Written by: Liu Honglin, Attorney at Mankiw LLP
A few days ago, several students from the Huazheng Blockchain Association came to Mankiw Law Firm for exchanges. We talked about the current development status of the Web3 industry at home and abroad, China’s regulatory policies and encouraging attitude towards the development of virtual currency and blockchain, and the very important topic of what legal professionals/lawyers can do in this industry.
What impressed me most during the communication was that they originally thought that as lawyers in the Web3 industry, our main job was to help clients with "criminal defense" and handle criminal cases such as illegal fundraising, fraud, and pyramid schemes in virtual currencies. However, after the conversation, they realized that the role of law in this field is far more than that.
I asked them why they had such an impression. They said it was mainly because most of the lawyers they saw online talked about virtual currencies, and the topic could not avoid the risk of crime, either illegal fundraising, fraud, or pyramid schemes, making this industry seem like a hotbed of crime that should not be touched.
As an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a few years ago, Liu Honglin, an attorney at Mankiw Law Firm, suggested to the students of Huazhong University of Science and Technology to set up a blockchain association. He thought that everyone could have a preliminary understanding of what blockchain is and what it can do. More importantly, how it can be integrated with everyone's career direction. After all, it has been difficult for college graduates to find jobs in the past two years, and law students are particularly miserable. But it is a bit regrettable to say that this suggestion was shelved for several years until recently, when it was actually the students of Huazhong University of Science and Technology's School of Business who took the lead in organizing it.
I think most of the teachers and students in the law school are still at the level of "this is risky", while the business school has already seen the commercial potential of Web3.
After the discussion, several students felt that we are indeed different from traditional law firms. Many lawyers are accustomed to talking about risks and describing the problems in the industry as serious, while we are more focused on sharing the latest trends in the industry, telling everyone how to better combine law and business, and helping entrepreneurs find legal and compliant ways. They said that this perspective is very helpful to them, especially those who plan to take blockchain as their future career development direction, so that they can see more positive things.
In fact, it is not only the students of Huazheng University who feel this way. Many Web3 entrepreneurs or friends who have communicated with lawyer Mankiw have similar feelings. They often complain to me about some "scare-style" lawyer friends on the Internet, thinking that lawyers like to use criminal risks to scare people, as if they can't attract their attention unless they scare people. Entrepreneurs joked, "Do lawyers think that only when we are scared will we go to them?" But in fact, most entrepreneurs are most concerned about how to do the project well in compliance with regulations and avoid risks, rather than hearing "There are risks here and there" all day long.
After all, except for those projects that are deliberately scamming to make money, most Web3 entrepreneurs hope to develop their projects legally and compliantly. Therefore, they naturally don’t want to be instilled with a lot of negative news every day and put on a lot of psychological pressure. A few days ago, I saw Bitget’s Jiayin shared a circle of friends, in which he talked about how he was recommended by a friend to an interview at a traditional Internet giant. The other party said, "You are quite good, but it’s a pity that you have a tainted background in blockchain." It can be seen how powerful the negative power of the Internet is every day...
This is why our philosophy at Mankiw Law Firm is to "make friends with Web3 practitioners." After all, if you really want to make friends, you will definitely not scare your friends every day, but find ways to help your friends.
We believe that the law is not only to prevent risks, but also to help friends in the Web3 industry find a way to develop. In this industry, we advocate "less intimidation, more construction". Taking the Web3 legal education articles and research that Mankiw Law Firm has been sharing as an example, I have always given the three principles to the new media leaders:
1. Don’t be a headline-grabber and don’t scare clients. Many lawyers attract clients by exaggerating risks, but this approach is only effective in the short term and will affect clients’ trust in the law in the long run. We hope to win clients through real and professional advice, not by scaring them for attention.
2. The content should be written for the client. Our articles and content must be easy to understand and cannot be filled with legal terms that the client cannot understand. After reading our suggestions, the client must know clearly what to do instead of being confused.
3. Provide practical advice to clients. We don’t just tell clients “what not to do”, but more importantly, tell them “what to do”. Clients hope to find solutions to their problems through us, rather than letting them wander in the legal minefield.
These principles are why Mankiw is attracting more and more friends and clients in the Web3 community. We not only help clients solve immediate problems, but also help them find a path to sustainable development through legal support. We have also been sharing our compliance research and practical experience with fellow lawyers without reservation. The reason is that we are not competitors, but colleagues in jointly promoting the compliance development of the industry.
We may not necessarily make the world a better place, but we can keep the industry from getting worse. We also call on more Chinese lawyers to "be less intimidating and more constructive". This is the key to promoting the long-term and healthy development of the Web3.0 industry in China. Only when our clients succeed can we succeed as business service lawyers.
