Zhiheng News | The third departmental meeting of Zhiheng Chongqing Construction Engineering Legal Affairs Department: Application of digital tools and summary of adjudication rules for difficult cases- Zhiheng Law Firm

In order to continuously enhance the professional capabilities of legal services in the field of construction engineering,March 12, 2026, Guangdong Zhiheng (Chongqing) Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as "Zhiheng Chongqing") Construction Engineering Legal Affairs Department held the third internal professional sharing meeting. This meeting focuses onPractical application of digital tools and discussion on difficult legal issues in the field of constructionThe two core modules are expanded.

Practical application of digital tools:

The compliance path to improve the efficiency of legal practice

The rational use of digital tools is an important means to improve the efficiency of lawyers' practice and optimize the case handling process.Director Chen YingzhuCombined with high-frequency trial practice scenarios, the system was disassembledAlpha ToolThe landing application method in the handling of construction engineering cases simultaneously clarifies the compliance boundary of tool use.

Core function practical usage

🔸 "Legal advice"functionIt can provide diversified case handling ideas based on the search results of class cases, effectively broadening the perspective of lawyers in handling cases; the one-click conversion function of elemental and non-elemental documents can significantly improve the efficiency of legal document writing and reduce the repetitive work of format adjustment. Refinement of responsibilities of directors, supervisors, and senior executives: sort out the rules for distinguishing direct shareholder litigation from representative litigation, clarify the "identity + subjective" dual elements of the legal representative's external responsibility, and suggest improving decision-making records in non-litigation compliance and strengthening evidence organization in litigation;

🔸 For the pain points of tight time in the trial preparation stage, use it after uploading the case file materials"Legal Grading"functionAI can quickly generate cross-examination opinions, court outlines and other litigation documents; for highly professional evidence materials such as cost appraisal opinions, AI can quickly extract core data and output professional reference opinions, effectively shortening the pre-trial preparation cycle.

Important Risk Alert

🔸 AI output results are only for reference in case handling, especially the review results of professional appraisal opinions. The handling lawyer must conduct independent verification based on professional competence. According to the requirements of the "Lawyers Practice Management Measures" that lawyers should be diligent and conscientious to avoid professional mistakes, it is strictly forbidden to directly cite unverified AI conclusions as case representation opinions to prevent defects or wrong opinions from affecting the quality of case handling.

🔸 After the document conversion is completed, the core content such as the amount of the lawsuit request, the main information of the parties, and the key facts of the case shall be double-checked, and the requirements for the quality control of legal documents in the lawyer's practice norms shall be strictly adhered to to to avoid factual errors.

🔸 The upload of confidential case materials shall strictly abide by the provisions of the Lawyers Law on confidentiality obligations: the meeting has clearly consulted the Alpha operator on the compliance of data security for special projects, and case materials involving state secrets, trade secrets, and the privacy of the parties must be uploaded after confirming that there is no risk of leakage.

🔸 In view of the word limit of marking materials, it can be solved by uploading only core evidence and compressing non-critical materials to ensure the relevance and necessity of uploaded content.

Guidelines for compliance with other practice tools

(1) Qichacha practical skills

Director Dai ZixinThe site shared the practical operation method of public information compliance retrieval: through the Qichacha and other open commercial information inquiry platform, combined with the official website publicity information, can legally obtain the identity of the legal entity related information, without the need to retrieve through the public security system, in line with the "Personal Information Protection Law" on the reasonable use of public information on the premise of effectively improving the early subject information verification work efficiency.

(2) Tool use risk warnings

In response to the recent emergence of automated office tools on the market"Raising Lobsters"After testing, it has serious data security risks, which may lead to customer information leakage, loss of case materials and other risks, and there is a problem of unauthorized deletion of system files. According to the requirements of lawyer practice data security compliance, the industry does not recommend the use of such tools to avoid practice risks and customer losses.

Professional discussion on difficult construction problems:Uniform application of adjudication rules for class cases

This conference selects three high-frequency difficult practical issues in the field of construction engineering, combines current laws and regulations, the latest judicial legal precedents and industry expert opinions to carry out special discussions, and forms a unified legal application standard and agency ideas to provide professional guidance for the handling of such cases.

