Standards and Measures of Legal Services Fee Charging of Sino Pro Law Firm (for trial implementation)

I. Charge by hours

1. Hourly fee rate

2. The following hours are valid working hours:

(1) Time spent by the lawyer on the work required by the client;

(2) Time spent by the lawyer listening to the introduction by the client about the entrusted matters, understanding the situation and requirements of the client, answering the questions raised by the client, proposing opinions on the entrusted matters for the client, reviewing, consulting and sorting out the relevant files and materials, and informing the client of the work progress, etc.;

(3) Time spent by the lawyer for the completion of the entrusted matters as required by the public security organs, procuratorates, people’s courts, and other institutions in order to complete the entrusted matters;

(4) Time spent by the lawyer for consulting the relevant laws and regulations and discussing the entrusted matters; time spent on investigating the relevant personnel, relevant authorities, departments, entities, and intermediaries, and collecting evidence; time spent on communicating with the relevant personnel and discussing the relevant matters;

(5) Time spent by undertaking lawyer on the work relating to the entrusted matters in accordance with laws, regulations, and industry standards.

3. The effective working hours of lawyers are generally determined according to the actual working hours spent.

Under specific circumstances, the effective working hours may be appropriately increased or decreased on the basis of the actual working hours. Specifically, the working hours for participating in court hearings and participating in negotiation, etc., may be charged at up to 200% of the actual working hours. The working hours for overtime work on public holidays, or the overtime work from 21: 00 pm to 6: 00 am the next day on business days, etc., may be charged at up to 150% of the actual working hours. The working hours in traveling (the working hours in traveling shall mean the time spent on traveling by car, boat, or plane in the course of handling the entrusted matters by the lawyer) may be charged at least 50% of the actual working hours. The above rules will apply except as otherwise agreed by both parties.

4. If there are more than two lawyers involved in case handling, the effective working time shall be calculated separately for each of them.

5. For legal services, effective working time shall be accumulated by every 6 minutes, i.e., 0.1 hour. Less than 6 minutes shall be counted as 6 minutes.  

II. Charge by case

1. Case-based fee charges for litigation and arbitration cases.

Representing clients in the first instance, second instance, application for retrial, retrial, and appeal in civil and administrative litigation, providing legal assistance to suspects in the stage of criminal case investigation, defending the defendant after the case is transferred for prosecution, participating in accusations and appeals, providing services for victims of criminal cases, and representing clients in criminal incidental civil litigation, and criminal private prosecution, assisting with applying for state judicial compensation and applying for arbitration on behalf of others. A minimum fee of RMB 20,000 per case shall be charged for the representation.

In the case of continuous representation and defense, the fees can be reduced by a certain percentage as mutually agreed upon by the two parties.

A minimum fee of RMB 40,000 per case shall be charged for the representation and defense with no distinguishment of stages.

2. By-case fee charges for non-litigation services (Unit: ten thousand yuan)

Where complex business issues are involved or otherwise agreed upon by both parties, the foregoing restrictions may be disregarded, provided that the relevant industry regulations must be observed.

3. Determination of the Amount of Per Case Fee

The amount of per case fee shall be determined by considering the following factors:

(1) The importance of legal affairs;

(2) The difficulty and complexity of the entrusted matter;

(3) The number and seniority of the lawyers involved and the extent of participation of the partners;

(4) The working time that may be consumed and the time span of the case;

(5) The potential risks and responsibilities of the attorney;

(6) The cost-bearing ability of the client;

(7) Whether there are any external experts or third-party professionals or institutions involved.

III. Charges by the disputed amount

1. Fee standard for ordinary cases that are charged by the disputed amount (First Instance)

2. For continuous representation in a case, the fees may be charged at a reduced rate as agreed upon by both parties in the second stage and thereafter.

3. For the representation of a case without the distinguishment of stages, the fees may be charged at double of the above rate.

4. The disputed amount refers to the amount stated in the litigation or arbitration application for the subject matter. Where a counterclaim is involved, the total amount stated in the litigation or arbitration application of both parties shall prevail.

