Grassroots lawyers also have their day

Chapter 953 What a waste of a lawyer's license!

"Hmm, that's good. Who are you planning to send to work at Shen's Group?" Wang Chuan asked, looking at Du Wenhui.

"Attorneys Mei Tingting and Ma Mei are both senior lawyers. Attorney Mei Tingting previously worked in the court and later did legal work in a company for several years. She is now in the second group and specializes in labor dispute cases."

Attorney Ma Mei is skilled in routine legal services and has extensive practical experience. She is a senior lawyer in our Department 2, Group 1.

"I think with these two on board, we should be able to handle 99% of the company's daily legal issues. If the Shen Group has any special needs, the firm will provide them with professional support," Du Wenhui said.

"Okay, sure." Wang Chuan said, "By the way, how's Yue Shan's poet boyfriend? Is it settled?" He remembered the time when the artsy young man proposed to Yue Shan at the entrance of the law firm.

"Don't even mention it! Yue Shan went with Lawyer Cheng to the relocation project to avoid him. She probably won't be back for a while. Anyway, the project needs manpower, so it's good that she went," Du Wenhui said.

"Sigh! This poet is really persistent! Let him wait patiently!" Wang Chuan shook his head and said.

In early July, Shen Qi brought Wang Chuan some good news: although John from WL Law Firm hadn't been able to poach a partner to handle mergers and acquisitions, he had managed to recruit a lawyer to work as an assistant to the partner.

Although he is an assistant, he has participated in no fewer than fifty M&A projects over the years, all of which were large-scale. Last year, he also led two smaller M&A projects, both of which were successful.

Just as the assistant was about to become independent and take charge of projects on his own, the partner's son (also a lawyer) snatched away a merger and acquisition project that was about to be signed. He had been following that project for a long time and had negotiated it at least ten times, but now someone else had taken the prize. He was unhappy, and with a bit of persuasion from Old John, he finally managed to poach him to WL Law Firm.

Currently, WL Law Firm has developed a small M&A project on its own, which Old John has entrusted to him to handle.

Wang Chuan was in a good mood today. As he walked out of the office, he saw Zhao Song sitting at his workstation, looking depressed and sulking.

"Attorney Zhao, what's wrong?" Wang Chuan walked over with a smile.

"It's nothing, I just served a client!" Zhao Song said.

"Did you get roasted?" Wang Chuan asked with a smile in a low voice.

Zhao Song gave a soft "hmm." This wasn't something to be proud of, and he didn't want to make a fuss about it.

"Come on, let's sit in my office, have a cup of tea, and chat!" Wang Chuan said with a smile, patting Zhao Song on the shoulder.

Zhao Song followed Wang Chuan into the office.

Wang Chuan still had a deep impression of Zhao Song, not only because Zhao Song helped him recruit five lawyers, including Yan Yu, to support the framework of the second department and second group, but more importantly because Zhao Song learned very quickly and had already started to receive clients with intern lawyers.

It's important to know that Yuanfang Law Firm has very high requirements for the professional competence of the lawyers who receive clients. The lawyers in the firm who can receive clients have all been assessed by the heads of various departments, which is also for the sake of the firm's reputation.

"What's the situation with that client?" Wang Chuan asked with a smile as he sat opposite Zhao Song.

"In the morning, Xiao Guo said that a private client was coming to consult about labor issues, so we arranged for him to be in the conference room. I then took the intern lawyer with me."

The client appeared to be in his sixties and was carrying a large stack of materials in a cloth bag. According to him, he used to be a policeman, but later, due to a reorganization within the public security department, he was transferred to a former state-owned enterprise as a security guard.

Later, the old state-owned enterprise underwent reform and was split into two new companies. At that time, the old state-owned enterprise was not doing well and owed its employees wages. The employees felt that there was no point in working there and resigned before the old state-owned enterprise was fully split up. They traveled all over the country to do business and became self-employed.

"Two years ago, when he reached retirement age, he went to apply for retirement, but he couldn't find his personnel file and couldn't complete the retirement procedures," Zhao Song said.

"Didn't he go to his former employer to inquire? Or check with the local talent agency? Maybe his former employer transferred his personnel file to the talent agency," Wang Chuan asked.

"Go ahead and check. Back then, state-owned enterprises kept their own personnel files. Old state-owned enterprises had their own archives where files could be retrieved, so they didn't need to store them outside. But after checking around, they said there was no file for him at all. It's possible that the police system couldn't retrieve it," Zhao Song said.

"That's a bit of a problem. The judicial authorities don't handle the personal files that are managed by the public security department. These are all historical issues, and they're not easy to deal with," Wang Chuan said after thinking for a moment.

"Well, the client went to the public security department later, and the public security department told him that the file had been transferred and showed him the transfer certificate. So the client went back to the company, but the company has undergone several restructurings. The original staff have either retired or moved to other jobs. In addition, the file management was poor, and the archives room had been flooded before, so the client's file could not be found at all."

The client persisted in causing trouble every few days. Finally, the restructured state-owned enterprise (renamed XX Co., Ltd.) saw that he was too difficult to deal with and issued him a certificate: This is to certify that the client was transferred from a certain factory to the old state-owned enterprise XX Factory (the predecessor of the current Dijing XX Co., Ltd.) in 1982 and worked there until 1989. Due to poor management by the unit, his personnel file was lost. This certificate is hereby issued.

Later, the client filed a lawsuit against the restructured state-owned enterprise, seeking compensation for: 1. rebuilding the plaintiff's personnel file; 2. compensating the plaintiff for economic losses of 199,600 yuan and mental distress damages of 10,000 yuan, totaling 200,960 yuan; 3. having the defendant bear the litigation costs.

The court of first instance held that, based on the evidence provided by the client and the facts ascertained, it could not prove that an employment relationship existed between the plaintiff and the defendant.

Furthermore, since the defendant was established as a newly formed entity, the statement in the defendant's certificate regarding "the predecessor of the current Dijing XX Co., Ltd." cannot prove that the old state-owned enterprise and the defendant in this case are successors, nor can it prove that the defendant had an obligation to receive and safeguard the plaintiff's files. Moreover, the plaintiff failed to provide evidence that its files were lost by the defendant. Therefore, the plaintiff should bear the legal consequences of failing to provide sufficient evidence. The court of first instance did not support the plaintiff's claims.

After the first-instance judgment, the client appealed. The second-instance court, after hearing the case, ruled to dismiss the appeal and uphold the original judgment.

The client was dissatisfied and later appealed, but to no avail. Over the years, he had been researching the legal issues involved in the case and had gathered a large amount of so-called evidence. He talked to me for more than an hour in the meeting room. I analyzed it for him and told him that his evidence could not prove what he wanted to prove, and then he got angry with me.

They said I wasn't professionally competent and had wasted my lawyer's license, and said a whole bunch of nasty things. Ugh! I'm speechless!" Zhao Song said helplessly.

(End of this chapter)