So You Want to be a China Lawyer?
A perennial favorite topic (probably #3 on the all-time list) of conversation from readers is the job market for lawyers in
By the way, the #2 favorite question is from expat teachers in
But back to the matter at hand. I traditionally tell foreigners that they can break into the market here as a lawyer in one of two ways: bring a marketable legal/business skill from overseas; or have local knowledge. If you don’t offer one of these skill sets, you are going to have to suffer in the wilderness for a while until you can acquire the knowledge.
What is a marketable legal skill from overseas? If you have been doing cross-border finance deals in the energy sector for 10 years, you could probably find a job here. If you have been involved in venture capital transactions in the biotech sector for a long time, I bet you could find a job here. I’m assuming with these that you have worked with reputable firms and have decent industry contacts. The more specialized/needed your legal skills are, the less local knowledge you will need – it’s a sliding scale.
What is local knowledge? This is slightly broader than it used to be. In the old days when all the "
If you are just out of school, you have two choices: stay in your home country and get some specific sector experience first, or come over here and take a crappy job to get that in-country experience. If you opt for the former, try to keep plugged-in with China-related work as much as you can. If the latter, keep your expectations reasonable and be patient.
For Chinese lawyers wanting to do foreign work, the long-standing trend is getting that JD, LLM or equivalent at a foreign law school in the
Stan, another ingredient to the mix is one which your former employer clued me in on long ago, and about which I was in denial until the war hatchet came flying. If your spouse is not with you in China, or is not on-board somehow, there is a strong likelihood that the job won’t work out. There is a large amount of divorce occuring among us talented China-types, and that should be factored in. The stress on family should be considered in the decision-making process.
I would definitely go along with that. I always assume that new entrants to the market are kids coming out of school, but that is often not the case.
I have seen a lot of people drag their spouses over here and then struggle with disagreement over how long to stay. A supportive spouse will usually agree to the move, but after a few years, things can change.
What’s the best advice? Well, marry a Chinese person of course, and stay here long-term!
I’d qualify that, by adding, marry a Chinese person who is willing to remain in China for the long-term.
Personally I see most foreign lawyers as fulfilling less of a China legal role than as a ‘marketing’ bridge between their foreign clients needs and the real skills and efforts of their Chinese legal colleagues. As for foreign lawyers coming to China with no Chinese language skills – I’d forget it and head off to somewhere you speak the language. I’ve never understood the need to have foreign lawyers in China and many of pontificate absurdly on th
Oops ! Stan please add:
many of them pontificate absurdly on matters of law they are neither qualified for and have no real experience to comment on. It’s Chinese lawyers you need in China. 99% of the foreign lawyers operating are de facto salesmen.
Chris: While I agree with you on all your points, I have been frighteningly confronted by Chinese lawyers in China who pontificated (that was the very word I used 2 years ago to describe to an American corporation what Mr. X was mumbling about the law, and he was horribly wrong) on what they thought the law was, and how they thought our client figured into the litigation mix. There is no substitute, in any setting, for competence and careful work, and elimination of fast talk.
Now that is well said. China does possess far too many lawyers both Chinese and Foreign who are little better than fast talking harem scarem types angling for large hourly rates or upfront payments only to then do bugger all.
young industry + young lawyers + non-transparent system = what Chris said
One note of clarification: China has too many inexperienced/bad lawyers, but is sorely in need of experienced/good lawyers to facilitate the huge increase in domestic and cross-border transactions.