Junior Lawyers Division: Networking

Junior Lawyers Division

Networking

Alisha Liu, a lawyer qualified in China and Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme candidate in England and Wales talks about arriving in the UK and reviews some of the differences between the two jurisdictions, particularly networking.

I arrived in the UK in 2019 to receive a common law education and I am now a Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme (QLTS) candidate and in the process of getting qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales. I am qualified in China and practised at a top tier law firm in Beijing before coming to the UK. I wanted dual qualification, because I believe my practice experience in China is unique and useful for some clients in the UK legal market.

Compared to many British law firms with long histories, law firms and the legal market in China are much younger. This ‘young’ legal market has kept learning from the mutual one in the West. However, because of cultural differences between the two societies, the legal markets also vary. As a qualified Chinese lawyer, I would like to highlight some of the differences in the networking culture.

In the UK, there are many law societies and professional groups for people to join which support their careers. For example, for young professionals, there is the Junior Lawyer Division of the Law Society, and the London Young Lawyer Group. These groups organise various networking events to support juniors at the start of their career. There are many other networking events to join for lawyers at different stages of their career. In addition, depending on the type of networking event, there is generally an opportunity for people to walk around and network with new contacts.

However, in China, the culture is quite different.

Firstly, the law societies in different cities adopt a more regulatory role rather than a supporter role. They have regulatory powers in a similar way to, for example, the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board. Secondly, there are fewer events held by such law societies, and lawyers tend to be far less active as professionals than they are in the UK. In terms of the networking culture, the UK law groups are perhaps more resourced.

Many Chinese lawyers, however, tend to join various business groups or political groups. Compared to the less dynamic networking culture of law societies in China, these business or political societies are intensely active. This brings a lot of business opportunities to the lawyers.

In China, the most frequent practice is to have meals together in restaurants. Whereas in the UK, it is usual to take clients out for a drink to a pub, in China the ‘alcohol table culture’ is the preferred way. A group of people, some strangers, and some acquaintances, go to a restaurant together and talk about their business for many hours! One explicit advantage is that you can communicate with people in a closer, and more thorough way. However, it is necessarily small-sized, and it takes up a lot of one’s private life. ■

Alisha Liu

Alisha Liu

Foreign Legal Advisor (Qualified in China)

In future editions we plan to include networking tips. Lawyers at all stages of their careers can find networking daunting but often its purpose and process is misunderstood. We would like as many ideas as possible, so do please send in any questions you want addressed or any approaches that work well for you.