Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland Lawyers Complement Each Other After WTO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 15, 2001

Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland Lawyers Complement Each Other After WTO

Hong Kong legal professionals should improve their expertise in areas like e-commerce, anti-dumping, and environmental protection laws, as there is a high demand of talents in these areas in the Chinese mainland, according to a Senior Counsel Alan Leong, chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

He said earlier this week that in his recent trips to Beijing and Shanghai, those few areas of the law were mentioned by mainland potential users, but they are not subjects that Hong Konglawyers know well.

He made the remarks during a series of six lectures organized by the Graduate House of The University of Hong Kong. "We should enhance ourselves in the expertise in those areas. We should base ourselves in Hong Kong, and attract businesses to come here."

He cited Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie saying that Hong Kong could establish itself as an international dispute resolution center, where businesses would then come to local lawyers.

"We should use Hong Kong as a base, launch into the Chinese mainland, and then go out of China and establish ourselves internationally," Leong said, adding that the first thing for Hong Kong lawyers to aim at was to excel in their profession at home.

He thought professional standards of different disciplines, notonly the legal profession, is declining in Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong's younger generation have been spoiled in the last two decades.

"Their attitudes should be changed. They should seize every opportunity as their last opportunity, like their mainland counterparts," he said.

Leong said Hong Kong professionals possess the skills like self-regulatory skills without government intervention, which our mainland counterparts are still lacking.

On the other hand, the mainland counterparts have the necessary connections in the Chinese mainland, they know the logistics and know what clients want.

"So there is a perfect match if you marry Hong Kong and the mainland's legal profession together," he said.

Leong said the Ministry of Justice, China's judicial authority,is gradually changing its legal system from being government-regulated to being self-regulated.

"We, as professionals in Hong Kong, have a role to play in procuring the process on our mainland counterparts maturing to professional bodies that are acceptable to world standards," he said.

Leong said we should not forget that China's accession to the WTO is a two-way traffic. If the WTO means foreign firms can establish themselves in China, Chinese firms can also establish themselves in New York or elsewhere.

"If the WTO only means colonization of China's business by foreign firms, that is wrong. Hong Kong legal professionals have to kickstart the process, sharing their experiences with mainland counterparts, gaining their trust and confidence, and this vision would help to bring many professionals from the two places together."

Leong said Hong Kong has the niche over New York or elsewhere because of its close distance to the Chinese mainland. In addition,Chinese lawyers still find it more comfortable to work with peoplewho understands their culture, and speaks the same language.