由威廉Dodson

其中一個我的咨詢學校絲綢之路顧問的資深合夥人是中國律師。 女士 張被證明實踐法律在中國，不在狀態。 她典型地承擔西部國際法企業代表他們的西部客戶獲取的公司案件，但為誰實踐在移動的協議可能非常只做通過政府渠道。 並且，許多西部律師事務所喜歡停留在一排城市、北京、廣州和上海的市區範圍內。 她喜歡在一排城市的市區範圍之外停留： 大城市中國的噪聲、汙染和整體粗魯不打動她，雖然她是北京的當地人。

她代表一個客戶在二排城市完成一些工作為上海企業在江蘇省。 她協助聯接的溶解 冒險在中國公司和西部公司之間。 天生她的工作樣式高度colloborative。 她有與代表案件的中國邊的江蘇律師的非常好工作關係。 他們有一位專家，細關係最好與中國律師在上海外面，一位小姐。 女士 張標記區別下來到一个世代。 她和我談論了怎麼它比「毛世代」和中國的「少許皇帝之間的代溝也許複雜世代」。

女士 張承認她有更多，與相同江蘇律師比與上海律師，基本上由於年齡： 女士 Zhang and the Jiangsu lawyer are both adolescents of the Cultural Revolution; that is, she and he are in their mid-forties. I have heard from many Chinese that there is a clear demarcation in the social attitudes of Chinese who lived through the Cultural Revolution and those born after that terrible decade from the late sixties to the late seventies. One of the greatest differences is the degree of consideration of others of each generation. In this instance, the Shanghai lawyer – Ms. Zhang has told me – is pretty inconsiderate. “She is so confident,” Ms. Zhang told me. “No problem, no problem,” she [the Shanghai] lawyer says, and insists on ramming things through government channels without some of the approvals that, should there be a snag down the line, will force the approval process to begin all over again. Though the Shanghai lawyer is herself a woman of slight stature, she bullies the Jiangsu lawyer that represents the Chinese side of the joint venture. When the Shanghai lawyer is curt with the Jiangsu lawyer, Ms. Zhang and the Jiangsu lawyer look at each other knowingly. They have an unspoken communications network built on shared generational experience.

“How much of that is the ‘New York’” effect?” I asked Ms. Zhang. “That is, how much of the Shanghai lawyer’s approach has to do with Shanghai seeing itself at the center of the world, much like New York City. Often those kind of professionals,” I offered, “tend to run roughshod over others and don’t seem to have a lot of patience for niceties.”

“She is not from Shanghai,” Ms. Zhang offered. “She is from the South. She spent some time in America studying American law after working for a Chinese law firm. She is really confident like American lawyers. She also doesn’t listen. She just orders the Jiangsu lawyer around.” She apparently just lets Ms. Zhang get on with Ms. Zhang’s own work, doesn’t seem to give Ms. Zhang any grief. Perhaps she sees Ms. Zhang as an older sister; or perhaps she doesn’t have to put Ms. Zhang in an adverserial role, since Ms. Zhang is supporting the Shanghai law firm out in the nether-reaches of China (a two-hour drive from Shanghai).

Ms. Zhang gets the same “generational” feeling from another young Shanghai lawyer with whom she has worked, a nice enough fellow, just broke thirty years old. But that same kind of cockiness pervades his interactions with the people who he encounters professionally.

Whatever the reasons might be, Ms. Zhang senses that the new generation of Chinese lawyers, born outside cities like Shanghai, but educated to some extent in the West and working for Western firms, marks a huge shift in the way law will be practiced in China.
Less emphasis will be placed on relationships to win the day, and more on brains and professional credentials. One hopes that as the new generation of lawyers reshapes China into a country that abides by the Rule of Law that genuine relationships between people are not sacrificed in the process.

William Dodson, This is China! Weblog