Experts from the World Jurists Forum Visit Zhong Yin Law Firm for Exchange Ideas and Discussion | Press Release

On May 16, the "The Second World Jurist Forum" was grandly held at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), and Zhong Yin Law Firm, as a co-organizer, provided strong support for the forum. The forum focused on exploring topics such as innovation and transformation of legal education in the era of rapid development of AI, international trade governance, exploration and research in new fields, and the benefits and risks faced by global lawyers in this context. More than 100 Chinese and foreign representatives gathered at China University of Political Science and Law to embark on a feast of cross-jurisdictional academic exchanges. On May 17, Zhong Yin Law Firm, with great honor, invited five world-renowned jurists to visit Zhong Yin, bringing forward-looking international vision and professional experience to the lawyers of Zhong Yin.

The five visiting jurists are Guo Zhiyuan, Deputy Dean of the School of Criminal Justice of CUPL; Yuan Gang, Deputy Dean of the Law School of CUPL; Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Queensland University of Technology, Australia; and Martina Feilzer, Professor of Bangor University, UK, and Andrew McStay, Professor of Bangor University, UK.

Liu Xiaoyu, Chairman of the Management Committee and Senior Partner of Zhong Yin Law Firm; Zhou Junli, member of the Party Committee, member of the Management Committee and Senior Partner; Deng Lihua, member of the Party Committee and Senior Partner; Ma Xiao, member of the Supervisory Committee and Senior Partner; Suo Weihua, member of the Supervisory Committee and Senior Partner; Hou Jiyan, member of the Party Committee and Partner; Cao Lingxiang, member of the Supervisory Committee and Partner, and many lawyers of Zhong Yin actively participated the meeting and fully exchanged ideas. The meeting was chaired by Lawyer Yin Kuan.

At the beginning of the exchange meeting, Lawyer Liu Xiaoyu, Chairman of the Management Committee of Zhong Yin Law Firm, delivered a speech. Lawyer Liu Xiaoyu stated that the world is entering the digital age, and the rapid development of AI technology has brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the global business environment and legal service market. How to better promote the construction of cross-cultural legal service systems in the era of AI is an important issue that global lawyers are focusing on. In recent years, Zhong Yin Law Firm has been committed to building a "Global Legal Service System". In order to explore overseas markets, Zhong Yin Law Firm has established good strategic cooperation relationships with law firms and service institutions around the world. While expanding overseas, Zhong Yin Law Firm is paying more attention to the impact and influence of new technologies on the existing legal service system. Today, we have invited five distinguished guests to exchange ideas and hope that everyone can fully discuss various topics, exchange knowledge and learn from each other, and gain insights into the development of global legal services based on the domestic legal service market.

Guo Zhiyuan, Deputy Dean of the School of Criminal Justice of CUPL , shared her views on the urgent issues in the domestic criminal justice area during the exchange meeting.

As a criminal defense lawyer, Guo Zhiyuan believes that first of all, procedural protection in criminal defense has not been given sufficient attention; secondly, with the change of criminal structure, the field in which lawyers play a role has changed a little; thirdly, with the development of new technologies, the legal industry has also been impacted. For example, the popularity of forensic forms such as "electronic evidence" will also bring some technical challenges to new and old lawyers.

Yuan Gang, Deputy Dean of the Law School of CUPL, shared his views on legal vocational education in China.

Yuan Gang stated that there is currently a slight disconnection between legal education and legal practice, but the gap between the two is being narrowed in the context of rapid development of AI. In terms of education mode, we have also been learning the advanced systems of Europe and the United States, and the proportion of legal masters has been rising year by year, while the proportion of the law masters has gradually decreased. Our school is gradually strengthening the training of vocational education for law students, and more lawyers, judges, and prosecutors are invited to join the school to share the burden of legal talent training with us.

Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Queensland University of Technology, Australia, shared her views, as a tax lawyer, on the career development prospects of tax lawyers.

Kerrie Sadiq's research area is "International Tax Law in the Digital Age", and many multinational companies are now very concerned about tax compliance and fiscal sustainability issues in the rapidly changing economic environment. The OECD and G20 countries jointly released the Base Erosion and Profit Transfer Project (BEPS), in which international tax law has undergone some substantial changes. Relevant clients must re-examine the current mechanism and carefully consider legal issues related to tax declaration in different jurisdictions. Therefore, she is very optimistic about the development prospects of tax lawyers. Finally, she suggested that tax lawyers should not only focus on the tax law itself, but also on areas related to business decision-making, trade agreements, and compliance management during their practice.

Martina Feilzer, Professor of Bangor University, UK, shared her views on the Chinese and international criminal legal systems. Martina Feilzer believes that China is facing the same challenges in the criminal legal system with the world. The development of the digital economy has brought many drawbacks, such as the increasing number of telecom fraud cases, and the lack of experience and skills of law enforcement and legal professionals to deal with them. And she believes the UK government's investment in the judicial system needs to be increased, and the judicial system needs digital reform. Martina Feilzer also stated that she learned a lot at yesterday's World Jurists Forum, and that China has made significant progress in criminal procedures and criminal justice, which is very encouraging. She looks forward to more cooperation in the future.

Andrew McStay, Professor of Bangor University, UK has conducted extensive research on "Emotional AI" and shared how to use "Soft Laws" to regulate AI technology to avoid negative impacts on people's daily lives. Andrew McStay stated that it was very exciting to hear lawyer Liu Xiaoyu described that Zhong Yin Law Firm will expand into overseas markets in the future. The thinking about AI also requires cross-border thinking, free from geopolitical interference, because the social impact brought by technology knows no borders. For areas that are prone to ambiguity such as AI and data protection, in addition to using hard laws, some soft technical standards, also known as "Soft Laws", are needed to regulate them. For example, the Artificial Intelligence Act recently passed by EU is a flexible supplement to laws in this constantly changing environment. In addition, Andrew McStay believes that with the rapid development of AI technology, there is a possibility that some common case handling lawyers may be replaced by AI, but there is still a long way to go.

After the exchange, the attending lawyers also had a lively discussion on different topics including the impact of the application of ChatGPT on the law community, the research on the international tax law system, what kind of business strategy lawyers can give clients, and the operation mechanism in the area of sports arbitration. In the process of building a world-class law firm, Zhong Yin has always paid attention to the development of the global legal industry, actively followed up major practical issues in the area of rule of law, embraced the new era and explored new technologies. The market prospects of global legal cooperation are very broad, and this symposium has promoted the process of expanding the overseas territory of Zhong Yin, and also provided many cross-jurisdiction practice ideas for Zhong Yin lawyers. It is hoped that more jurists from all over the world can be invited to Zhong Yin Law Firm in the future to exchange practice and clash ideas, so as to integrate knowledge to promote the prosperity of legal civilization.