Chinese in-house lawyers, in common with their counterparts in many countries in Europe, do not enjoy the same level of professional recognition that their private practice counterparts take for granted.
This has not stopped Chinese companies from taking on their own lawyers, however. The explosion in the number of export-focused Chinese businesses has triggered a rise in the number of in-house lawyers in China and the Chinese Ministry of Justice has begun to acknowledge this. The ministry announced a trial project licensing corporate lawyers in 2002, in recognition of the growing number of companies investing in their own corporate counsel. Previously, China’s certification system stipulated that only lawyers working for law firms could carry the title ‘lawyer’.
