Peng Tianyuan: A Dream Pursuer

【《China Trade News》 posted on Feb 23, 2003】I have no idea whether this is a common point for lawyers that they usually work in a cafe or pub by the side of the underground station apart from the office, for example, like lawyer Peng Tianyuan. After making several appointments with him, we finally met with each other in a café beside the New World. In the afternoon, with white clouds floating in the blue sky, we were both very pleasant. Talking amiably about his profession and recalling his past, lawyer Peng described himself as a “dream pursuer”.

Transition from a Teacher to a Lawyer

He began to yearn for this profession as early as he was in the middle school, since then, he has always been dreaming of becoming a lawyer. “I am always been pursuing the impartiality, justice and righteousness, so I think this is a very noble profession. By saying this, I mean, I am actually a dream pursuer.”

However, the pressure of entering a higher school shattered his dream.Before the university entrance exam in 1986, “I once drew two lines in my diary. I could either choose the straight line, which meant that I would major in arts or then become a lawyer, or, I could choose the curve line, namely majoring in science and then to learn the subject of law by changing my major in university.” Taking the pressure of entering a higher school at that time into account, it was far more realistic to get rid of being a farmer than to pursue the dream, which was exactly the meaning of the curve.

Later, he planned to apply for working on the LLM in China University of Political Science and Law when he graduated in 1990, but had to give up eventually for reasons such as the national policy. After graduation, he taught politics and laws in a school, but still firmly held his dream in his heart. “Working cautiously and conscientiously, I am a qualified teacher and have been recognized by the headmaster and other teachers, also, I have won respect among my students. Teaching is another noble profession, but still, I prefer to be a lawyer.””

Being a middle school teacher for many years, Peng Tianyuan began to feel that his dream could still come true, his life should be changed, and fortunately at the moment, he got an opportunity to study in Shanghai. So, after resigning resolutely in 1998, he went to seek a systematic study of laws and pursue the master’s degree in East China Normal University and East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai.

A Profession of Solving Problems

Peng began to take over local legal services as early as in 1997 when he has not yet resigned. His first case was about disputes on property rights transfer disputes among shareholders of a company. “I felt a little bit hard at the beginning, but thanks to my own comprehension of laws and the advice from seasoned lawyers, everything was OK.””

“Working as a lawyer, it is hard to define what the biggest difficulty is, because lawyers themselves are those who solve problems. ”Of course, lawyers look superficially delightful, but actually they have undiscovered arduousness, especially in face of complicated cases or having difficulty in collecting evidence.“The client is God of lawyers, interests of the client are exactly the interests of the lawyer.” Holding this belief, lawyer Peng is very rigorous and meticulous in handling cases. Here is one of the examples:

It is actually a small case concerning dispute on a lease contract. The party renting the house of the client did not write down his address clearly, but only left his name and telephone number instead. The client decided to bring a lawsuit against the other party after the dispute occurred. Knowing that the defendant was from Shanghai, in order to investigate his identity, I visited three property management companies and many intermediary agencies. I found out that he even did not leave his address or ID number, when I phoned him，I was told that his number was out of service. That is to say, what I got was only the name of the defendant, as to his age, nationality and address, all of these needed investigating. I visited 3 police stations and knew that there were altogether 12 people of the same name as the defendant. This problem was not settled until my client confirmed the defendant from materials acquired from the police station. During the process, many departments did not understand or cooperate with us. These problems are all the hardship we lawyers may be confronted with at work.”

Servant of the Law

“If a person determines to achieve his goal, as long as he has resolution and passion, his dream will finally come true.” Just as is the case of Peng Tianyuan. Even though he is in the initial stage of this career, he is satisfied with the current situation, because this is what he has dreamt about since the middle school age. Besides, the more experience you have, the more you will be trusted by your client, so, being a lawyer is promising. He also established his own website: Oriental Tianyuan Lawyer (http://www.plawyer.com).

A typical lawyer in Peng's mind should be like this: With a quick mind and good psychological quality, a lawyer should be versed in laws and be able to work under great pressure as well as do well in expressing himself. “Being proficient at laws, Peng is a freelancer, a servant of laws, rather than the embodiment of justice.”“The client is God of lawyers, interests of clients are exactly the interests of lawyers.” A lawyer should safeguard interests of whoever the client may be and provide perfect legal services for his client. Of course, “even if the lawyer speaks on behalf of his client, it should also be based on legal facts and the lawyer’s own comprehension of laws, the lawyer should not distort facts or defend groundlessly.”

The green hands or those ready to engage in this profession might think that they debase themselves by accepting simple cases. As a matter of fact, even simple cases of civil disputes require profound legal skills, a good handling of these matters also indicates that you are a qualified lawyer; while some major foreign-related cases are much easier to handle, for responsibility of the parties as well as rights and obligations are all very clear. It is not that the bigger the case is, the more proficient the lawyer is, this is not absolutely right.

Having been a lawyer for 6 years, Peng always feels a sense of social responsibility and thinks that the weak in need of legal help should be aided, so he participated in the governmental legal aid and the legal volunteer activities in community for many times. Nowadays, he mainly engages in various difficult cases and foreign-related business. As to his development direction henceforth, Peng said that “I plan to handle various major and difficult cases, engage in business involving domestic and foreign companies so as to strive to establish my own law firm.”（Author: Wang Zhiguo 2003.2.2）