Dentons won several awards on the first "Belt and Road" Award Ceremony for Outstanding Legal Services held in Beijing

On the afternoon of December 18, 2018, the first "Belt and Road" Award Ceremony for Outstanding Legal Services and the "Belt and Road" Legal Services Forum hosted by the Legal Daily was held in Beijing. About 200 people from industry leaders, academia, think tanks, and outstanding legal service providers participated in the ceremony. Dentons won several awards on the ceremony, including the "Belt and Road Top 10 Law Firms".

2018 is the fifth anniversary of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). In the past five years, various organizations have actively carried out the BRI related legal service work, formed a wealth of legal service experience, and produced great cases of excellent legal services. In order to demonstrating the outstanding achievements of legal services in the progression of the BRI, summarizing and promoting the BRI legal service experience, the Legal Daily launched the first “Belt and Road” legal services selection activity.

There are seven awards in this selection. Among them, four awards are related to law firms, i.e., the "Belt and Road Top 10 Law Firms", the "Belt and Road Top 10 Lawyers", the "Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Dispute Resolution" and the "Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Investment".

Since the launch of the BRI, Dentons has actively responded and participated, utilizing our resources of the global legal service network and increasingly improved professional and international legal services, and has launched a series of offerings related to the BRI.

Objectively speaking, the laws, regulations and rules of the more than 60 countries along the “Belt and Road” vary enormously, and the systems and regulations of the target country will not be revised and adjusted in the short term for the implementation of China’s BRI strategy. Therefore, the technological content of the “Belt and Road” legal services is far beyond the skill sets of traditional lawyers.

In recent years, by utilizing our rich international practice experience and legal wisdom, Dentons has interacted with different systems and rules, and provided services for a number of landmark and iconic “Belt and Road” projects. Consequently, Dentons has won all the awards related to law firms in this selection.

Dentons Awards
"Belt and Road Top 10 Law Firms"
"Belt and Road Top 10 Lawyers" – Dentons lawyer Zhao Min
"Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Dispute Resolution" –Saudi Arabian Power Station's London Arbitration Case advised by Dentons lawyer Zhu Yongrui
"Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Investment" - Indonesian Jakarta Bandung High-speed Railway Project advised by Dentons lawyer Jiang Rongqing

Dentons awarded the "Belt and Road Top 10 Law Firms", and our lawyer Mr. Xu Yongqian (third from left) received the award on behalf of the firm

Dentons lawyer Zhao Min (fourth from left) won the "Belt and Road Top 10 Lawyers"

Case advised by Dentons lawyer Zhu Yongrui won the "Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Dispute Resolution", and a representative of the firm (third from left) received the award

Case represented by Dentons lawyer Jiang Rongqing won the "Belt and Road Top 10 Legal Service Cases in Investment", and a representative of the firm (fourth from left) received the award

At the subsequent forum, Dentons senior partner Xu Yongqian gave a keynote speech entitled “Building Belt and Road and a Strategic Space for Lawyers”.

Mr. Xu delivering a keynote speech

Dentons senior partner Ms. Zhao Min told the audience a touching story about her involvement in BRI legal services. When she was working on a Belt and Road matter, her mother passed away. She missed the chance to see her mother because she was on a business trip abroad. Ms. Zhao said that this was the most memorable story in her life. Although it was only a few short sentences, many of the audience burst into tears.

Ms. Zhao tearfully told an unforgettable experience

In order to adapt to the new situation in the context of the BRI and better meet these service needs, in October 2017, Dentons established a Dentons Belt and Road legal service committee composed of lawyers specialized in related fields from countries along the “Belt and Road”, aiming to integrate the legal service resources and provide integrated legal services.

At present, Dentons has offices in more than 70 countries and regions around the world. More than 9,000 lawyers can provide local legal services to clients around the world in more than 70 languages. In addition to China, Dentons has offices in 33 countries and 44 cities along the Belt and Road.

In the future, Dentons will further improve the scientific training mechanism of young lawyers, increase foreign-related human capital reserves, and build star teams to better serve the BRI and other major national development strategies and provide high-quality legal services for Chinese enterprises and major economic and trade activities and diplomatic work in China.