编者按
2018年8月20日，汤森路透旗下的《亚洲法律杂志》 (Asian Legal Business) 发布了2018年度“ALB 客户首选律师”榜单，竞天公诚合伙人易湘洋律师光荣入选。
榜单公布后，易湘洋律师接受了《亚洲法律杂志》专访，经授权，以下全文转发（标题为编辑所加，另为阅读方便，对部分文字、格式做了细微调整）。
易湘洋
易律师从事法律工作逾22年，于2014年加入竞天公诚。在加入竞天公诚之前，易律师曾在湖南省郴州市中级人民法院审判庭工作8年，担任法官，在中山司法局工作一年，担任公职律师，在北京市大成（深圳）律师事务所工作5年，担任合伙人。
易律师专业领域为公司境内外发行上市、融资融券、收购兼并、VC/PE投资。易律师提供的法律服务包括但不限于开展尽职调查、交易结构设计、参加谈判、起草项目文件、提供法律意见等。曾服务过多家国内外知名公司，如南方广电、深圳燃气、华为技术有限公司、仙妮蕾德（中国）有限公司、小牛资本、锐高（奥地利）电子及中国残友集团等。
执业领域：证券，并购重组，外商直接投资，私募投资和风险资本
入选理由：多位客户称赞易湘洋律师为“专业、敬业、负责任，有社会责任感的律师” 。
《亚洲法律杂志》 法律领域深耕二十载。在做合伙人之前，您也做过法官和公职律师。这些经历对您现在的法律执业有何影响和启发?
易律师 事实上，虽然我的主要业务是为客户提供资本市场相关的法律服务，但八年的中院法官以及一年的公职律师经历对我现在的执业有着深远的影响。比如在投融资及并购项目中，法官思维让我能够客观地分析交易双方的立场和诉求，从而准确找到双方的契合点，推动交易的顺利达成;法官的经历让我能够对交易中可能产生的纠纷做出预判，帮助客户把握风险点，从而在交易架构的设计、交易文件的拟写上进行有效防范，以避免诉累、节约客户成本。而公职律师作为集公职身份与律师职业于一体的职业，既蕴含了公职之神圣，较之社会律师又平添几分担当。这些经历让我对于法律执业的认识更加全面。
《亚洲法律杂志》 在深圳这个科技创新驱动的城市，资本市场活跃且竞争激烈，您是如何提供让客户高满意度的法律服务的?
易律师 确实，深圳是一个由创新驱动的城市，正基于此，在深圳提供资本市场法律服务，除了离不开过往多年积累的经验和教训，更要有创新型的思维。我为客户提供法律服务，从来不是僵化地套用过往案例、千篇一律地走过场，而是针对具体的项目，创新性地提出服务方案。比如，深圳有两家全部由残障人士组建及运营的互联网服务企业，委托我提供法律服务之前，年营业收入不足400万元，年净利润不足70万元，当时合作的中介机构均认为这两家小微企业能在全国中小企业股份转让系统(俗称“新三板”)成功挂牌的几率非常低。然而，我提出了突出公司人力资源优势、优化商业模式，最终推动两家公司分别于2015年12月及2016年2月在新三板成功挂牌，并且两家公司的规模和社会影响力都得到了很大的提升。
《亚洲法律杂志》 您帮助中国企业海外上市，也帮助境外企业投资中国。这种业务上的“一进一出”，会让您对整个投资形势做出怎样的解读?您未来的业务重点又会放在哪方面?
易律师 我推测接下来的投资形势可能体现以下几个特点。第一，资金将会更有效率地引导流入实体经济，实体经济作为全球经济复苏的驱动力，将会迎来更多的长期投资。第二，投资机构关注的重点项目将从模式创新向技术创新过渡，尤其是以人工智能、大数据和区块链为代表的新技术与老行业融合的项目，将是投资热点。第三，在“一带一路”倡议下，积极审慎的海外投资活动仍将得到支持。第四，中国作为全球经济增长的发动机，在未来相当长的时间里仍将是跨国投资的热土。因此，我未来的业务重点仍将在股权投资、并购重组及境外上市等法律服务领域。
ALB You have practiced for about twenty years. Before working as partners, you also had the work experiences of judges and public lawyer. What is the influence and inspiration of such experiences on your current legal practice?
YI In fact, although currently my focus is to provide clients with legal services related to the capital market, my eight years’ experience in an Intermediate People’s Court and one year’s experience as a public lawyer have had a profound impact on my current practice. For example, in investing and financing projects and M&A cases, the former judge’s thinking allows me to objectively analyze the positions and demands of both parties to the transaction, so as to accurately pinpoint the convergence of the two parties and facilitate the deal; in addition, the former judge’s experience allows me to foresee the risks in a transaction which may cause disputes in the future and thus effectively take precautions in structuring the transaction and drafting the transaction documents, in order to avoid lawsuits and to save clients’ costs. The position of a public lawyer embeds the sacredness of serving the public and requires more responsibility than that of a privately practicing lawyer. This experience gives me a more comprehensive understanding to legal practice.
ALB Shenzhen is a city driven by innovation where the capital market is dynamic and competitive. How do you offer legal services to the greatest satisfaction of clients?
YI Indeed, Shenzhen is a city driven by innovation. And because of this, other than experience and lessons learned from previous cases, innovative thinking is essential when providing legal services in capital markets in Shenzhen. When serving my clients, I have never rigidly applied past cases to the new ones. Instead, I always propose innovative solutions for specific projects. For example, I was retained by two Internet service companies established and operated by the handicapped people in Shenzhen, seeking to be listed on National Equities Exchange and Quotations (the “NEEQ”). By then, their annual business income was less than 4 million yuan and the annual net profit was less than 0.7 million yuan. Other agencies believed that the chances of these two enterprises being successfully listed were very low. However, I proposed to highlight the company’s human resources advantages, optimize business models, and finally promoted these two companies to be listed in NEEQ in December 2015 and 2016 respectively. Since then, the scale and social influence of the two companies have been greatly improved.
ALB You help Chinese companies to list overseas, and help overseas companies invest in China. Based on this, how do you interpret the investment trend? Where will your future practice focus be placed?
YI I think that the next investment trend may reflect the following characteristics. First, funds will be more efficiently directed into the real economy. As the driving force of the global economic recovery, the real economy will usher in more long-term investment. Second, the key projects of investment institutions will shift from model innovation to technological innovation, especially the integration of new technologies represented by artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain with old industries, which will be investment hotspots. Third, under “the Belt and Road” initiative, active and prudent overseas investment activities will still be supported and promoted. Fourth, China, as the engine of global economic growth, will still remain an appealing region for cross-border investment for a long time in the future. Therefore, my future focus will remain in providing legal services in relation to equity investment, mergers and acquisitions and overseas listing, etc.
