Mandarin skills crucial to China engagement

Firms should give greater priority to finding lawyers with in-depth knowledge of Mandarin as a new wave of Chinese investment hits Australia, one practice head has said.

Stefanie Garber • 16 September 2015 • NewLaw

Hall & Wilcox partner Eugene Chen (pictured) heads up the firm’s China practice, an Australian-based group comprising Mandarin speakers with a range of legal expertise.

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The practice has turned over deals worth a total of $250 million since January, and Mr Chen expects revenues to double in the next two years.

“There are more and more Chinese SME businesses coming into Australia,” Mr Chen told Lawyers Weekly.

“In the first wave of the SMEs businesses coming in around 2000 to 2010, their service requirements from a legal perspective were quite low. All of that changed post-GFC, where we've seen a significant push of capital coming out of China. Now there is significant investment in Australia by Chinese businesses, particularly in real estate and agribusinesses.”

While traditionally such clients would have focused on top-tier firms, cost pressures are encouraging them to look at larger firms with a more cost-effective offering, he suggested.

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Yet there is a “vacant market space” for firms that can deal with clients in their native language, Mr Chen believes.

“In other firms, there are no senior Mandarin-speaking lawyers running China practices – that's a major deficiency,” he said.

He emphasised that while many firms had Mandarin speakers on staff, a dedicated practice for Chinese clients was a different proposition.

At Hall & Wilcox, Chinese clients are brought in by the China practice lawyers, who then liaise with other practice areas within the firm to give their clients a full service offering.

In Mr Chen’s eyes, having lawyers with Chinese language skills is non-negotiable for firms in the future.

“In this current economic environment, it's unavoidable that you have to do business with China, so that skill is required,” he said.

However, basic language skills are not enough to offer this type of service.

“There are a lot of graduates who turn up with CVs that say they speak fluent, native Chinese – but there's a difference between being able to talk everyday and being able to conduct legal transactions in that language. And that's a skill set that's not out there.”

Graduates who have these skills are often abroad, where firms are more likely to pay a premium for these skills, Mr Chen said.

“I think there are sufficient numbers of Mandarin-speaking law students out there. But [Australian] law firms need to consider those language skills more as they are recruiting. We're losing a lot of Mandarin-speaking lawyers overseas, particularly Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong,” he said.

Dave H Saturday, 19 September 2015

I've been learning Chinese as a hobby for over 6 years and I'd say it isn't a language that can be perfected if it is your a second language. Speaking is one challenge, but learning how to write is another (bigger) challenge. Impressive task that Eugene to form his profitable Chinese practice because it is almost impossible to find these lawyers in Australia (who are possibly native Chinese from mainland, HK or Taiwan). 

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Lauren Saturday, 19 September 2015

We should care because? Take the education that Australia has provided you. (most likely free) with the bias towards favoring students from ethnic back-rounds (run by the left wingers in the education system) and your entitled attitude and get on a plane asap.

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Gsquid Friday, 18 September 2015

The salaries are 4-5 times higher in Hong Kong, shanghai and Beijing than Australia. If you can speak mandarin and read a Chinese contract, head to the airport now and text in your resignation from the boarding gate. Drop what your doing and head to airport now. Chinese clients investing in Australia seeking advice from Aussie Anglo mandarin speakers with experience living in china. Been going on for years. Old news that is the client reference. 

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Huynh Friday, 18 September 2015

The ability to speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) is definitely not enough - one needs to know how to write perfect Chinese (for drafting documents and emails) in order to have that competitive edge. Frankly I have never come across any Asian who grew up here who can actually write like a native Chinese. I doubt firms here can source "real native Chinese" talents unless they hire straight from Chinaland. 

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Ninjakiwi Thursday, 17 September 2015

I am coming. 

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Even more jaded Wednesday, 16 September 2015

When US and UK firms in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are paying 2-3 times the salary (after tax) of firms in Australia (and offering greater exposure to cross border transactions or multi jurisdictional cases) for mandarin literate Australian trained lawyers, what incentive is there for such people to remain in an overcrowded Australian legal market where they will also likely face some semblance of a bamboo ceiling?

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Justin Wednesday, 16 September 2015

It's a mistake to overly invest in China at the moment. There is too much reliance on China for Australia's future prosperity. China is starting to see big problems and the bubble is bursting.

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Jaded Wednesday, 16 September 2015

It is a mistake to think Asian firms will deal with Anglo Mandarin speakers. We need to use our graduates from an Asian background, not make everyone learn an asian language when our neighbours in Asia still don't want to deal with them. 

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