20-7-21

It is by speed and insight that great things are achieved. Speed is the quick seizure of opportunities. Insight is not a matter of hitting the 4 walls. It is shaped by one’s sensible judgement of the ambiguity in a given situation.

I sincerely pray that young lawyers nowadays will go to the Greater Bay Area to gain share of the legal market and raise their professional levels. Economically, they would be better off too. Hong Kong is now on a new course of getting closer with the Chinese Mainland; and the professional business development looks brighter than it ever had. I am a loser over such clambakes. At my age, unless I have a legal dream to chase, I will unfold my arms and walk away from such opportunities. But, my decision is not right for a young lawyer in Hong Kong. 

Happiness is a journey. But, a journey is not happiness. I love vacation abroad but dislike business travel, in particular, because of its sense of helplessness, if not loneliness. To optimize my time, I often had to travel to work in the Chinese Mainland on Saturday and Sunday in the past. It was depressing to wear a suit and tie and act solemnly at weekends. I know if I want something that I have never had, I must be willing to do such things without complaint. 

I started my regular business trips in the capacity of a lawyer to the Chinese Mainland as early as in 1984. Aging is a journey which I can discern my true needs. Vanity and fortune once eluded me and now I realize the things that people aging gracefully do are different—we are at a new stage of looking for spiritual opportunity and strength. I am not capable of facing the fear of professional examination anymore and as a result, I turned down the recent suggestion from fellow lawyers that I should follow the lads and study to become a qualified Greater Bay Area lawyer. For me, my future retirement home in the Greater Bay Area may be already a full-time dream and for other commitments. Enough is enough. I still remember vividly how I spent my legal days over the past 40 odd years in the Area: negotiating at an uneven table, resolving conflicts in arbitration proceedings, investigating undeveloped lands with clients, comforting a widow whose husband’s distribution of property was a gordian knot in Hong Kong, staying alone in the guesthouse of Guangzhou court on a cold winter night and interrupting the afternoon siesta of officials…Lost time is never found again.

Recollecting, I think the following are the 10 phases of interaction of Hong Kong lawyers with the Mainland legal market. Each phase, as evolved and getting more sophisticated, created a brighter eclectic future for the business growth of Hong Kong lawyers:

1.      In 1979, China re-established the regime of lawyers. The colonial lawyers in Hong Kong however seldom did business with their communist counterparts in China. We sometimes went to China for legal business of Hong Kong clients but nobody was sure whether it was legitimate to do so.
2.      Due to the opening-up of China, many people from Hong Kong had to use their official documents in Mainland such as birth certificates and business licences etc. In 1981, China appointed 8 Hong Kong lawyers to be Attesting Officers (公証人) so that they could verify Hong Kong documents for the Mainland authorities. Now, there are about 500 such officers.
3.      In the 80s, China permitted overseas Chinese including Hong Kong citizens to study law in the country. Universities in Hong Kong did not provide such Chinese Law courses although they were in demand. For myself, I had to travel to the nearby Macau to take a class in Chinese civil and commercial law. 
4.      CHINA LEGAL SERVICE(H.K.) LTD. (中國法律服務(香港)有限公司) was set up in Hong Kong in 1987. It allowed Mainland lawyers to render legal advisory services in Hong Kong in the capacity of consultants through the company, not as legal professionals. The company was owned by PRC government. That was a very important breakthrough.
5.       In the 90s, the Mainland government let Hong Kong citizens take examination to become PRC lawyers. Not too many Hong Kong lawyers were eager about the opportunities as the examination was seen as a difficult one.
6.       Later, Hong Kong law firms were granted the right to set up representative office in certain cities in the Mainland. I set up one in Guangzhou. Such offices however served only as a liaison point and could not undertake any legal activity.
7.       After the handover in 1997, Hong Kong was not under the British anymore. The Mainland lawyers were given the right to set up ‘foreign law firms’ in Hong Kong. Some of them studied to take examination in Hong Kong and became local lawyers. They can thus practise Chinese and Hong Kong law at the same time.
8.       After 2000, the Mainland and Hong Kong law firms were permitted to enter into a formal ‘association’(聯營). Although the legal ownerships of the 2 firms were separate, they could work together and legally shared profits out of the joint efforts.
9.       After 2010, the Mainland and Hong Kong law firms were authorized to be merged into one single entity and together, they can practise law of either jurisdiction. This is really a drastic and liberal move.
10.      In 2021, Hong Kong lawyers could sit for an examination and turn themselves into Greater Bay Area lawyers with limited PRC law-practising rights. Such examination is however easier than the country’s national bar examination. In other words, Hong Kong lawyers could now acquire the ‘dual status’ as some of the PRC lawyers do in Hong Kong.

        Life is too short to spend time on studying and taking professional examinations. At my age, I begin doing what I enjoy doing. ‘We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake’. I do encourage young lawyers to think differently, chase dreams and make the trip NOW! This article hopefully will be part of the history to evidence the efforts of our legal generation to build up a cross-border professional market for Hong Kong.

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