Chinese lawyers: witnesses to great change   2002-10-28 09:43:23 China's reform and opening－up policy is bringing opportunities and changes to the legal profession. In the past, Chinese law firms must be run by at least three partners, but just last month, the first privately owned law firm started business. As our reporter Feng Shu finds, Chinese legal services are becoming more varied to keep pace with the market economy and Chinese lawyers are keeping up－to－date with international competition. For Ma Yuqiang, a veteran lawyer in Beijing, October 16th will never be the same again. With the opening of his own law firm, he has become one of the trailblazers among the swelling ranks of Chinese lawyers. Ma Yuqiang has been in the legal field for 21 years. From being a legal consultant in Beijing's local government in the 1980s, to becoming a partner in his former law firm in the 90s, Ma Yuqiang now, at the beginning of the 21st century, is pioneering another trend in China's legal profession. Mr. Ma said: "Private firms are set up within residential communities and integrated with community services, that's why they can give more convenient and practical help to the people living there. Their lower costs, more flexible management and independence means they're easier to manage." There's no profession that can match the law in terms of high－speed growth and change over the last twenty years. If Ma Yuqiang's endeavors are considered to be rather audacious, they at least indicate that China's legal profession is coming closer to international practice. In the early 1980s, Chinese lawyers could only deal with criminal and civil cases. Now they have a much wider market in which to expand their expertise－－ in securities, real estate, maritime affairs, copyright and anti－dumping. The lawyer trade, now one of the most lucrative in China, has caught on with the Chinese in recent years. In March, a record 360,000 candidates sat the national judicial examination in the hope of one day becoming famous lawyers. Yang Yiwen, Vice Director General of the Beijing Justice Bureau,said: "There are three major factors that can take the credit for this enthusiasm for the legal profession. Firstly, people's legal awareness has grown in recent years； secondly, the legal services lawyers provide are welcomed by clients； and finally, lawyers are financially better off, much respected and play a vital role in our economic, political and social lives." Wang Junfeng is the initiator and senior partner of the King & Wood Law firm. After 9 years' development, this law firm has expanded from the original 6 partners and several lawyers to today's 80 partners and more than 200 lawyers. The former single－room office is now two complete floors in one of Beijing's most expensive office buildings. As an overseas Chinese coming home, Wang was surprised with the changes in the profession, the greater potential and scope for expanding his business. No business is risk－proof and the legal profession is no exception. China's access to the World Trade Organization has made the large but fledgling legal market an attraction to overseas lawyers, putting more than 120,000 Chinese lawyers in a competition they never imagined just a few years ago. For Ma Yuqiang, the biggest challenge he now faces is making more people trust the work of his private law firm. But he is confident that his wealth of experience and his professional ethics will make his company a credible and successful one.