Interesting post in the This is China! blog. The blogger-in-chief, a China consultant, discusses one of his partners, who is a Chinese attorney, and the contrast between her style and that of younger attorneys here.

This discussion is a perennial favorite of several of us "old timers" in the office. In the legal industry in China, it doesn’t take much to be an old guy. The two lawyers with the most time served here are myself and our top litigator, and we are in our late 30s. Nevertheless, we often sit around and complain about the young people; if we had a front porch and rocking chairs, we would be out there shouting at the kids to get off the lawn.

What are the conclusions of the This is China! post? Basically this can be summarized by the concluding paragraph:

Less emphasis will be placed on relationships to win the day, and more on brains and professional credentials. One hopes that as the new generation of lawyers reshapes China into a country that abides by the Rule of Law that genuine relationships between people are not sacrificed in the process.

I think the consensus around here is that young lawyers are certainly well qualified on paper from an academic standpoint. The number of young Chinese attorneys that show up with overseas law degrees has risen steadily. Most of these are one-year LLM programs, which frankly are limited in value, but others have multiple-year degrees. Their brains are quite impressive as well, depending on how one defines intelligence of course. If you need someone to tell you what the law says, these are your guys. If you want a lawyer to give you advice and explain how to solve your problems, that is a different story. These guys have great minds at their disposal and should make excellent lawyers after sufficient training.

I am not quite sure how to read the bit on relationships. In China, when we refer to relationships, we are usually talking about connections. It seems that the blog post I am referencing, however, is talking about interpersonal relationships and related skills. A lot of young lawyers have neither, in my opinion. One of my criticisms of the "old style" of practicing law in China is an over-reliance on connections, so this does not trouble me all that much. A kid just getting out of law school should not be expected to have much in the way of connections anyway.

I would, however, say that social skills vary generally. Some older lawyers were never called upon to excercise such skills and have no idea what to do when faced with one of the new breed of Chinese business person, not to mention dealing with foreign companies. On the other hand, some young lawyers do act at times like spoiled children and are too confident for their own good. Neither category of lawyer per se is better at the two things a lawyer needs to be good at: listening to the client and problem solving. These kinds of skills are either inherent in the person or developed through training.