CHINESE LAWYERS IN UK, AUSTRALIA & BRAZIL 1 Helen Tung One Temple Avenue Chambers helentung.blogspot.co.uk INTRODUCTION 110,000 + lawyers in China 10,000+ law offices (http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/36430.htm) Brazil: Lawyers: 571,360 UK 2,500 barristers and 32,000 solicitors Australia 30 June 2008 there were 3,869 barristers operating businesses in Australia Of the 99,696 people employed by the Australian legal services sector at the end of June 2008: • 5,154 (5.2 per cent) were either barristers or employed by barristers; • 5,108 (5.1 per cent) were employed in community legal services, including legal aid commissions, Aboriginal legal services and community legal centres; • 4,514 (4.5 per cent) worked in the offices of government solicitors or public prosecutors; and • 84,921 (85.2 per cent) worked in “other” legal services including private law firms 2 AUSTRALIA Bilingual lawyers have a leg up in many niche practice groups (http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/bilingual_lawyers_have_a_leg_up_in_many_niche_practice_gr oups) Posted Mar 1, 2013 2:50 AM CST By Richard Acello According to a survey commissioned by Robert Half Legal, 42 percent of 200 lawyers who are hiring officers see a need for more bilingual attorneys. Most needed (88 percent of those who saw a need) were Spanish-speaking attorneys, while Chinese-speaking skills ranked second at 9 percent. 3 AUSTRALIA Chinese Lawyers Australia – google, 12,400,000 results Yes, we’ve got it. The Beijing Office of Lin Tang & Co Lawyers was the sixth Australian law firm licensed by the Ministry of Justice, China, to facilitate Australian people to do business and do it well in China. We are not just a group of Australian and Chinese lawyers working together to serve for the best interest of you in China in terms of law. We are also boasted with the profound understanding of cultural nuance in between. For instance, liberty may well-regarded having the high value of humanity to an Australian. To a Chinese, it is face. “Fair go” may well be a reality in Australia. In China, it is a dream. Filial piety may appear to be a rare term to an Australian, so rare that many might have never heard of. Yet in China it is a part of daily life. To do business in a different culture could be daunting, certainly more so when the businessperson is from the most classless western society trying to do business in the least classless oriental country. The question we have encountered in not a small frequency is “does yes mean yes?”. We are in Sydney. We are in Beijing. We are here and there. We are there and here. For you. We are Australian lawyers born in China. We are Chinese lawyers trained in Australia. What more could you want? If you do, we’ll get it for you. We say no more. Before we say more, we wish to listen, listen to you carefully. You are4in the hands of a group of initiator, facilitator and Mr. and Ms Fix-it. Wait no more. Send an email now. AUSTRALIA- WESTERN LAW FIRMS FAILING TO BREAK CHINA 4 DECEMBER, 2012 Take the assumptions being made. One that exists in all firms is ‘because we employ Chinese lawyers in Australia, we understand China and we will succeed in China’. Let me make this clear – employing locally-educated PRC lawyers in Australia will not result in business success in China. Also, it is very difficult for them to provide constructive advice about where you might be making errors in your China strategy. In Chinese we have a saying: "He who is not in charge of governing does not interfere in its business". Another similar assumption was ‘because we have offices in Hong Kong and on the mainland, we understand China’. This is mere window dressing as far as we Chinese are concerned. A mere physical presence does not bring us closer to Australian law firms. As a result, these firms are strangers to us, which we will exploit in hard negotiations by driving down the price. Weidong Tian is a director of 6Dimensions, a consultancy advising Australian businesses seeking to succeed in China. 5 AUSTRALIA DZ, Melb, 30+ Sydney, DZ, Solit, Commercial litigation & immigration, 10+, E/C/M Australian Asian Business Federation, Shunde Association of Australia, Lions Club of Sydney Waratah JW, Melb, 50+, commercial property & immigration, 1-+, E/C/M SC, NSW, 35+, Solicitor, commercial litigation & general, 10+, E/M AZ, Law, 35+, Sydney, NSW, commercial litigation & general, 10+, E/C AW, NSW, commercial litigation & general, 10+, E/C/M 6 CHINESE LAWYERS HAIL EXCHANGE PROGRAM A SUCCESS Australia-China Legal Professional Development Program 8 to 10 lawyers take 12 weeks placement within large Australian law and government departments joint initiative between the Law Council, the Attorney-General’s International Legal Services Advisory Council, the All China Lawyers’ Association and the Chinese Ministry of Justice. It is funded by AusAID through its Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship Program. 