Q: If you would spare a few moments, we would like to pick your brain. Your sharing could be the spark that inspires other legal professionals and next generation of talented lawyers to pursue excellence.

Liu Zhen says:"Work-life balance is a myth. I'm not sure if putting too much emphasis on this concept is necessarily a meaningful approach. Overthinking about it, wondering why you can't achieve that mystical balance and losing sleep over it can be agonizing. Lawyering by its nature is demanding, time-consuming, selfless and often overwhelming. For that reason you really cannot half-ass it. What I would recommend is utmost focus and commitment while at work, but leave yourself the time and space to put work aside completely, compartmentalize clients and deals and truly enjoy friends, family or even just yourself. There's no such thing as absolute balance, you will almost always spend a lot more time on working as a lawyer (for as long as you are one) than anything else, however, mental stability and happiness are achievable, and absolutely crucial. One final thing, the fabulous lawyers I know all have something in common – they love what they do and they've been doing it for a long time. Frankly the same goes for the top investment professionals and entrepreneurs I know. I cannot tell you how important that internal drive is. If you are thinking too much about this work-life balance thing, pause and ask yourself if lawyering is truly something you like to do.  If it isn't, that's okay, your world wouldn't end there and there are plenty other possibilities you can explore.”

Q: Outside of your prolific legal career, are there any extra-professional pursuits that fill your heart with joy, pride, or contentment? Perhaps you are a regular contributor to charity? A fan of blood-pumping extreme sports? Or a dedicated collector of arts?

Liu Zhen says: At the risk of sounding not cool at all, I'm gonna say I'm not into any blood-pumping extreme sports. I wish l could say I enjoy flying planes like one of my California-based senior partners.I always enjoyed writing, in fact, during the first internet boom in China when I was still a young student, I wrote a few pieces under a pseudo name that became quite big hit. I had columns on newspapers and magazines that ran for a while. Looking back, that was a whole other life now.

I was born into an artists'family, so I'm naturally drawn to that side of the world. I enjoy walking around and taking photos of understated but aesthetically beautiful things and corners (before“city-walk”became a hip term, that is). I always enjoyed using re-cycled materials to create artifacts – my Beijing home at one point was filled with jugs, candles, vases, wall-art and even furniture I created. It then evolved into a love for interior design and architecture in general. I have a very young baby, through whose eyes I'm almost learning about the world all over again. It's fascinating re-thinking about things our older selves tend to take for granted (why some leaves turn yellow and some just fall, for example). It's my new sanctuary.