practicing lawyers’ capabilities. From an applied perspective, we must engage in empirical thinking and research the current state and potential applications of legal human resources, thereby better serving societal progress and economic development.

I. Current Status of the Young Lawyers’ Team

As of June 2022, the country had a total of 605,000 lawyers and more than 37,000 law firms. By the end of 2021, there were 22 provinces with a total number of lawyers exceeding 10,000, including 7 provinces and cities with over 30,000 lawyers (Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan). Liaoning Province currently has over 20,000 practicing lawyers and more than 1,300 law firms, placing it at the forefront in Northeast China and in the middle range nationwide.

In recent years, the total number of lawyers in Liaoning has been steadily increasing, and their knowledge and age structures have continued to improve. They have made outstanding contributions to providing legal services to the public, conducting risk assessments around major economic development strategies and key projects at the provincial and municipal levels, and enhancing the business environment—thus playing a vital role in supporting the development of private enterprises. However, from a deeper perspective—considering development standards and innovation requirements—there still remain certain shortcomings.

First, the overall quantity is insufficient, and the proportion of lawyers per 10,000 people is low. As the capital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang can be regarded as the central city of Northeast China. Yet, its lawyer-to-population ratio stands at only 6.3 per 10,000 people. Practical experience in regional economic development has shown that the number of lawyers per 10,000 people is an important indicator for gauging the convenience of public access to legal services and the strength of the public’s awareness of the rule of law. A high lawyer-to-population ratio reflects a favorable law enforcement environment, strong public awareness of the rule of law, and easy accessibility of legal services for the public. At the same time, increasing the lawyer-to-population ratio can also facilitate the transformation and upgrading of the local economy, advance the building of a democratic and law-based society, promote harmony and stability in people’s lives, and bolster ecological and environmental development. The causes behind the low lawyer-to-population ratio are multifaceted; among them, enhancing public legal awareness, strengthening the demand for legal services from social organizations, intensifying publicity about the rule of law, and promoting learning, applying, and popularizing the law throughout society are all fundamental measures for addressing this issue.

Second, there is insufficient growth, leading to a brain drain in the legal profession. The legal profession is highly competitive. In recent years, influenced by the broader economic environment, societal demand for legal services has significantly declined, making it increasingly difficult for law firms to survive. As a result, many young lawyers have chosen to switch careers and pursue other professions, leading to an insufficient replenishment of new talent in the legal industry. Some law firms rely heavily on senior lawyers to sustain their operations, which in turn constrains their capacity for sustainable development. The weakening demand in the legal services market and the slow pace of structural upgrading in economic development have contributed to the outflow of legal professionals. Additionally, factors such as high work pressure and unstable income levels in the legal profession are also major drivers behind this brain drain.

Third, the quality is relatively low, and there is a lack of motivation for the regeneration of lawyers’ professional capabilities. The legal profession requires not only strong professional expertise but also extensive social experience, as well as a solid understanding of multiple disciplines such as economics, politics, history, and management. Such career demands can easily lead to issues like having high educational qualifications and high expectations yet low practical skills; possessing high theoretical proficiency and strong cognitive abilities but lacking sufficient case-handling experience; having abundant specialized knowledge and deep legal common sense yet weak capabilities in comprehensive analysis and cross-disciplinary integration; being highly capable in handling small or individual cases but less adept at tackling major, high-profile cases.

II. Career Development of the Young Lawyers’ Team

In 2022, China’s digital economy reached a market size of 50 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world. The penetration rate of the digital economy in the tertiary sector reached 40.7%, with the scale of industrial digitalization amounting to 37.18 trillion yuan, accounting for 32.5% of GDP. The rapid development of digital technologies will inevitably transform and disrupt traditional thinking and production relations across all industries, while also giving rise to entirely new professions, job roles, and business opportunities. The legal services industry will likewise undergo transformation alongside societal changes, prompting a rethinking of industry development models and career paths for professionals in the field.

First, enhance awareness of the digital economy and improve individual digital literacy. Young lawyers today face three major new environments: the digital economy, digital government, and smart courts. To adapt to the entirely new business upgrades brought about by digital transformation, young lawyers must not only enhance their professional expertise but also quickly adapt to and deeply integrate with the changes occurring in the digital economy and society.