5. Increase of charges for difficult and complicated cases

In the following cases, the ceiling of the above general fee standards may be exceeded upon agreement with the client.

(1) The facts of the cases are unclear, the investigation and evidence collection works are difficult, the legal relationships are complex, and the time spent by the lawyer for handling cases is significantly more than that for ordinary cases;

(2) The cases involve difficult and extraordinary professional issues, putting requirements on the lawyers’ professional skills that are significantly higher than for ordinary cases;

(3) Foreign-related cases involving Hong Kong and Taiwan laws as well as cases requiring foreign languages to be used as working languages;

(4) The case draws wide media attention and will have a significant impact on lawyers’ career.

6. Non-litigation services charged by the disputed amount

For non-litigation legal service matters involving specific transactions, settlements, and disputed amounts such as a merger, acquisition, and restructuring, liquidation and reorganization, negotiation prior to litigation, litigation consultation, issuance of lawyer's letter, etc., upon agreement with the client through consultation, such case may also be charged on the basis of 0.5% to 5% of the disputed amount, or the amount of the property interests involved, with reference to charging standards for litigation and arbitration cases, but shall not be subject to the aforesaid hour-based and case-based charging standard.

IV. Fees linked to results of property interests-involved cases (risk agency)

1. Full contingent fee

That is, the service fee is completely linked to the result of the dispute resolution, and is based on the amount of creditor’s rights realized by the client or the amount of debt relief (hereinafter referred to as the “Target Amount”) or a certain percentage of the property interests realized by other clients.

For entrusted cases that do not involve property interests, the minimum full contingent fee is RMB 100,000.

2. Semi-contingent fee

That is to say, the service fee in the early stage is not linked to the result and is paid according to the by-the-case or by-disputed-amount fees standards. After the dispute is resolved, the follow-up risk service fee will be charged according to the result of the dispute resolution, which will be a certain percentage of the Target Amount or the property interests realized by the clients.

Within the scope of the aforementioned standards, the contingent fee is inversely proportional to the previous service fee that is not linked to the result. The higher the previous service fee, the lower the contingent fee in the later stage, and vice verse. 

3. Non-litigation services are charged according to the result

Non-litigation legal services, such as mergers and acquisitions, liquidation and reorganization, pre-litigation negotiations, litigation consultants, issue of lawyer’s letters, and other legal services closely related to the client’s property interests, can also be charged by reference to litigation and arbitration case fee standards, which will be at a certain proportion of the client’s realized interests. That is to say, the half-contingent fee or full-contingent fee standards will apply.

4. Contingent fee rate

The maximum amount charged by a law firm for a contingency fee during each step shall comply with the following standards:

For the portion of the Target Amount less than RMB 1 million, it shall not exceed 18% of the Target Amount; for the portion of Target Amount between RMB 1 million and RMB 5 million, it shall not exceed 15% of the Target Amount; for the portion of Target Amount between RMB 5 million and RMB 10 million, it shall not exceed 12% of the Target Amount; for the portion of the Target Amount between RMB 10 million and RMB 50 million, it shall not exceed 9% of the Target Amount; and for the portion of the Target Amount above RMB 50 million, it shall not exceed 6% of the Target Amount.  

5. Fees charged by a third party

Litigation fees, expert argumentation fees, inquiry fees, notarization fees, announcement fees, and travel fees charged by a third party are not service fees and shall be borne by the client under normal circumstances.

6. Prepayment and guarantee for a contingent fee

The contingent fee shall be fully or partially prepaid to Sino’s account, in the amount of a certain percentage of the Target Amount agreed upon in the entrustment contract. The portion exceeding the realized Target Amount shall be returned to the client and the insufficiency shall be supplemented by the client.

The client shall provide an effective guarantee for the amount that cannot be prepaid.

V. Others

For matters that are not covered by the above terms, they will be decided by referring to the standards for the similar cases mentioned above after negotiation between the two parties.