Press conference on China’s foreign-related legal services held during GLF

A press conference on China's foreign-related legal services was held on the sidelines of the Global Lawyers Forum (GLF) on Dec 10 in Guangzhou.

A press conference on China's foreign-related legal services is held on Dec 10. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

Presidents of local lawyers associations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong reported on the progress in foreign-related legal services in their respective jurisdictions at the press conference, which was hosted by Zhang Xuebing, Vice President of All China Lawyers Association.

Zhang Xuebing, Vice President of All China Lawyers Association, hosts the press conference. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

"As China's first international conference for lawyers, the GLF not only displayed the historic achievements China has made in the building of the rule of law and the development of the lawyer profession, but also strengthened cooperation between countries, especially those involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, built consensus and served as an important step toward a global community of legal services," said Xiao Shengfang, President of the Guangdong Lawyers Association.

Xiao Shengfang, President of the Guangdong Lawyers Association, speaks at the press conference. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

In recent years, Chinese lawyers' effort to meet the demand of an all-round opening-up through proactivity and high-quality services has yielded remarkable outcomes.

Take Beijing for example, at present, the municipality has over 2,200 lawyers focusing on foreign-related legal affairs and about 423 law firms providing foreign-related services. Lawyers in Beijing provided diversified services in 68,738 foreign-related cases last year.

"Generally speaking, Beijing is taking the lead in the country in terms of quantity and quality of foreign-related lawyers," said Gao Zicheng, President of the Beijing Lawyers Association. "Over 80 percent of foreign-related lawyers in Beijing have practiced law for over seven years with over 80 percent of them proficient in English."

Ji Nuo, President of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, speaks at the press conference. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

According to Gao, foreign-related legal services in Beijing are mainly focused on M&As, IPOs and securities deals in Europe, the Americas, and Asia with their clients including China's state-owned enterprises, private companies and foreign companies in industries like finance, manufacturing and the internet.

At the forefront of China’s reform and opening-up, Shanghai started its foreign-related legal practice earlier than the rest of the country. Benefiting from an increase in China's outbound investment, the building of the Belt and Road Initiative and the integrated regional development of the Yangtze River Delta in recent years, Shanghai has seen great progress in its foreign-related legal services.

From the perspective of Ji Nuo, President of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, to help Chinese enterprises and citizens do business abroad, Chinese law firms must make full use of local lawyers and cooperate with local law firms so as to help clients quickly find qualified lawyers who charge a fair service fee.

Gao Zicheng, President of the Beijing Lawyers Association, speaks at the press conference. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

"By setting up overseas branches, participating in international lawyers organizations and forging partnership with foreign law firms, Shanghai law firms have improved their global strategies and raised their global influence," said Ji.

"Our foreign-related legal services always follow enterprises wherever they go," said Xiao who disclosed that the local lawyers association arranged more than 20 trips to Europe, Southeast Asia and South America for Guangdong lawyers in 2017, and reached framework agreements with such countries and regions as Singapore, Malaysia and Marseille, France.

As early as 1992, the Chinese government started the pilot program of allowing foreign and Hong Kong law firms to set up branches in the Chinese mainland which has gradually expanded the pilot area since then.

"Since joining the WTO, China has been fulfilling its commitment to the WTO in earnest and actively promoting the opening-up of its legal service industries, leading to the rapid development of Chinese representative offices of foreign law firms," said Zhang.

According to Zhang, so far, 236 law firms from 22 countries and regions have established 306 representative offices in China with six such offices forming joint ventures with Chinese law firms.

Also in recent years, the Ministry of Justice has stepped up its effort to cultivate foreign-related lawyers in order to raise Chinese lawyers' global competitiveness.

In April, 2018, the ministry commenced the building of a foreign-related lawyer database and compiled a roster of foreign-related lawyers containing 985 outstanding foreign-related lawyers with expertise in international economic cooperation, international trade, maritime affairs and six other areas.

Challenges still exist, said Zhang, who pointed out that more foreign-related lawyers are needed to meet the demand of Chinese enterprises aiming to go global. 

"We will continue to provide our lawyers with various training programs," said Zhang. "We will also send more lawyers abroad and bring in foreign talents."