All Rise Episode 2 Recap
> All Rise Recap
Before the main events of the current internship, Ren Jiatong, a law student from Jingbei University interning at Jun An Law Firm, had a forceful confrontation with the legal team of Warm Nest. She was filmed advocating for tenants caught in a housing agency crisis, challenging the legal representative and confidently invoking her firm's name. This assertive display earned her both admiration and a degree of notoriety.
Later, as the interns were diligently drafting legal documents for their first assessment, Zhou An reflected on his own demanding early days in the profession, remembering the chaotic scenes that still appear in his nightmares. Song Yifan noticed Ren Jiatong, commenting to Zhou An that despite her quiet demeanor, she was a decisive and formidable individual, referencing her earlier encounter with Warm Nest's legal team, a company that Jun An was vying to represent.
Guo Xiaoyu, despite her late start in conceptualizing her legal response, was the first to submit her work. Li Ke followed, quickly resending his submission after realizing he had mistakenly sent it to the wrong lawyer. Huang Yue was frequently distracted by calls and messages from an older guy, which led to errors in her final draft. She frantically made corrections and submitted just before the deadline. The other interns completed their tasks on time.
Everyone waited at their workstations late into the night, only to be told that the results would be announced the following day, leaving them restless and unable to sleep. The next morning, the assessment results arrived via email. Ren Jiatong and Jiang Chen both scored thirty points, tying for first place. Guo Xiaoyu unexpectedly secured twenty points, while Wang Lu earned a respectable ten. Li Ke, Huang Yue, and Yan Fei all received zero points.
Despite their identical top scores, Song Yifan and Bai Xiao, the partners reviewing the submissions, disagreed on who deserved the top ranking. Ren Jiatong and Jiang Chen also voiced their differing opinions, each defending their chosen client's position and citing relevant laws and judicial precedents to argue for the superior rigor of their own legal response.
Song Yifan acknowledged the impressive performance of both top interns, noting that the others were still stuck in basic legal analysis, typical of a student's approach. Ren Jiatong felt a surge of quiet satisfaction hearing Bai Xiao's high praise for her. Song Yifan then suggested that if Ren Jiatong had integrated her supplementary arguments into the main body of her legal response, her first-place position would have been undisputed.
At that moment, Wang Lu questioned why Guo Xiaoyu's score was higher than his. Song Yifan didn't directly respond but instead asked Yan Fei for her perspective. Yan Fei felt that Guo Xiaoyu's legal response prioritized client experience, using clear and understandable language that non-professionals could easily grasp. Guo Xiaoyu added that her client, Mr. Li, lacked a legal background and required straightforward legal explanations.
Song Yifan revealed he had seen Guo Xiaoyu's online legal education videos but pointed out an error in her explanation of a legal relationship, which made Guo Xiaoyu realize the importance of professional accuracy. Before the end of the day, Song Yifan sent a group email with feedback for each intern. He praised Ren Jiatong for her nascent problem-solving lawyer's mindset, calling her legal response a model. Jiang Chen was commended for his solid case research, demonstrating strong legal foundations.
Guo Xiaoyu was acknowledged for prioritizing content over form but advised to deepen her professional expertise. Wang Lu's detailed work was noted, but he was told that details still needed refinement. Li Ke had numerous typos, Yan Fei's arguments lacked depth, and Huang Yue's issues were even more pronounced.
While the interns processed this feedback, a lawyer named "Sherry" (later revealed to be Bai Xiao) posted a new task in the group chat: assistance with research on legal provisions and similar cases for a medical dispute, representing the defendant hospital. Ren Jiatong was the first to respond and quickly completed the task efficiently, earning praise from Bai Xiao. This made the other interns realize that "Sherry" was indeed Bai Xiao.
Jiang Chen thanked Ren Jiatong, noting that her timely response was a reminder for him to adjust his jogging schedule to ensure he didn't miss important group messages. Meanwhile, Huang Yue's older guy, acting to eliminate her competition, obtained the video of Ren Jiatong's confrontation with Warm Nest from Guo Xiaoyu's online account. He maliciously edited it and posted it on Weibo.
The video quickly went viral, plunging Ren Jiatong into a public opinion storm as friends and family contacted her with numerous calls and messages. Guo Xiaoyu felt deep regret and apologized, explaining that she only posted random videos for fun and never expected it to gain such traction or harm Ren Jiatong, who accepted her apology, noting that Guo Xiaoyu had merely been a "faithful recorder."
Huang Yue, seeing the escalating situation, wanted to clear Ren Jiatong's name, but her older guy messaged her on WeChat, warning her to be pragmatic and not to let sentimentality compromise her position. Ren Jiatong approached Zhou An, asking if the incident would lead to her dismissal. Zhou An admitted that the matter had a significant impact, especially since Warm Nest was likely to become a major client for Jun An.
He stated that the final decision would be made after discussions involving Zhuang Xin and the other partners, advising Ren Jiatong to focus on her current work and actively demonstrate her abilities in the meantime. She also recalled Song Yifan's earlier comment about her potentially being first and a text message from her family reminding her about finances, briefly considering online lending.
Soon, Zhou An announced the second assessment: a collaborative translation of legal documents for a cross-border investment and acquisition case. Song Yifan explained that the client was a Chinese company planning to acquire Kern Company, a unicorn in semiconductor design that held numerous patents. The two companies aimed to integrate their semiconductor R&D efforts. The renowned James Law Firm, representing Kern Company, was also involved. The translation was due in just one day, making it a demanding task.
Zhou An assigned the first part to Jiang Chen and Li Ke, the second part to Wang Lu and Yan Fei, and the longest third part to Ren Jiatong, Guo Xiaoyu, and Huang Yue. Ren Jiatong and Jiang Chen were designated to jointly review and finalize the entire translation.
Li Ke, anxious about the scoring, asked Zhou An about it and learned that each group would have a high and a low score, which worried him about competing with Jiang Chen. Guo Xiaoyu, noticing Huang Yue's anxiety about her low score and the clash between her external work and the translation task, offered to help her with some pages, but Yan Fei reminded them that translation speed was also a scoring criterion.
While reviewing the documents, Ren Jiatong discovered a critical issue in the supplementary agreement. The client's primary objective in acquiring Kern was to gain access to a specific semiconductor chip invention patent. However, an appendix to the agreement clearly stated that Kern had already granted an "exclusive license" for this patent to a third party, Kensit Company.
Ren Jiatong explained that an "exclusive license" meant that even Kern itself would no longer have the right to use the patent, rendering the client's acquisition goal null. Both Huang Yue and Guo Xiaoyu recognized the severity of the problem but argued for prioritizing the completion of the translation, mindful of the tight deadline and Ren Jiatong's current predicament. Jiang Chen independently identified the same patent licensing loophole.
He and Ren Jiatong suspected that James Law Firm might have intentionally set a trap with the clause. They believed that a lawyer's foremost duty was to their client's interests, not merely submitting assignments. They convened the team to explain the situation, clarifying the difference between an "exclusive license" (where the original owner loses usage rights) and a "sole license" (where the owner retains usage rights alongside the licensee), arguing that the latter would align with the client's expectations.
Despite resistance from most of the team, who feared delays and missing the deadline, Ren Jiatong insisted on highlighting the problem and re-dividing the workload. She pledged to take sole responsibility for any score deductions if their plan failed, and Jiang Chen promptly offered to share that responsibility. The team ultimately accepted their proposal. They worked late into the night to complete the revised tasks. As others gradually left the law firm, Ren Jiatong, Jiang Chen, and Guo Xiaoyu remained, continuing to scrutinize the translated documents.
