Grassroots lawyers also have their day

To increase revenue, Lao Niu and Mu Huaijin discussed and rented a storefront on the street not far from the case filing division of the North Gate of Shijingshan Court as a legal service office. The storefront was about ten square meters, and they hired a case negotiation expert to attract clients (to negotiate cases, and once a client expressed interest in signing a contract, to bring them to the office to sign the contract).

Many law firms in Beijing have lawyers who handle case consultations. These lawyers are usually experienced senior lawyers whose main job, in addition to closing deals, is to control the quality of cases and prevent risks.

To put it bluntly, they are a case filter. First, they determine whether a case can be accepted. If it can be accepted, they guide the client to sign the contract and close the deal!

If they cannot take on a case or if it is difficult to handle and could easily cause trouble, they will handle it properly so as not to cause problems for the law firm.

The case negotiation expert hired by Lao Niu was different from the case negotiation lawyer mentioned earlier; it was a bit of a reversal of priorities. This expert was a woman in her forties who had failed the bar exam seven or eight times. In the end, she could only work as a salesperson for the law firm, helping them negotiate simple cases and directing clients.

To put it simply, she was completely incapable of helping the law firm determine whether a case was feasible. Her ability to close deals relied entirely on deception. Often, after clients were brought to the law firm, Lao Niu would discover that the case was simply unworkable. However, since the contract had already been signed, they often had no choice but to persevere despite the mistake. This made the work very difficult for the lawyer, and the whole case felt very awkward.

To be honest, Mu Huaijin initially disagreed with Lao Niu's approach because this case expert was a complete fraud. Many of the cases she brought in were unworkable or even money-losing deals, and she often had to refund clients. It was a huge hassle!

But Lao Niu felt that as long as there were clients signing contracts every month and money coming in, nothing else mattered; survival was the priority. Mu Huaijin couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he had no choice but to agree.

In fact, it's not just Zhengyang Law Firm; many small law firms in Beijing operate this way. Basically, their so-called "case-handling experts" and lawyers are just salespeople with only one goal—to close a deal. Whether the case is actually viable or not, or what the risks are, they don't care. They don't actually handle the cases; getting a commission from signing a contract is their top priority.

Even worse, some case experts, in order to secure a contract, would pound their chests and make grand promises to clients, assuring them that nothing was a problem. But once the case reached the handling lawyer, these promises couldn't be fulfilled, leading to relentless complaints from clients and creating a huge uproar!

The next morning, Wang Chuan and Pan Jinlian went straight to the law firm's external legal services office at the court. Zheng Penzi and Hao Renyuan were chatting casually. The case expert sat seriously behind his desk, looking at his computer.

Upon seeing Wang Chuan and Pan Jinlian enter, Zheng Pengzi got up to greet them.

"Sister Zhang, these two are also intern lawyers in our firm," Zheng said to the case expert.

"Welcome! Welcome! Please have a seat. There are no paper cups at the water dispenser, so please help yourselves with your water. Director Niu called me yesterday," said Sister Zhang, the case expert, warmly.

In Wang Chuan's opinion, although the case expert, Sister Zhang, was in her forties, she took good care of herself. Her skin was smooth, and there were no crow's feet around her eyes. Her black-rimmed glasses made her look very knowledgeable.

Each of her facial features is quite pretty on its own; her nose is a nose, and her eyes are eyes. But her whole face just makes people uncomfortable to look at, though they can't quite put their finger on what's wrong.

Her professional attire, coupled with her well-maintained waistline and slender figure, made her appear to be a young woman in her late twenties if you only saw her from behind.

There weren't many people coming in for consultations all morning, only a few people making copies of case materials and a client who had previously arranged to have Zheng Shuang write the indictment.

At noon, Sister Zhang brought her own lunch. The four young people were all single and didn't have anyone to worry about, so they naturally wouldn't bring their own lunch to work. They all went to restaurants to boost domestic demand at lunchtime.

"Senior Brother, this afternoon you and Pan+... Second Senior Brother should observe carefully and learn how case experts conduct case discussions!" Zheng Shuang swallowed the pork kidney rice bowl in his mouth, his expression strange and mysterious.

She almost called out Pan Yuanyuan's nickname in front of her, and although she changed her address to Second Senior Brother, she still earned a glare from Pan Jinlian.

"Yes, Zheng Shuang is telling the truth. I suggest you eat less at noon to avoid digestive problems!" Hao Renyuan, the "tool man," rarely spoke up; he wouldn't dare call Zheng Shuang a "sprayer" in front of her. His words left Wang Chuan and Pan Jinlian completely bewildered, not knowing what he meant.

Pan Jinlian, being very curious, turned to questioning Hao Renyuan, the "tool," after failing to get an answer from Zheng Penzi. Under the intimidating gaze of Zheng Penzi, Hao Renyuan didn't dare to tell her the truth until they finished lunch and left the small restaurant.

Wang Chuan didn't care. He would find out sooner or later anyway. It might not be a bad thing if they didn't tell him and left him in suspense. Maybe there would be a surprise!

After lunch, Hao Renyuan and Zheng Penzi tidied up and went back to the law firm. Wang Chuan and Pan Jinlian sat in the legal services office, idly browsing websites.

As the saying goes, there is no such thing as an oil and salt shop that is not open. Just as the afternoon was about to end, a middle-aged man in his forties walked in. He had a mustache and his eyes were bright and he looked very shrewd.

The mustache swept across Wang Chuan, Sister Zhang, and Pan Jinlian's faces before finally landing on Sister Zhang. Wang Chuan guessed that Sister Zhang was the oldest of the three, which was why the mustache chose her.

Clients often prefer to consult older lawyers, assuming that their age equates to extensive experience and that they can't go wrong with them. However, some lawyers are self-taught, only passing the bar exam and becoming lawyers in their fifties! So... being older doesn't necessarily mean being more experienced.

"Are you a lawyer?" the man with the mustache asked, looking at Sister Zhang.

"Ah! What's wrong?" Sister Zhang neither admitted nor denied it, directly avoiding the topic.

"I have a case, could you take a look and see if I can win this lawsuit?" the man with the mustache said, taking out a stack of A4 papers from his bag and handing them over.

Sister Zhang took the case file and read it over, occasionally exchanging a few words with the man with the mustache.

"Your case involves the division of family property, including five apartments, two cars, and a million-dollar deposit..."

Sister Zhang's face lit up with barely suppressed joy. With so much property in the capital, what did it mean to divide the family assets? It meant a huge financial backer, and she could make a fortune in lawyer fees!

At this moment, Zhang Jie's true thoughts were: This is a big client, I must close this deal. The lawyer's fees should be at least four or five hundred thousand yuan, otherwise it would be a waste of her newly bought calfskin shoes, and even more so of the titanium alloy eyeglass frames she got last week. Calculating it out, her commission would be at least 150,000 yuan, enough for a good time! Perhaps she could take a vacation in the second half of the year and go on a ten-day trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.