A perennial favorite topic (probably #3 on the all-time list) of conversation from readers is the job market for lawyers in China. Dan tackles this subject, very well as usual, on China Law Blog today, so I might as well put in my two cents.

By the way, the #2 favorite question is from expat teachers in China, which is "How can I terminate my English teaching job early and go home?" This doesn’t hold a candle, however, to the deluge of email I get from readers asking me "How can I get my cat to stop peeing on the living room carpet?"

But back to the matter at hand. I traditionally tell foreigners that they can break into the market here as a lawyer in one of two ways: bring a marketable legal/business skill from overseas; or have local knowledge. If you don’t offer one of these skill sets, you are going to have to suffer in the wilderness for a while until you can acquire the knowledge.

What is a marketable legal skill from overseas? If you have been doing cross-border finance deals in the energy sector for 10 years, you could probably find a job here. If you have been involved in venture capital transactions in the biotech sector for a long time, I bet you could find a job here. I’m assuming with these that you have worked with reputable firms and have decent industry contacts. The more specialized/needed your legal skills are, the less local knowledge you will need - it’s a sliding scale.

What is local knowledge? This is slightly broader than it used to be. In the old days when all the "China lawyers" really were working in Hong Kong, local knowledge meant you had studied Mandarin. These days it also means working here on the ground, knowing some Chinese law, and understanding how transactions are put together (e.g.: How do you proceed from initial client meeting to setting up a JV?). Client counselling and case management are very desirable skills right now. Firms want to hire people that are responsible and can be relied upon not to &@^$ up.

If you are just out of school, you have two choices: stay in your home country and get some specific sector experience first, or come over here and take a crappy job to get that in-country experience. If you opt for the former, try to keep plugged-in with China-related work as much as you can. If the latter, keep your expectations reasonable and be patient.

For Chinese lawyers wanting to do foreign work, the long-standing trend is getting that JD, LLM or equivalent at a foreign law school in the U.S., UK or Australia. I think the LLM degree is sometimes of little academic value, but if you need it on your resume, then go for it. Otherwise, do as much work as possible on foreign transactions and try to learn an indispensable skill. The most important two skills I know are: 1) how to draft a contract; and 2) how to listen/talk to a foreign client and problem solve. If you can do one of these things really well as a Chinese lawyer, your opportunities are limitless these days.