On December 6, 2025, the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Jiangsu BST Law Office was solemnly held at The Lalu Nanjing. This event served as a profound intellectual forum for observing how China's legal services industry responds to the imperatives of the times and charts its future course. Eschewing superficial celebratory rhetoric, the gathering focused instead on rigorous inquiries regarding the profession, scale, organization, and mission of Chinese lawyers. The commemoration recorded not merely a quarter-century journey of a single law firm, but also presented a vivid cross-section of the synchronized development between China's rule of law and the dynamics of its market economy.
At 2:30 PM, the 25th Anniversary Celebration and Corporate Legal Services Forum of Jiangsu BST Law Office officially commenced. Guests including Li Kun, former Deputy Director and First-Class Inspector of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Jiangsu Province and President of the Jiangsu Enterprise Federation, Liu Yongqiang, Director of the Lawyer Work Division of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Justice, and Han Qi, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Youth Federation and Vice President of the Nanjing Lawyers Association, delivered speeches. They extended warm congratulations on the 25th anniversary of the founding of BST Law Office and highly recognized the firm's achievements. Specifically, they commended the firm's adherence to the correct political direction and its advancement of specialization, scale expansion, and branding. They acknowledged the firm's continuous refinement of professional capabilities and enhancement of service quality through serving clients and contributing to society. Furthermore, they expressed hopes that BST Law Office will continue to leverage its strengths, deepen its legal services, and demonstrate even greater accomplishments on the journey of the new era.
The forum, centered on the theme of "Coordinating the Domestic and International Landscapes and Pioneering Legal Services for Lawyers under the Background of Chinese-Style Modernization," brought together a multitude of distinguished guests and elites from the judiciary, legal academia, the legal profession, and the corporate sector. Focusing on the overall assessment of the socio-economic development environment for China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, the forum analyzed the ecosystem and landscape of legal services. It served as a platform for participants to jointly explore, discuss, and exchange pathways, strategies, and methodologies for providing high-quality legal services aimed at expanding high-level opening up, constructing a modern industrial system, and boosting domestic demand.
The celebration and forum were presided over by Zhou Lianyong, Director and Party Branch Secretary of Jiangsu BST Law Office. Using the metaphor of the "four seasons," he defined the firm's achievements over the past twenty-five years as the "spring" season, while positioning the future long-term development as a new journey of "spring sowing and summer planting." He systematically elaborated on the core characteristics of BST personnel—dedication, professionalism, teamwork, and standardization—and expressed the firm's aspiration to closely align with national planning and provincial strategies. The goal is to propel legal services from professional practice toward rule-setting leadership, ensuring that the firm takes more substantial and far-reaching steps on the path of high-quality development.
Yi Jiming, Professor at Peking University Law School and Director of the Center for International Intellectual Property Studies, delivered a keynote speech titled "Vast Horizons: Lawyers Serving Modern Enterprises." He developed his argument across three dimensions: understanding the mission of the legal profession, grasping the characteristics of modern enterprises, and exploring the broad horizons of legal services. He emphasized that lawyers must seek a balance and maintain a commitment between commercial interests and the faith in the rule of law, as well as between client expectations and professional ethics. Facing modern enterprises characterized by scientific governance structures, a consistent innovative mindset, and an international strategic vision, Yi stressed that individual lawyers should pursue specialized expertise, while law firms need to develop toward greater scale and modernized governance. Furthermore, he advocated for the active expansion of outbound legal services to resonate in unison with the times.
Tang Yinhong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Arbitration Center of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), delivered a presentation titled "CIETAC Arbitration Services Boosting the Internationalization of Chinese Arbitration." Using detailed data, he demonstrated the robust development trend of commercial arbitration in China and the achievements made in enhancing its international influence. He provided a focused interpretation of the innovative practices in the latest version of CIETAC's Arbitration Rules, specifically regarding improving arbitration efficiency, strengthening technological empowerment, and emphasizing procedural openness and inclusiveness, thereby offering cutting-edge guidance for lawyers representing clients in foreign-related arbitration cases.
Sun Jinsong, Senior Editor at Xinhua Daily and Founder of the "Law and Media Think Tank," focused on the theme of "The Scaling and Organizational Development of Law Firms." He conducted an in-depth analysis of the current competitive landscape within the legal industry and the evolving nature of client demands. He emphasized that scaling is conducive to brand dissemination and specialized division of labor, but must be integrated with effective organizational development. He proposed that law firms should transform the advantages of scale into genuine competitiveness through scientific mechanisms regarding the distribution of power, responsibilities, and profits, as well as through flexible systems and distinct cultures, thereby ensuring that "lawyers act more like lawyers, and law firms act more like law firms."
Following the speeches by the guests, Director Zhou Lianyong extended his sincere gratitude, heartfelt thanks to leaders at all levels, academic luminaries, industry peers, corporate representatives, and media friends for their long-standing care and support. He expressed particular appreciation for the dedication and contributions of all BST personnel. He affirmed that BST will continue to uphold its core values, serving clients with a mindset of "accompanying, assisting, and leading," and is committed to co-creating value and running forward together with friends across society.
