Account

Sign in to access your account and subscription

Are Western Firms Growing Too Fast in China?

Seeking to reestablish the rule of law in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, China's government in 1980 set an ambitious goal: increase the number of licensed Chinese lawyers by 50-fold. Twenty-six years later, the aspiration has almost been realized. China's domestic legal industry has about 122,000 lawyers, compared to 3000 in 1980. Now the government may be turning its attention from adding to the ranks of those lawyers to protecting their business ' at the expense of foreign firms looking to strengthen their presence in China.

82 minute read October 13, 2006 at 12:12 PM
By
Lisa Lerer
Are Western Firms Growing Too Fast in China?

Seeking to reestablish the rule of law in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, China's government in 1980 set an ambitious goal: increase the number of licensed Chinese lawyers by 50-fold.

This premium content is locked for LawJournalNewsletters subscribers only

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN LawJournalNewsletters

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

Already have an account? Sign In Now

For enterprise-wide or corporate access, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or call 1-877-256-2473.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2026 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Continue Reading

Most firms are aiming their newest tools at the work they already do — pouring their most powerful technology into running the same tasks a little faster. But when everyone automates the same tasks at once, no one pulls ahead. That reaches the future a little faster while leaving a firm’s largest opportunity untouched — and that opportunity isn’t doing more of the existing work, but transforming how the high-value work gets done.

June 01, 2026

Artificial intelligence is rapidly embedding itself into legal workflows, but much of the conversation treats all use cases as if they carry the same level of risk, even if they do not. The more useful question is not whether AI works, but where it can be safely applied and where it cannot.

June 01, 2026

There is a difference between deploying AI in an existing workflow and rethinking how legal work gets done. The organizations seeing more fundamental change are the ones redesigning their operating model around what the technology makes possible.

June 01, 2026