In 2021, courts across the country received 11.439 million online case filings, accounting for more than 50% of first-instance cases. A series of intelligent processes—including online court sessions, electronic case files, electronic evidence, electronic service of process, and smart trial support—have been fully integrated into the digital age, alongside collaborative office systems, case management tools, customer service platforms, and knowledge management systems adopted by major law firms. Therefore, understanding the application of digital technologies in legal services has become a brand-new mission and historical responsibility entrusted to young lawyers in the era of the digital economy.

Second, build a professional team and enhance individual brand influence. Digital technologies are rapidly penetrating the legal services industry. A large number of repetitive, low-end, and process-oriented tasks will be replaced by artificial intelligence, and digitally assisted legal services will become the new norm. The emergence of legal tech companies is enabling the integration of electronic contracts, electronic evidence, and blockchain into legal services, making lawyers’ specialization and branding even more critical. Users will be able to gain deep insights into lawyers’ case-handling experience, professional qualifications, client feedback, and courtroom performance through online platforms. Based on data and algorithms, users will be able to create detailed profiles of lawyers and make informed choices accordingly. In the context of the digital economy, lawyers face both heightened challenges and unprecedented opportunities; therefore, enhancing their professional expertise and building strong brand influence should be top priorities for lawyers.

Third, cultivate an internet mindset and adapt to the new business model for legal services. In the era of the digital economy, young lawyers must not only learn and carry forward traditional approaches to work planning, case-handling procedures, and exemplary experiences, but also promptly embrace new concepts—collaboration, sharing, innovation, and symbiosis—that are characteristic of the digital economy.

In the face of evolving user needs, we must gradually transform traditional work habits and operational models. We need to learn how to create value for users in legal services, empower society through lawyers’ case handling, and serve the bigger picture through advisory services. It’s crucial to clearly recognize which aspects of legal services constitute core competencies, which are foundational skills, and which fall into the category of “disruptive legal services” that can be replaced by artificial intelligence. In the future, lawyers’ competitors will no longer be limited to fellow practitioners—they’ll also include legal tech companies—competitors armed with cutting-edge technology, entirely new business models, low costs, and platform-based services.

The emergence of legal tech companies has not only transformed the methods and approaches of legal services but, more importantly, has made them cost-effective and highly efficient. A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and individual users of legal services will become clients of these legal tech companies. As a result, many law firms will see their business being taken over by legal tech companies, making the challenges and competition faced by practicing lawyers even more complex. Young lawyers must adopt a completely new perspective, an open mindset, and cutting-edge ideas to deeply explore the past, present, and future of the legal services industry.

Law firms need to build a leadership team that drives digital transformation—partners who possess both strong leadership skills and a forward-looking digital vision, as well as a deep understanding of the business logic of the digital economy and the systemic capabilities required for digital management and implementation. They must also cultivate a legal team proficient in using digital tools. In the future, the smart cloud-based office model will become mainstream, and human-machine collaboration will inevitably become the norm. Tools such as intelligent search, intelligent user management, and intelligent document management have already become essential capabilities for this new working paradigm. Furthermore, law firms need to establish a digital operations and maintenance team equipped with the ability to collect, organize, filter, and analyze data. Such teams can be formed by the firm itself based on specific needs, or they can be outsourced or operated through collaborative partnerships.

About the Author:

Cao Yuanjun

A member of the Communist Party of China, he currently serves as the Party Secretary and Managing Partner of Liaoning Tongfang Law Firm, a deputy to the Shenyang Municipal People’s Congress, a member of the Party Committee of the Lawyers’ Industry in Shenyang City, Vice President of the Shenyang Lawyers Association, Executive Director of the Liaoning Provincial Lawyers Association, and Director of the Specialized Committee for Guiding the Construction of Law Firms under the Liaoning Provincial Lawyers Association.

Has received honorary titles including National Outstanding Party Member Lawyer in the Legal Profession, National Outstanding Lawyer, Liaoning Province Outstanding Lawyer, Liaoning Province Outstanding Party Member Lawyer in the Legal Profession, Liaoning Province’s First Class of Outstanding Young Lawyers, and Shenyang City’s First Top Ten Young Lawyers.