Bar Council Visits China to Strengthen Relations

28 May 2010

The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, will send a delegation, led by Chairman of the Bar, Nicholas Green QC, to China next week to develop further opportunities for the Bar in China and to strengthen relations with Chinese legal groups. The visit to Beijing and Hong Kong will take place between 31 May and 4 June. The Beijing leg will be conducted jointly with the Law Society, at the invitation of the All China Lawyers Association (ACLA), the national professional body for Chinese lawyers. The visit is part of a longstanding commitment by both professions to hold high level biennial exchange visits between the jurisdictions, initiated twenty years ago with the establishment of the Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme (LCTS).

The three day programme in Beijing will comprise meetings with the Ministry of Justice, ACLA, the Beijing Bar Association, the Legal Affairs Commission and the Legislative affairs office. The Bar Council and the Law Society will renew their commitment to working with the Chinese legal profession by signing a new Memorandum of Understanding with the All China Lawyer’s Association. The Bar Council will, in addition, offer plans for future cooperation including a succession scheme to the LCTS training programme. The Bar will also meet with CIETAC (the international arbitration centre) and leading Chinese law firms and hold a seminar on recent legal developments, followed by a reunion dinner, with  LCTS graduates, many of whom now occupy senior positions within successful Chinese law firms and companies across the country.

On Thursday 3 June, the Bar Council delegation will travel to Hong Kong, where it will hold a seminar in collaboration with the Hong Kong Bar Association focusing on recent regulatory changes at the Bar, including the work on reforming the system of barristers’ pupillage and exploring ways in which the Bars in the two countries can further their co-operation. The Hong Kong Bar is currently undertaking a similar review of its pupillage system and is interested in discussing the recommendations recently published by the Bar Council’s Working Group. The delegation will also meet with a group of LCTS graduates who work in and around Hong Kong.

Chairman of the Bar, Nicholas Green QC said:

“We are very much looking forward to this trip, which we see as a great opportunity to strengthen further the Bar’s longstanding and considerable relationship with the Hong Kong Bar, the Chinese legal profession more generally, and to raise awareness of the Bar’s advocacy and advisory services among Chinese law firms that engage in international trade.

“The international work of the Bar Council is a fundamental part of what we do, and it maintains and enhances the Bar’s reputation for providing extremely high quality services”.

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. Further information from the Bar Council Press Office on 020 7222 2525.
 
2. The Bar Council delegation will comprise Nicholas Green QC, Chairman of the Bar, Adrian Hughes QC, Chairman of the Bar Council’s China interest group, and Co-Chairman of the China Law Council, Simon Monty QC, Pupillage Review Working Group, and Sarah Richardson, the Bar Council’s International Projects Officer.

3. The General Council of the Bar is the Approved Regulator of the Bar of England and Wales. It discharges its regulatory functions through the independent Bar Standards Board. It represents the Bar by:

  • Promoting the specialist advocacy and advisory services of barristers;
  • Ensuring access to justice on terms that are fair both to the public and practitioners;
  • Promoting the high quality training and professional development of all barristers to ensure the highest standards of practice and ethical behaviour;
  • Working for the efficient and cost-effective administration of justice;
  • Encouraging access to, and diversity within, the profession so that it is open to all people of ability whatever their background; and
  • Strengthening and developing the work and the values of the Bar at home and abroad.

4. Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers

Launched in 2001, the Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers (LCTS) is a successor Scheme to the highly successful Practical Training Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers (PTS) which was established in 1989 by the Law Society and Bar Council’s joint committee, the China Law Council, in association with the All China Law Association (ACLA) and the Ministry of Justice of China.  The programme is supported by the British Ministry of Justice.

The programme is organised to enable the Chinese lawyers to obtain an understanding of the common law and English justice system and to gain practical experience in commercial law, litigation and court procedure as well as the management of a legal practice in both solicitors' firms and barristers' chambers.

Each year up to 15 lawyers a year participate in the LCTS programme which consists of training in Legal English and the law of England and Wales at SOAS, placements in Solicitors Firms and Barristers Chambers and also a brief trip to visit European and UN justice institutions. Participants are high calibre practising lawyers between the ages of 25 and 40 from around China, and are frequently partners in successful Chinese law firms.

With almost 300 Chinese lawyers having participated in the scheme since its inception, the programme has deepened and strengthened the relationship between legal professionals from both jurisdictions and made them better able understand the legal and cultural landscapes each other are operating in, and hence better able to collaborate on legal issues.