The problem of applying for permission for actual construction cost appraisal

[Practical value] This topic is directly related to the choice of evidence path for actual construction workers to claim the project payment, and is a common focus of procedural disputes in construction cases. Clarifying the adjudication standard can effectively reduce the litigation cost of the parties and optimize the formulation of litigation strategies.

🔸 [Court Judgment Tendency]The search results of this type of case show that in judicial practice, some courts will grant the application for appraisal of the total project cost proposed by the actual construction person, but the promotion of this type of application is based on the cooperation of the other party to provide the basic materials for appraisal, otherwise it will not be able to advance due to lack of appraisal basis.

🔸 [Rules for the application of expert opinions]Industry experts have made it clear that such applications are not supported in principle, and only have a legal basis in two exceptional circumstances: ① the contractor subcontracts the entire project to the actual constructor; ② the actual constructor signs the construction contract with the contractor.

Identification of Affiliate and Validity of Contract

[Practical value] The determination of affiliated behavior and the judgment of contract validity are the core basic issues in construction contract disputes, which directly affect the determination of the subject and method of responsibility. Uniform application of standards can avoid the agency risk of different judgments in the same case.

🔸 [Discussion conclusions] The meeting combined with the Civil Code, the Judicial Interpretation of Construction Engineering (1) and the latest typical legal precedents in 2025, systematically sorted out the four identification standards of affiliated behavior, the level of contract validity in different situations, and the division rules of external responsibilities of affiliated persons and affiliated persons, forming a unified legal application guide within the team.

Countermeasure of Quality Problems after Completion Acceptance

[Practical value] This issue clarifies the procedural boundary between the quality defense and the right to claim the project payment after completion acceptance, and has direct guiding significance for the formulation of the litigation strategy of the code packet of the released version and the contractor, which can effectively avoid unnecessary procedure idling.

🔸 [Court judgment tendency] The existing effective judgment point of view is clear: because the project has completed the completion acceptance procedure, the code packet of the released version of the person's claim for non-compliance with the agreed construction loss belongs to the category of quality claims, and the court generally does not support direct deduction in the project payment litigation.

🔸 [Agent Guidelines] The correct remedy path for the code packet of the released version in this case is: to file a counterclaim in this lawsuit to claim liability for breach of contract, or to file a separate lawsuit to claim compensation for quality loss.

Refinement of practical points

The core practical guidelines formed by this meeting are as follows:

1. Principles for the use of digital tools: AI tools such as Alpha are only used as practice aids. All output conclusions must be independently verified by the undertaking lawyer. Before uploading classified case materials, a compliance assessment must be completed, and lawyers' confidentiality obligations must be strictly observed.

2. Actual constructor appraisal application rules: Unless there is an overall subcontract or affiliation, the actual constructor has no right to apply for appraisal of the total project cost in principle. When representing such cases, the parties should be given priority to collect direct evidence of the completed work quantity.

3. Agency thinking for affiliated cases: When dealing with affiliated construction disputes, we should first fix the affiliated factual evidence from the three dimensions of capital investment, personnel management, and actual construction scope, and then judge the responsibility according to the subject of the contract and the performance.

4. Quality defense path after completion acceptance: If the code packet of the released version claims the quality loss of the project in the litigation of the project payment, it shall file a counterclaim or sue separately in a timely manner to avoid the appeal being unsupported due to unsatisfactory procedures.

Zhiheng Chongqing Construction Engineering Legal Affairs Department will continue to implement an internal professional sharing mechanism, regularly sort out the latest judicial trends in the construction field, and judge rules for difficult issues, form standardized professional results, and effectively enhance the team's legal service capabilities.

Zhiheng Chongqing

Guangdong Zhiheng (Chongqing) Law FirmIt was officially established in July 2024, adhering to the value concept of "integration of knowledge and action, constant and far-reaching". It is Zhiheng15thThe establishment of the branch is an important part of Zhiheng's strategic layout of "rooted in the Bay Area, deeply cultivated in the whole country, and deployed globally".

Zhiheng Chongqing is supported by Zhiheng's ten professional legal service systems and is committed to building a comprehensive law firm with one-stop and diverse services in Chongqing, providing clients with professional, high-quality and efficient all-round and high-standard services