2023 is fleeting, but it feels quite "long". This is the seventh year since I resigned from the Public Prosecutor's Office. This year, there was a chance moment when I had a new understanding of the profession of lawyer. This year's case-handling, teaching, and learning have further enhanced my professional self-confidence, and I have a clearer understanding of my positioning and future goals.
Since June of this year, the number of cases has gradually increased, and sometimes it is necessary to deal with one case at the same time. I remember that in the hottest two months in Wuhan, at least three of the five working days required to go to the field, either on the way to the detention center, or on the way to the procuratorate and court. One day, because of the needs of the case, I went to the procuratorate twice and the detention center once, and then went home in the evening to read the case file and write materials until the early hours of the morning.
At the same time, from September to December, I took on the teaching task of a course of "Criminal Defense Practical Training" at Wuhan University, giving two classes to each class every Monday morning. This is the second time I have systematically taught a full-process criminal defense skills course at Wuhan University. This time, during the 16-week course, I optimized the content of the previous course through continuous thinking, in-depth exchanges with students, summarizing the experience of handling cases, exchanging and learning with outstanding seniors and peers, and combining the difficult cases at hand, so as to form such a complete set of criminal defense practical teaching content system.
In addition, this year, I also continued to do some communication and sharing activities inside and outside the firm, and made a slight breakthrough in writing - under the leadership of lawyer Wan Jun, the director of the criminal department, I participated in the compilation of a criminal case.
The above ** is part of the lecture content) Although the above work intensity is not as good as many hard-working peers, but for me, it is indeed a high saturation. Such a high degree of saturation between case handling and teaching, thinking and action, although it is hard, has enhanced my professional self-confidence as a lawyer. My previous professional experience and the results of handling cases made me question the profession of lawyer for a while. Fortunately, the results and process of several cases this year are not bad, and the recognition of my peers and judicial officials has given me a lot of confidence. In particular, one of the case-handling personnel took the initiative to say to me, "Lawyer Deng, I think your defense point of view is still very reasonable." Of course, after talking about the good, you have to talk about the not-so-good. At the end of the year, I participated in the live broadcast of the 11th column of "Chatting WDD" held by Deng Jun, Wang Lu and Deng Kun, the directors of the three law firms, "Open Yourself", Deng Jun asked me a question - is there any pain or collapse moment? I laughed and said, quite a lot. This year, there are more cases handled, and the people I have come into contact with have become richer, and everyone's experience is different, and their cognition is also different, so even if the case results are very good, it is difficult to satisfy everyone. In one case, I often fell into a state of anxiety for a month or two in the face of pressure from my family, and even now that I think about it, I still feel that feeling. However, these bad things did not affect my confidence in my career, because I believe in my professionalism and dedication. At the same time, Xu Xingwei, a lawyer from Wu Luo, also gave me a great impact and encouragement with his actions. He repeatedly mentioned to me the four self-confidence of being a criminal defense lawyer, especially when he talked about professional self-confidence, the light in his eyes hit people's hearts. In the past 7 years since I resigned, I have experienced all kinds of loss, confusion, and pain, but I have also completed transformation and growth. This year, I have thought more deeply about my career development and positioning as a lawyer – what kind of lawyer do I want to be? Thinking of what lawyer Han Youyi said, "The end of the law is the beginning of a barrister", I hope that I can become a lawyer like Mr. Han in the future. Of course, taking the path of professionalism is destined to be difficult. But, it's the right thing to do, it's something that makes sense, and I'm not walking alone. I have a group of people around me who are better than me, and we cheer each other on, set goals together, and walk side by side in the midst of thorns. 2024 is the year closer to the goal. About the Author:
Deng Xuan is a lawyer
Deputy Director of the Academic Committee of Hubei Chushang Law Firm, Master of Laws (Criminal Procedure Law) of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Secretary-General of the Criminal Committee of Wuhan Lawyers Association, and External Tutor of Wuhan University.
His main business areas are criminal defense, corporate compliance and legal counsel business, and he has handled a number of complex and difficult economic crime cases and duty crime cases.