7 AUSTRALIA http://www.cslawyers.com.au/CSLawyers2049/Page/21454/Our+People.aspx CS Lawyers' principal Mr Shun Cheng holds a Bachelor of Arts (History) and a Master of Laws from Liaoning University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Univeristy of Queensland. Before coming to Australia in 1998 Shun lectured in the Law School, Liaoning University for three years. Over the last 10 years of practice in New South Wales, Shun worked in a number of Australian law firms including two Australia top-tier firms. He has advised clients from various industries including energy, mining, government organisations, pharmaceuticals, construction, clothing and business consulting. Shun has advised clients from both Australia and China. He has assisted clients from China in acquiring interests in Australia and setting up appropriate structures to facilitate future operations in Australia. Shun also assisted Australian clients setting up joint ventures and other businesses in China. In Shun’s practice, he has also been involved in litigation matters. Apart from winning a few significant cases in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Federal Court of Australia, in early 2009 he helped a Chinese client successfully enforced an arbitral award delivered by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. His experience in litigation and dispute resolution helps his clients significantly in avoiding potential disputes. As one of the first Chinese born and educated lawyers to qualify as a solicitor in Australia, Shun has a unique set of legal skills and experience. Shun has a thorough understanding of the differences between the Australia and Chinese cultures. His ability to bridge the gap between the two cultures places him as one of the leaders in helping Chinese corporate and individual investors to invest successfully in Australia. 8 http://sydney.edu.au/news/law/436.html?newsstoryid=9321 Ashurst Australian Internships for Chinese Lawyers By Greg Sherington 29 May 2012 ShareThis Sydney Law School has partnered with Ashurst, Australia's new global law firm, to provide its students with opportunities to gain exciting and challenging transnational and international experience as an intern working in Ashurst's China practice. On 1 March 2012, Ashurst and Blake Dawson combined their practices in Asia and Blake Dawson changed its name to Ashurst Australia, adopting the Ashurst brand and forming a powerful global legal presence with over 1,700 lawyers across 24 offices around the world. They have Australian offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane and in the Asia region have offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Jakarta and Port Moresby. To support their growth strategy in the region, Ashurst is offering an exciting Sydney-based internship position in its China practice group. To be eligible to apply candidates must satisfy all of the recruitment criteria below: be in the penultimate or final year of a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD)Degree, or be currently completing a Masters Degree at The Sydney Law School have a tertiary degree from a People's Republic of China University be fluent in Mandarin (Business level preferred) be available to work a minimum of one day per week in the firm's dynamic China Practice in Sydney. The successful interns will be eligible for employment as a graduate following completion of their legal studies, and these opportunities can be further explored at interview. If you are interested in applying for these roles please send your cover letter, resume and academic transcript as soon as possible to Emma Stevens at emma.stevens@ashurst.com or telephone 9258 6574. 9 UK NLK, UK, 30+, London, Consultant, Lse (Antropology), Bar to solicitor, immigration, child care, 9+, E HC, UK-BBC, London, Trainee solicitor, social security, immigration, E, photography, violin YWW, HK, 30+, London, caseworker, BA Eng literature, KCL, LPC, immigration, 3+, E/C/M, reading, social theatre PL, HK, BBC, Solicitor/Partner, commercial property, 19+, E/C/M, Chinatown Lions Club VY Malaysian, 40+, Birmingham, Solicitor, LLM/MBA, immigration, employment, 3+, E/C/M/ Hakka/ Malay CL, HK, 50+, London, Solicitor/Partner, commercial, public law, immigration, family, 20+, E/C/M, Legal Advisor All China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, All Party Parliamentary on China 10 CHINESE SPEAKING LAWYERS IN THE UK HTTP://WWW.THELAWYER.COM/JOB-WATCH-CHINA/HONG-KONG/1012550.ARTICLE “In mainland China senior talent is in great demand,” she comments. “With many international firms hiring to tap into a market that still has great potential, local partners with strong client and governmental relationships are sought-after.” “In 2010-11 it was common to see London-trained corporate lawyers move to Hong Kong to handle M&A work and IPO listings for Chinese companies based in Hong Kong,” says Chan. 11 When it comes to language skills, fluency in Mandarin is more or less a must, says Tan. “Candidates who can speak Mandarin are at an advantage