W&B Editor: Following its success in winning the award “2005~2007 National Excellent Law Firm” in 2008, this year Watson & Band was named “2011~2015 National Excellent Law Firm” by the All-China Lawyers Association (the “ACLA”). This award is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Chinese law firm.

On March 30^th, 2016, the ACLA’s top-level conference, the 9^th National Lawyer’s Congress, was convened in the Great Hall of the People. 354 lawyers attended the Congress from various cities representing over 24,000 law firms and 300,000 lawyers around the country. Jianzhu Meng, member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Political and Judiciary Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Shengkun Guo, Public Security Minister, Qiang Zhou, President of the Supreme People’s Court, Jianming Cao, President of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and Aiying Wu, Minister of Justice, attended the Congress.

The Congress honored 100 “2011~2014 National Excellent Law Firms”. The jury for this greatest official honor in China’s legal profession was composed of authorities such as the Ministry of Justice, the ACLA, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security. Watson & Band’s performance stood out among more than 24,000 law firms around China – it was among only four per thousand of Chinese law firms selected for this honor. Watson & Band was among five out of over 1,400 Shanghai law firms to win this award.

Since its establishment in 1995, Watson & Band has grown into a law firm with over 200 professionals capable of providing comprehensive legal services. Its service philosophy of high quality and its extensive scope of services have made it the first choice for many world famous companies when they seek legal counsel on various matters.

Watson & Band will not “rest on its laurels”, however. In the future we will continue to cooperate with clients and partners within the legal profession who supported, are supporting and will support us in striving for even more ambitious goals.