Ningbo Textiles

Some decades ago there were hardly any such field as international law – only domestic law representing clients with funny sounding names. Although this situation has changed, the world is not yet as borderless as the media want us to believe it. Nevertheless, U.S. lawyers are heading to China in increasing numbers on the “cutting edge” law on foreign investment, and many of these adventurers are fresh out of law school practice. Conventional wisdom has it that heading straight from overseas law school will ruin your career back home should you ever want to relocate stateside. I beg to differ. I know of one young man from Law School in the mid-nineties with a high GPA, graduated fluent Mandarin Chinese and experience as a Summer Associate in the Beijing office of a major international law firm. He had the “Asia bug caught” and went so fast that his diploma had to be sent him across the Pacific. Around the turn of the millennium he returned to the United States to test the theory that “you can not go home again”. With just a few months the effort he could a top position in the delivery driver for Pizza Hut country, resulting in complete dollars per hour over minimum wage (plus tip!). Let’s Get Serious. Before you jump across the Pacific, have a look in the mirror and ask yourself this question: “Am I an ‘International Lawyer”, or I’m an “International Lawyers’?” (Note the difference in capitalization). What is Plan B for the case of law in China falls through? If you as a lawyer in the United States, or will you as an English teacher in China? What excites you about China law – China, or the law? Because when all is said and done, an office is an office, whether in Beijing, New York or London. And like it or not, the interior is an office, where the average lawyer most of his / her waking hours spent. Likewise, legal work is legal work, there is no difference between the systems of commercial exciting, whether you are a customer with advice and preparation of documents in Mandarin Chinese, English and Serbo-Croatian. Then there’s the prestige factor. It is very stylish these days for medium and large law firms and to talk about “our China Office” – and what’s more, a China office for the issue of imposing bilingual business cards. It has become as potent a status symbol that many companies (I suspect strongly) in order to lose money office in China the only way to Beijing on the list of cities, where their company has offices hold. Medium sized law firms to prove in particular the establishment of China offices, their clients their status as Big Time International Players – Art, like the teenager who will not shave from his down, because it proves: “I am a man.” Better part of the prestige factor in practicing law in overseas forgotten. Holding a prestigious job as a model is to get married – it’s cool at first, but hey, is the law is a jealous mistress wears off – after a few months, the magic and you will have to be with her day to day living, the better or for worse. Anyway, “our China Office” really means “our China Rep Office”. Note that representative offices in China can not engage in profitable activities. Just as U.S. law firms away with him? To be sure, a few of them are usually employed in the Western legal side of sophisticated cross-border transactions (and hence usually not in the market for new graduates), but the rest are practicing Chinese law illegally. They get away with this howling in Beijing and Hong Kong (not so often in Shanghai), because the Chinese authorities turn their heads, ignoring the wounded of the tranquil (and well-qualified) Chinese lawyers sit. The reality is that many foreign investors feel more comfortable keeping U.S. attorneys, even though top Chinese lawyers far more capable, legal and linguistic nuances, missed the American jurists probably not understand, can. In other words, the U.S. Attorneys by the Chinese authorities tolerated because they help attract foreign investment. If the English language ability of Chinese lawyers sufficiently improved in order to inspire greater confidence among foreign investors, the Chinese Government to roll out the welcome mat under the feet off of U.S. attorneys. And it is not even a new law to throw it away – only the enforcement of existing law. Consider the spectacle of former China Investment Lawyers return to the U.S. bear sandwich boards reading ‘Will litigate for food “. Do not dress caught in the middle of their career, all with No Place To Go. The god news is, there is a loophole: China allows legal advisers who are not admitted to the local bar association, which require in certain occupations, membership in bar in the U.S. would work. Included among such positions is Corporate Counsel – at its best, 9-5 jobs that come with six-figure income. Six figures is not enough for you, these positions often provide opportunities for greater wealth as the company grows – Stock options, for example. Forget the international law firms while the big deals, sexy. If you are dead-on China laid down by law, then grind 2-4 years of commercial experience in the U.S., and look for a job in the legal department of the China offices of Western multinational.