Although her anti-dumping office under the Shanghai-based Richard Wang & Co. became operational just one year ago, Ren believes her career will be rather promising since China is being integrated into the global economic system.

“The number of anti-dumping cases has risen rapidly since China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) last December," says Ren. "More and more domestic enterprises have come to realize that they need legal services to ensure better development."

China's accession to the WTO will not only have a profound impact on its economic and political life, but will also create new professional opportunities for Chinese lawyers, says Yang Guohua, an official with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

As a large number of Chinese laws are being modified to conform to WTO regulations, lawyers can provide counseling services to businesses and governmental organs, he says.

In addition, lawyers, equipped with the related knowledge of the WTO, as well as Chinese and international laws, can help enterprises to take full advantage of their rights in the marketplace.

Trade disputes between China and other countries will be inevitable after the WTO entry, the official noted. "Although those trade disputes will be settled by the government, lawyers will play an important role in the process," he says.

Lawyers can assist Chinese firms to collect evidence and prepare documents and can even advise the government to initiate WTO dispute settlement procedures in the event that Chinese firms come under discrimination from external laws and regulations in international trade.

Richard Wang & Co. is one of a growing number of Chinese law firms which has come to recognize the importance and great potential of legal services related to international trade.

"People usually think that lawyers' work consists only of going to court. But now the situation is changing," Ren says.

Lawyers are assuming an increasingly vital role in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, said Martin Baker, a British lawyer, during an international symposium on WTO and legal services in China.

"The days of trade disputes settled by negotiations between diplomats are, for the most part, a thing of the past," he says.

Meanwhile, Chinese lawyers are expressing doubts that China's fledgling bar has been well-prepared for the new opportunities.

Lawyer Hank T. Wang, who is licensed in both China and the United States, says that few of the approximately 120,000 lawyers in China are really competent for the job, one which requires comprehensive business knowledge, professional skills and foreign language skills.

He blames the relatively poor quality of Chinese lawyers mainly on inadequate training and insufficient exchanges with foreign lawyers as a result of government restrictions.

Gao Zongze, president of the All-China Lawyers' Association, also acknowledges that the most urgent work for the association is to help lawyers to raise their professional skills and sense of professional ethics.

The association also plans to organize more varieties of training courses in the future, Gao said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2002)