Economic Development and the Development of the Legal Profession in China

Abstract

The development of the legal profession in China since 1978 has been largely a modernization story of economic development. Section 1 demonstrates that the development of the legal profession and legal system as a whole has closely tracked economic growth patterns. Section 2 focuses on the business of law, examining various challenges confronting the legal profession, and in particular the commercial bar. Issues include the alleged oversupply and poor pay of lawyers, the extreme stratification of the legal profession, the recent trend of elite firms to expand rapidly through mergers, and the increasingly competitive relationship between Chinese and foreign firms. Although the general pattern of development of the legal profession is largely consistent with development patterns elsewhere, there are of course certain differences, which are examined in the conclusion.

Keywords: legal profession, law and development, rule of law, lawyers

JEL Classification: K40