中美律师事务所比较研究.docx

中美律师事务所比较研究.docx

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中美律师事务所比较研究

中美律师事务所比较研究

英文：

ThelawyeringoriginatedfromancientEurope，buthasgreatdevelopmentinAmerica.Nomatterasaphenomenaorascience，theAmericanlawyeringisworthytobestudied.Chinaisoneoftheseveralcountriesthatjustbegantodeveloplawyering.ItisnecessarytocompareAmericanlawfirmswithChineselawfirms.First，wecanlearnalotfromAmericancolleagues.Afterhundredsofyears，Americanlawfirmshaveaccumulatedmanyvaluableandsuccessfulexperiences.Ifweuseforreference，wecanavoidgoingbyaroundaboutway.Second，itishelpfultoenhancethecompetencyofChineselawfirmtocompetewithforeignlawfirms.WithChina'sadmissionintotheWTO，thelegalmarketofChinawillbeopentotheforeignlawfirms.Wehavetofacethechallengeofforeignlawfirms.ThereisadictuminancientChina，whichsaidthatyouwillneverlossifyouknowyourselfaswellasyouropponent.Third，wecanpredictthegrowthtrendofChineselawfirms.Americanlawfirmsarefullydeveloped，whileourChineselawfirmsareatthestageoflearningtofly.SowecanpredictwhattheChineselawfirmswouldbefromwhattheAmericanlawfirmsare.TherearemanydifferencesbetweenChineselawfirmsandAmericanlawfirms，suchasthehistory，theorganizationform，themanagement，thesize，thewaytheyfetchtheclient，etc.Forthereasonsabove，Iwilladdressthemonebyone.

I.TheHistory.

Therewere41000lawyersintheUnitedStatesin1870，whilethepopulationofUnitedStatesatthattimewas4000，00，00.Thatistosayalmostevery970personshadonelawyer.TheAmericanBarAssociationsetuponmay4th，1878，indicatedthebeginningofformalregulationonlawyering.Atthattime，Chinawasatfeudalsociety，andtherewasnopersonactedasanagentinlitigation，notalonelegalprofession.Itwasnotuntil1912didChinaintroduceintothewesternconceptoflawyer.TheNorthernWarlordsgovernmentpublishedtheTemporaryRuleonLawyersin1912，andtheydeveloped3000lawyersbefore1928.

Inthemiddleof20century，thenumberoflawyersofAmericanwas180000toxx00；every750personshadonelawyer.Thisperiodwasthegoldenperiodofthedevelopmentoflawyering.Inthexxth，theamountoflawyersinAmericanexplodedinto500000；every400personshaveonelawyer.Afterxx，Americanlawfirmsbecamelargerandlarger；somelawfirmshad$100，00，00，00incomesinayear（ThisfigureisequaltoalltheChineselawfirms'incomesinayear！

）Now，thereare100，00，00lawyersinAmerican；every300personshaveonelawyer.80percentofthelawyersintheworldareconcentratedintheUnitedStates.

TheAmericanlawfirmshaveanuninterrupteddevelopmenthistoryofhundredsofyears，whileChineselawfirmsonlyhavetwentyyears'historyafterthePeople'sRepublicofChinasetupin1949.TheGeneralRuleofPeoples'CourtofJuly1950providedthatthedefendanthadtherightofadvocacy，itwasthelegalbaseoftheexistenceoflawyersandlawfirms.Fouryearslater，thecentralgovernmenttriedouttosetuplawfirmsinseverallargecitiessuchasBeijing，Shanghai，Tianjin.ThefirstConstitutionof1954providedthatdefendanthadtherighttodefendbyhimselforhirealawyertodefend.In1956，theRegulationofLawyers'Feewaseffective.Buttheprocessofconstructinglawfirmshadbeenstoppedin1957duetopoliticalreasons.Duringthefollowingtwentyyears，Chinahadnolawfirm.Itwasnotuntil1979didtheCommunistPartydecidetoresumethelawfirms.Fromthenon，Chinabegantoconstructgovernmentlawfirms.ThereweretennationallawfirmsinBeijingbeforexx.ThelargestlawfirmwasTheFirstLawFirmofBeijing，whichhadnearlyonehundredlawyersatherheightofpowerandsplendor.Inthexx，theJudicialBureauofBeijingbegantoreformthegovernmentlawfirminBeijing.Allthelawyerswereencouragedtopracticeinself-dependentlawfirms.Forthosewhowereuptothemustardofsettinguppartnershiplawfirms，themunicipalprovidedconveniencesforthemtoregister.Beijingwasthefirstcitythatbeganthereformoflawfirms.Manyofthelargecitiesfollowedtheleadofit.Accordingthelateststatistic，thereare11，00，00lawyersand100，00lawfirmsinChina.

ThedifferenthistoryofAmericanlawfirmsandChineselawfirmsreflectthedifferenthistoryofthetwocountries.Wecanfindthatthehistoryoflawfirmsinonecountryhascloserelationshipwiththesocietytheyexistandcandulyreflecttheevolvementofthesociety.

