In the more than 40 years since the recovery and development of China's legal industry, in order to explore the growth stories of Chinese law firms, the 8th issue of "Democracy and Legal System" weekly in 2021 specially planned and launched the "The Name of the Law Firm" special interview documentary series The article focuses on more than 20 well-known domestic law firms, using the name of the law firm as a guide to explore the exciting process of law firm growth and development. As the first law firm specializing in tax law in China, Hwuason has become the "golden brand" of the domestic tax-related legal service market by virtue of its "tax + legal" advantages, and is a high-quality representative in the context of in-depth segmentation of China's legal service market. Lawyer Liu Tianyong, director of Hwuason Law Firm, was interviewed by the "Democracy and Legal System" weekly "The Name of the Law Firm" and described the development process of the Hwuason brand. The original text is reproduced below for the benefit of readers.

Don’t care about empty reputation: from professional fame to quality service
Source: "Democracy and Legal System"
Author: Li Tianqi
Date: March 8, 2021

​
Compared with Sunshine Times Law Firm and Jianwei Law Firm, which were already famous in the 1990s, there is a leading law firm in the field of taxation, which can definitely be regarded as a rising star.

Everyone has heard of tax accountants, but many people know little about tax lawyers. It’s no wonder that the tax lawyer industry has only been in development for more than ten years. In the early years, due to the high professional threshold and small market, it was regarded as an “unpopular” profession by many people.

However, being "unpopular" does not necessarily mean that development prospects are bleak. On the contrary, with the vigorous advancement of the reform of the fiscal and taxation systems and the legalization of national taxation in recent years, the whole society's attention to taxation continues to heat up, and the tax-related legal service market has gradually become a high-profile market. "Blue Ocean Market".

Although compared to the previous two law firms, China Tax Law Firm came into being slightly later. However, looking at China's legal service market, especially in professional subdivisions, the influence of Hwuason is very loud, and the unique vision of Liu Tianyong, the founder of Hwuason, is even more admirable. However, judging from his experience, joining the tax lawyer career was also a coincidence.

In 1995, when Zhu Shuying and Chen Zhen had determined their professional fields and worked hard for them, 18-year-old Liu Tianyong was still studying accounting. After graduation, Liu Tianyong first entered a well-known power system company to work as an accountant step by step. However, after working for two years, he felt that such a life and status was not what he wanted.

In 2000, he applied for the bar qualification examination and successfully passed it in only two or three months. He then went to Beijing alone to start his legal career.

In order to enhance his professional competitiveness, he successively obtained the qualifications of certified public accountant and certified tax agent. Although Beijing is rich in talents, it lacks lawyers who understand both law and tax. Especially when faced with tax disputes and some difficult tax-related issues, his comprehensive professional background and thinking often help clients solve big problems. Soon he became the It has become a "hot potato" in the eyes of many customers of state-owned enterprises in Beijing. Liu Tianyong gradually realized that with his background, it would be more advantageous to do some tax law-related business. So starting from the summer of 2003, he focused on tax law business. That year, he was just 26 years old.

Later, Liu Tianyong learned from his American lawyer friends that tax lawyers are an extremely important professional branch in developed countries. For the top law firms in the United States, tax law is one of their core businesses.
In 2005, he found several like-minded lawyers and began to organize China's first professional tax law firm, and gave the firm a resounding name - Hwuason: "We want to be the best tax lawyer in China. Tax Law Firm!”

Since its establishment, Hua Tax Law Firm has been committed to providing legal services in the field of tax law, and its professional standards have created a "golden brand" in the industry. In November 2013, the State Administration of Taxation announced the nation's leading taxation talents, and 18 people were trained outside the taxation system. Liu Tianyong was selected as the only practicing lawyer. Both lawyer Liu Tianyong himself and the name of China Tax Firm have gradually spread from Beijing to the whole country. Especially for tax dispute cases from various places, litigants come here one after another, and provincial and municipal tax authorities often invite him to give lectures.

At the beginning of this year, Liu Tianyong received a criminal verdict from the Urumqi Intermediate Court. The defendant in this case was accused by the public prosecution of being involved in the crime of falsely issuing special value-added tax invoices, with the amount of false invoices reaching more than 2.4 billion yuan. The defendant faced a potential penalty of life imprisonment. After the unremitting efforts of Liu Tianyong's legal team, the court finally adopted the lawyer's point of view, corrected the charges charged by the public prosecution, and convicted the defendant of tax evasion and sentenced him to six years in prison. This case is one of the hundreds of tax-related criminal cases that Liu Tianyong has successfully represented for more than ten years. The tax-related criminal cases represented by Liu Tianyong and the Hwuason Lawyer Team have a very high success rate. There are many cases where the police withdraw the case, the procuratorate does not prosecute, the court decides not guilty, and the case is suspended.

Some people may have questions: What is the difference between a tax lawyer, an accountant, and a tax accountant? This is also a question that many parties have asked Liu Tianyong. In addition to the different directions of thinking, the two stages of involvement in customer service are also different.

A few years ago, a well-known multinational automobile company in a certain place conducted tax planning through the accounting treatment of sales discounts. The local tax authorities conducted tax investigation and adjustments, and required back taxes and late payment fees of more than 700 million yuan. Hua Tax Office accepted the entrustment of the enterprise. After nearly half a year of hard work by Liu Tianyong and his team, the tax authorities finally adopted the lawyer's point of view. Under the auspices of the reconsideration authority, the enterprise and the tax authorities reached a settlement, and the tax authorities refunded all taxes and late payment fees paid by the enterprise. Gave it to the business.

In addition to his profound professional development, since 2010, Liu Tianyong has also actively promoted the development of the tax lawyer industry, initiated and organized the "China Tax Law Forum" and the "China Tax Lawyer Summer Academy", and served as an expert representative on many occasions by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council. Invited by the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, the Ministry of Justice and other agencies, he participated in the discussions on various tax legislation and revisions such as the Tax Collection Management Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the Business Tax to VAT Reform, the Resource Tax Law, the Value-Added Tax Law, etc., and has published "Difficult Cases of China's Tax Law" Solving Practice", "China Tax Lawyer Practice", "China Tax Lawyer Review" and other more than ten monographs, in order to promote professional sharing and common improvement.
The establishment of Hua Tax Office is the product of professionalization, and it has been committed to the field of tax law since its development. Since 2020, Liu Tianyong has carried out comprehensive self-renovation of law firm operations and management in accordance with market changes. In accordance with the idea of "taxation + law + industry", he has established departments for renewable resources, medicine, foreign trade, steel, capital markets, and petrochemical industries. and other 10 business groups to further segment the tax law service market and promote the refinement of services.

It can be said that on the road to professional legal services, China Taxation Office has made the most significant mark with its own actions.