求新求变、与时俱进，做有商业敏感度的交易律师
——专访2024 ALB China十五佳女律师：汉坤律师事务所合伙人许莹律师
许莹
汉坤律师事务所合伙人
汉坤律师事务所合伙人许莹律师在私募股权投资与并购领域的法律服务领域拥有20年的执业经验，凭借着在法律行业的深度实践与优质服务获得了客户与市场的肯定。今年，许莹律师上榜2024 ALB China十五佳女律师榜单，与ALB聊了聊她职业道路上的亮眼成绩、行业优势与执业理念。
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ALB：许莹律师，恭喜您上榜2024 ALB China十五佳女律师榜单！在您看来，是什么样的特质助力您获得了市场的认可？
许莹律师，汉坤律师事务所合伙人：商业交易的节奏和特性决定了对交易律师有着核心的要求，包括精准的商业理解、建设性的解决问题的能力、高效的反馈速度、严谨的文件文本能力。这些都是一个交易律师可以得到客户信赖和市场认可的必备条件，也是我对自己的要求。
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ALB：您是如何确定深耕于私募股权投资与并购领域，并在该细分领域内不断深挖的？
许莹律师：汉坤作为中国市场上最早一批开始处理私募股权投融资项目的中国律师事务所，在这个业务领域一直有最好的领军合伙人、成熟的培训机制及非常庞大的客户和项目积累，以这个领域作为我的主要业务领域可谓水到渠成。
在这个过程中，我经历了很多在新媒体、新科技、新经济领域中极具代表性的案例。在处理每个案例的过程中，和最优秀的客户、团队和对手进行合作和学习，在不断地累积项目经验的同时也能够始终保持对于商业领域最新发展趋势的敏锐触觉。在我看来，好的交易律师并不是要在法律层面极致的保护一方的利益，而是需要充分理解项目的商业诉求，以商业诉求为导向，把握项目重点，最终谋求交易各方都可以接受的利益和风险的“平衡点”。
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ALB：您如何理解律师专业深度与知识广度二者之间的联系？
许莹律师：在复杂的并购项目中，交易律师极少单团队作战，我们往往会和很多其他业务领域的团队紧密合作。这就要求作为项目主导的交易律师，不但要有对交易项目知识的深度掌握，也要同时兼具对于劳动、税务、知识产权、诉讼、合规等诸多其他专业领域基本知识的广度，从而有效协调和指引其他专业领域的团队配合交易团队共同完成项目的执行。
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ALB：如今，客户对商业交易律师的要求越来越高，您在长期服务机构客户方面有着怎样的经验心得？面对客户提出的新诉求，您又如何适应并转变？
许莹律师：在服务机构客户的过程中，我一直奉行长期主义，做好每件事情，是积累信任的基础。同时，充分地了解客户在商业上及程序上的要求，做一个“外部”的“内部”团队，是我在长期服务机构客户方面一直追求的目标。通过每一个项目，我会不断加深对于客户的商业需求、交易习惯、关注重点乃至流程安排的了解，不仅与客户的法务团队紧密合作，也不断加深与其商业、财务、税务及合规等团队的配合。在充满变化的经济环境下，求新求变、与时俱进是对于交易律师的基本要求，早于客户发现新诉求、以变应万变，是我希望可以持续做到的。
Seeking innovation and keeping up with the times to be commercially sensitive
—Interview with Gloria Xu, Partner of Han Kun Law Offices and winner of 2024 ALB China Top 15 Female Lawyers
With two decades of experience in providing legal services for private equity and mergers and acquisitions, Gloria Xu, partner of Han Kun Law Offices has won recognition from clients and the market on the back of her extensive practice experience and high-quality services. A winner of the 2024 ALB China Top 15 Female Lawyers, Xu shares with ALB her career highlights, industry insights and practice philosophy.
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ALB: Congratulations on winning the 2024 ALB China Top 15 Female Lawyers! In your view, what qualities have helped you gain market recognition?
Gloria Xu, Partner of Han Kun Law Offices: The nature and characteristics of commercial transactions dictate several core requirements for transaction lawyers, including having a keen business understanding, constructive problem-solving skills, the ability to respond efficiently response speed and rigorous documentation practices. These are essential qualities for a transaction lawyer to gain client trust and market recognition. They are also the standards I set for myself.
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ALB: What made you decide to focus on PE and M&A and keep digging deeper in this area of specialization?
Xu: As one of the pioneering Chinese firms involved in PE investment and financing transactions in China, Han Kun has always had top leading partners, mature training mechanisms and a very broad client base and a robust project pipeline in this practice area. It therefore was a natural progression for me to focus on this specialization.
Throughout this journey, I have worked on many significant deals in the fields of new media, new technology and new economy. In each deal, I had the opportunity to work with and learn from the top-tier clients, teams and counterparties. This ongoing exposure helped me constantly accumulate project experience while maintaining a keen awareness of the latest business trends. In my view, the role of a top transaction lawyer is not merely to safeguard one party’s interests to the extreme; rather, he or she must fully understand the commercial objectives of a project, prioritize based on those objectives, and ultimately strive to achieve a risk-return balance that is acceptable to all parties in the deal.
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ALB: What’s your take on the interaction between the depth and the breadth of a lawyer’s professional expertise?
Xu: In complex M&A transactions, transaction lawyers rarely work in isolation. We often work closely with teams in many other practice areas. As deal counsel on deals, transaction lawyers must not only possess in-depth knowledge of the deal, but also have a broad range of knowledge on many other practice areas such as labor law, taxation, intellectual property, litigation, compliance, etc., so that they can effectively coordinate and guide these specialized teams to ensure the successful execution of a transaction.
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ALB: Nowadays, clients are increasingly more demanding of transaction lawyers. What can you share with us from your long track record of advising institutional clients? How do you adapt and evolve in the face of new demands from clients?
Xu: When advising institutional clients, I always believe in long-termism where doing every little thing well is the basis for winning trust over time. At the same time, understanding the clients’ commercial and procedural needs comprehensively and becoming a trusted external partner has always been my goal in serving institutional clients over the years. Through each project, I continue to deepen my understanding of clients' business needs, transaction habits, priorities and even internal prpcesses. I not only work closely with a client's in-house legal teams, but also work extensively with their business, finance, taxation and compliance teams. Amid an ever-changing economic environment, seeking innovation and keeping up with the times are basic requirements for transaction lawyers. I aim to anticipate client needs before they arise and remain adaptable to changes in the market.