II.TheLawFirmOrganizations

ThereisnouniformactonlawyersintheUnitedStates.Thelawyersandlawfirmsareregulatedunderthestatelaws.TherearethreekindsoflawfirmsintheUnitedStates：

LimitedLiabilitypartnerships，LimitedLiabilityCompaniesandindividualpractice（BoutiqueLawFirm）。

Unlimitedpartnershipwasatraditionallawfirmorganization.Itrequiredthepartnerstakeunlimitedliability，whichputtoomuchresponsibilitiestothepartnersthuslimitedthedevelopmentofalawfirm.Priorto1960，nostateallowedprofessionals，includinglawyers，toincorporate.Allmostalllawfirmswereorganizedaspartnerships.

Thereweretwomajorconcernsresistancetoallowinglawfirmincorporation：

first，thepossibilitythatthecorporationitselfmightinterferewiththeprofessionalrelationshipbetweeneachclientandtheattorneyhandlinghiscase；andsecond，thepossibilitythatlawyerscouldavoidmalpracticeliability.However，lawyersandotherprofessionalssucceededinassuagingtheseconcernsbyintenselobbyinginthe1960sand1970s.Today，everyjurisdictionallowslawyerstoincorporateandform“professionalcorporations”or“professionalassociations.”Now，mostlawfirmsareorganizedasprofessionalcorporations，whichareentitiesthatpossessqualitiesofbothapartnershipandacorporation.Selectingtheformofincorporation，thepartnerscanavoidunlimitedliabilityandacquiresignificanttaxadvantages，includingtheopportunitytoestablishpensionplansofferinggreaterbenefitsthanthoseavailabletopartnerships.Withtaxreformintheearlyxxs，thetaxbenefitsofincorporationdecreasedsignificantly.Today，limitedliabilityistheprimaryadvantageoftheprofessionalcorporation.

AccordingtotheLawofthePRConLawyers，therearethreecategorieslawfirms：

oneisthelawfirmswhichareestablishedwiththecapitalcontributionfromtheStateandthiskindoflawfirmsshallbeindependentinitspracticepursuanttolawandshallundertakeliabilityforitsdebtswithitsentireassets.Theotherkindiscooperativelawfirms，whichareestablishedbylawyersandundertakeliabilityfortheirdebtswiththeentireassetsofthelawfirms.Thethirdoneispartnershiplawfirmswhicharesetupbylawyersandthepartnersundertakeunlimitedandjointliabilitywithinhisorherprivateassets.ThisyearanewformoflawfirmwasborninBeijing，whichpermitsindividuallawyersetuplawfirminresidentialareatomeetthepeople'sneedforlegalservice.Nowmorethan90percentlawfirmsinChinaarepartnershiplawfirms.

Ineachcountry，itishardtosaythatthelawfirmscanfreelyselecttheformsoforganization.Thelawyersineachcountrydoknowwhatkindoforganizationisthemostsuitableandbestonefortheownersofthefirms.Butlegislationonlawfirmsineachcountryisabalanceofallinterestgroupsinthecountry.Theresultsreflectthedifferencestrengthsoflawyersindifferentcountries.TherearelargeamountoflawyersandlawfirmsinAmerican，andtheyhaveformedanindependentsocialclassthatpossessesdistinctpoliticalrights.Thustheiropinioncaneffectthelegislatorsandeasytobeadopted.

III.Thesize.

OneoftheastonishingcharactersoftheAmericalawyeringisthattherearemanysupersizelawfirms.IfIdidn'tcometoChicago，Icouldnotbelievehowalarge-sizedlawfirmwouldbe.ThelargestlawfirmintheUnitedStateshas800partnersandxxlawyers.Itisnotrareforalawfirmtorentaskyscraperastheiroffice.Amiddle-sizedlawfirmhas500lawyersorso.OnelawfirminAmericancanearn$100，00，00，00oneyear，whichequalstoalltheincomesofChineselawfirms.ThereisatrendofthelawfirmsinAmerican：

somelawfirmswillbecomelargerandlargerinthefuture.

Accordingtothestatusmentionedabove，wecanfigureoutthattheaveragesizeofoneChineselawfirmis10lawyers.ThetotalincomesofChineselawfirmsare10hundredsmilliondollars.TheaverageincomeofaChineselawfirmis$10，00，00.WeoftenheardthatsomeleadersofChineselawyeringpromulgatedtoconstructlarge-sizedlawfirms.Butthelarge-sizedlawfirmstheyhavearesmallonescomparewithAmericanlarge-sizedlawfirms.EventhelargestlawfirminChinahastheamountoflawyersnomorethen100.ItishardforaChineselawyertoimagehowcanalawfirmhasxxlawyers.ButitisthetruthinAmerican.

Theadvantageofalargefirmisthelargefirmhasmorelawyers，sotheyhavemoreopportunitytohandlecomplicatedlegalaffairsandprovidelegalservicestolargecompaniesorbigprojects.Butitishardtosaythelargerthebetter.Large-sizedfirmshavetheirdifficultiestoo.AseniorpartnerofaChicagolawfirmsaidthatitwasn'tthelargerthebetter，butthebetterthebetter.

WhyAmericahaslarge-sizedlawfirmswhileChinahasn'tlarge-sizedlawfirms？

IthinktheessentialreasonisthattherearelargeamountoflawyersinAmerican，anditisthebasictoformalarge-sizedlawfirm.Thelawfirmsadopttheorganizationofcorporationistheotherimportantreason.Itiseasytomanageacorporation.Withinacorporation，therelationshipissimplifiedbothintheinteriorandexterioroft