疫情初期几乎对VC投资按下了一个暂停键，VC市场活跃度整体放缓，随着对疫情的控制，投资机构的约访、尽调、签约等工作逐步恢复正常。医药研发、医疗服务等领域投资热度受疫情推动影响延续。同时，在疫情影响下，随着从线下到线上的转变，在线教育行业持续受益。此外，由于2020中美贸易摩擦的加剧及政府对半导体产业发展的大力支持，导致半导体产业的投资热度提升。

2020前半年受到疫情的影响，在2020下半年随着投资活动的回复正常而逐渐缓解，甚至有出现专业投资机构加速投资节奏，以填补2020上半年疫情影响导致投资活动的放缓。此外，2020年上半年疫情最严重的时候，几乎与客户的会议都改为线上，所有律师也不进所而尝试在家办公，逼着对于律师之前习惯的服务模式产生了颠覆性的改变，这个改变可能会让律所以及管理者重新思考提供优质服务是否一定需要一个昂贵的固定的办公处所，以及重新思考如何以更有效率和科学的方式来管理在家工作的受雇律师的工作效率。

未来一两年工作方面，将持续适应新的环境变化调整业务方向，协助客户在关键领域作战略性以及前瞻性的布局，另外一方面，在原先投融资的业务基础以及事务所已有的客户群体中，深耕其他潜在的业务机会以及业务种类，加强事务所不同业务团队在案件中协同整合的能力，为更好地提供服务作准备。

The early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to have put VC investments on pause, and the overall activity of the VC market slowed down. As the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under control, our work with investment institutions and target companies, including work meetings, due diligence and contract signing, gradually went back to normal. Due to the pandemic, the investment boom in pharmaceutical R&D and medical services has continued; and at the same time, more businesses went online due to the epidemic, benefiting the continuous growth of online education industry. In addition, as the Sino-U.S. trade frictions intensified in 2020, and the Chinese government gives strong support for the development of the semiconductor industry, the investment in this industry shows a trend of increase.

The impact of the epidemic in the first half of 2020 gradually eased in the second half of the year as investment activities returned to normal. Some investment institutions even speed up the pace of investment to make up for the losses caused by the slowdown in investment activities due to the impact of the pandemic in the first six month. In addition, during the first six months when the pandemic was in a very serious situation, we had to work virtually – having almost all meetings with our clients online, and all our lawyers trying to work from home instead of in office – which was a disruptive change in the service model that lawyers were used to. And because of this change, law firms and their managers started to rethink whether they really need an expensive, fixed office to provide quality services, and how to manage the work efficiency of the employed lawyer when working home.

We’ll continue to adjust our business direction to accommodate to the changes in the business environment, and help our clients with their strategic and forward-looking layouts in key areas. On the other hand, we’ll explore other potential business opportunities and business lines based on the existing investment and financing business foundation and our existing client groups, and enhance the capabilities of our teams in terms of coordination and integration in cases, to be prepared to provide better services.