especially those applying for managerial roles that require communication both internally and externally,” he says. “We’re seeing 80 per cent of new instructions requiring Mandarin - in some cases native - and Chinese drafting skills,” adds Cardon. Native speakers with London training are particularly sought-after, notes Chan. “Lawyers raised in China, Hong Kong or Singapore and trained in London always have opportunities in Asia,” Chan says. “Lawyers who have proven themselves in London and are able to operate almost natively in Hong Kong/China will always be in demand.” Mandarin-speaking European lawyers will also always be in demand. “These candidates tend to be able to work in a English-speaking environment and handle Chinese clients,” adds Chan. 12 Google 43,800,000 results 13 BRAZIL Flavio Sisconeto, no profiles Commercial, trade, M&A RM, 40+, corporate http://www.tozzinifreire.com.br/en/lawyers/?tipo= S&filter=R http://www.lefosse.com/Advogados.html Lobo & de Rizzo Advogados Brazilian Bar Association. Legal Director of the Chinese Association of Brazil (2006-2010); General Secretary of the Chinese-Brazilian Economic Development Chamber 14 BRAZIL 15 http://www.thelawyer.com/number-crunching-brazil/1011245.article BRAZIL Foreign law firms in Brazil Keep out Brazilian lawyers don’t want pesky foreigners poaching their clients Jun 23rd 2011 | SÃO PAULO . “It's blatant protectionism,” fumes one foreigner. Francisco Müssnich, a prominent local, put it pithily in an interview with Latin Lawyer, a trade publication. Asked about relaxing the restrictions on foreign firms, he said: “Brazil has great opportunities for sure—but you can't let the guy who wasn't invited to the party come in and steal all the sweets.” 16 BRAZIL Lawyer expects understanding, co-op between Brazil, China (Xinhua) Updated: 2009-03-11 13:53 He said "two thirds of the cases we deal with in China are related to trade protectionism, and I do not think this is fair for the Chinese companies." Noronha said some Brazilian companies have requested the government launch an anti-dumping investigation on shoes made in China, since, in practice, Brazil does not recognize China as a market economy. The priority is that the Chinese legal system needs to be understood and accepted by Brazil, and "in this respect, China needs to push Brazil to recognize it as a market economy," Noronha said. Both countries have been affected by the global financial crisis, Noronha said, "but it may turn out to be a huge opportunity for the two countries to move toward wider cooperation." "We both have huge domestic markets. Brazil has rich natural resources, while Chinese companies will have opportunities to explore these resources and do business in relation to infrastructure," the lawyer said, adding that Chinese enterprises could also promote their products in the Brazilian market. 17 BRAZIL CULTURAL EXCHANGE VITAL Cultural exchange is the best way to enhance mutual understanding, and is of vital importance to improving economic and trade relations between China and Brazil, Noronha, an enthusiast of Chinese culture, said. He told Xinhua he enjoys collecting Chinese antiques and is also fond of Chinese music, "its slow rhythms helps me to relax." Noronha said he hopes that more and more people will share his interest in Chinese culture. Last year, the Confucius Institute at Sao Paulo State University, first of its kind in Brazil, was established with the help of Noronha, who now plans to set up more in other Brazilian cities in order to popularize Chinese culture. "The challenge we are facing is that entrepreneurs from the two countries do not know each other well. Therefore, we need to communicate by means of language and culture. Only by doing so will our relationship make good progress in the future," he said. http://www.thelawyer.com/number-crunching-brazil/1011245.article 18 BEYOND? http://www.cliffordchance.com/careers/experienced_lawyers/china.html Things are changing in China. It is a rapidly evolving economy, and presents one of the greatest opportunities to the firm going forward. The firm has a longstanding commitment to China. Our Hong Kong office opened in 1980, and is one of oldest international firms in the region. The Beijing office, which opened in 1985, was the first to be set up by European lawyers in Mainland China, and our Shanghai office has been operational since 1993. How to apply online To apply online for all roles in China, please click HERE. For further information on our offices, please click on the links below: FULL BEIJING OFFICE DETAILS FULL HONG KONG OFFICE DETAILS FULL SHANGHAI OFFICE DETAILS Contact us if you have a problem with your application. Associates/Assistants Opportunities to work in a leading firm in China. Hong Kong Why join the firm in Hong Kong. Mainland China Why join the firm in Beijing and Shanghai? Shanghai Calling- Movie Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKjBRWh5RdE 19 Helen Tung One Temple Avenue Chambers helentung.blogspot.co.uk 20