During the second half of the forum, two roundtable dialogues focusing on the pulse of the times were held. The first session, themed "Innovating Cross-Border Legal Services to Support Chinese Enterprises 'Going Global'," was moderated by Yao Bin, Managing Director of Jiangsu BST Law Office. He clearly stated at the outset that under the current international environment, legal services must follow the globalization pace of Chinese enterprises, asserting that "those who do not go offshore will be phased out." He guided the discussion into practical aspects, analyzing the opportunities and challenges lawyers face in areas such as cross-border dispute resolution and overseas investment compliance.
Chen Fayun, Partner at Grandall Law Firm (Nanjing), drew upon his three decades of experience in cross-border legal services to point out that while the market is a "blue ocean," it also has entry barriers; young lawyers need to broaden their horizons, build their capabilities, rely on teams, and integrate resources. Shi Bei, Partner at Jiangsu Shicheng Qibang Xianhui (Nanjing) Joint Operation Law Firm, shared localized exploration experiences regarding integrating resources and serving Jiangsu enterprises going overseas through a cross-border joint operation model. Three lawyers from Jiangsu BST Law Office—Deputy Director and Senior Partner Xu Hao, Senior Partner Shen Yongming, and Partner Yu Wei—respectively reported on the firm's explorations, practices, and reflections in the cross-border field from the perspectives of handling international arbitration practices, building a China-Europe legal service platform, and conducting market research on the Southeast Asian legal services market. They unanimously agreed that Chinese lawyers have significant potential in serving enterprises going overseas, and the key lies in enhancing professional capabilities, building global networks, and achieving a role transformation from "assistants" to "leaders."
The second roundtable dialogue, themed "Enhancing Legal Service Standards to Boost Chinese-Style Modernization," was moderated by Liu Nengbin, Supervisor and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Jiangsu BST Law Office. He first pointed out that regardless of new economic development models or emerging business formats, they must ultimately return to the foundation of law, requiring lawyers to provide clients with certainty and guarantees. He particularly emphasized that against the backdrop of the rapid development of AI technology, a lawyer's core competitiveness will increasingly manifest in professional judgment, strategic decision-making, and value creation regarding complex issues.
Xu Jun, Vice Dean of the School of Law and Political Science at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Deputy Director of the Climate Law Research Center of the Jiangsu Provincial Law Society, explored legal service opportunities arising from emerging fields such as carbon compliance, carbon trading, and carbon finance under the "Dual Carbon" goals.
Liu Shenghui, Senior Partner at Jiangsu BST Law Office, analyzed the legal demands related to the "low-altitude economy," a national strategic emerging industry, focusing on regulatory improvement, infrastructure construction, and data security.
Sun Kai, a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jiangsu BST Law Office, proposed that IP services should transcend litigation thinking and extend along the entire chain of creation, protection, and utilization, deepening services particularly in areas such as data intellectual property, patent navigation, and standard-essential patents.
Zhang Fulu, Director of the Dispute Resolution Department at Jiangsu BST Law Office, emphasized the importance of dispute resolution—as the ultimate remedy—in providing stable legal predictability for various new business formats.
The closing banquet was held in a solemn and warm atmosphere in the evening. Wang Xingyuan, Executive Director of Jiangsu BST Law Office, presided over the dinner. He expressed his most sincere gratitude to every participant, companion, and witness on BST's development journey. He stated that the 25th anniversary is not only a milestone but also a manifesto. Standing at a new historical juncture, the firm is committed to charting its future blueprint and forging ahead with courage and resolve, taking on the responsibilities of being a practitioner of the rule of law in China, a pioneer in the legal industry's reform and innovative development, and a bearer of social responsibility.
Jiangsu BST Law Office invited distinguished guests from various sectors, all partners, heads of practice groups and branch offices, as well as lawyer representatives to participate in the celebration ceremony, the forum, and the gala dinner.
Closing Remarks: Twenty-Five Years On, Revisiting Our Original Aspirations
The 25-year journey of Jiangsu BST Law Office mirrors the trajectory of China's legal industry, reflecting its evolution from revival to prosperity, from extensive to refined development, and from domestic to international expansion. The intellectual discourse at the anniversary event went beyond a mere review of achievements, serving as a collective strategic seminar and a forward-looking vision for the future.
From Yi Jiming's philosophical affirmation of the legal profession's value to Tang Yinhong's data-driven validation of the internationalization of Chinese arbitration; from Sun Jinsong's incisive analysis of the core contradictions in law firm governance to the in-depth discussions at the roundtable forums regarding frontier fields such as cross-border services, "Dual Carbon," low-altitude economy, and intellectual property—all these discussions ultimately converged on a single theme: Amid the grand journey of Chinese-style modernization, how can law firms shoulder greater responsibilities by embracing deep specialization, rational scaling, effective organization, and international openness? How can they, through serving national strategies and market entities, achieve a sublimation of their own value.
A quarter-century of perseverance marks a milestone of maturity for a single law firm, yet it remains but a fleeting moment in the relentless march of China's rule of law. The historical significance of BST's celebration lies in this truth: the finest tribute is not found in resting on past glories, but in maintaining a forward-looking vision, professional sharpness, and organizational vitality amid the eternal dialogue between law and the times. Only thus can a grander chapter be written in the vast expanse of the future.