Bar Council, Law Soc continue work to enhance Anglo-Chinese relations

Law Society president Kevin Martin and Bar Council chairman Stephen Hockman QC have returned from a mission to open up further the Chinese legal market to UK firms.

Martin and Hockman spent 10 days in Beijing and Shanghai, meeting Chinese officials to promote opportunities for cooperation between the UK and China.

The pair spent time with the Chinese Deputy Minister of Justice and the president of the All-Chinese Lawyers Association, the Chinese equivalent of the Law Society.

Martin also held meetings with the managing partners of the 15 UK law firms with Chinese offices to discuss what the Law Society can do to support them.

In an interview with The Lawyer last month (10 April), Martin said the potential for law firms in China "is almost limitless, and we have a major role to play in unleashing that potential".

Last week Martin added that the Lord Chancellor's training scheme, which trains young Chinese lawyers in English law, was helping to embed the English legal system in the "fastest-growing economy in the world".