China's Legal Services Market: Survival of the Fittest

May 02, 2007 | BY

clpstaff &clp articles

Chinese law firms and foreign law firms play different roles in the legal service market in China. Who is taking the lead and where do these firms fit into the big picture?

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By Xiaowei Chen, Beijing Chang An Law Firm1 and Charlie Xiaolin Wang, Wang & Nance2

The number of legal services organizations in China totals approximately 51,000 offices, consisting of law offices, notarization offices, patent proxy offices, trademark proxy offices, copyright proxy office, grass-roots legal service offices as well as social legal consultation organizations, with about 450,000 practitioners. Among them, there are 12,428 law firms. They account for 24.3% of the total social legal service organizations. According to data disclosed in Legal Daily dated January 22 20073, there were 169 overseas law firms and 72 Hong Kong law firms in China, which make up approximately 1.9% of all law firms in China.

In July 2006, the All China Lawyers Association announced that the number of