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The dragon’s teeth

I am a lawyer based in Japan and working around Asia and although China is bound to have some effect on the international legal landscape I question how big it will be. The British Empire has had a profound lasting effect on the way the world operates. When a Japanese does business outside Japan there is a 99% chance they will use English even if in Asia an effect of the Empire. However, it is not just the words that are English the ways things are done are also more English than Japanese. The chinese when doing business will find it very hard to change the system, they will to some degree, but chances are they will be speaking English. This is a huge advantage to the established firms who already know the system. Japanese lawyers do almost no work overseas I can see the Chinese lawyers already taking a far more proactive approach in following their companies out into the world but I think it is hard to tell whether Chinese law firms will ever dominate in the way the British and Americans have.

13-May-2012

2:55 pm