The Forum on the Innovative Development of Law Firms, organized in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Guoshun Law Firm, was held in Beijing on August 16, 2019. At a roundtable under the forum, Professor Xi Yuemin, the head of the Economic Law Department of CASS Law Institute, took part in a dialogue with three other experts on the issue of orientation strategy of law firms in China.

In the dialogue, Professor Xi discussed the issue of innovative professionalization of law firms. He pointed out that professionalization is a major trend of development of the lawyer’s profession in the future. It is especially important to the development of comprehensive law firms. In the process of specialization, law firms must closely follow the development of times and be creative. Professor Xi recently noticed a new business in the lawyer’s profession: data compliance. Currently China has entered into a new era of digital economy. The Cybersecurity Law, the E-commerce Law, the Consumer Protection Law, the General Provisions of the Civil Law, and a series of other laws and administrative regulations all contain provisions on the protection of personal information that concern Internet enterprises. Law firms should take advantage of this new trend of development and provide legal services relating to data compliance to enterprises and individuals. They should have acute insight, know where to find market needs, keep abreast of the times, and carry out innovation in their professional fields. In the process of practicing the law, lawyers should establish the idea of lifelong learning, match their professional knowledge with market needs, and service the market subjects around them. Only in this way can they realize their own value and contribute to the development of society.