Anton Tscherne: Today I will be interviewing a prominent lawyer in Jiaxing China. Jiaxing is just 30 minutes from Downtown Shanghai.

Thank you for meeting us today and it is a pleasure to meet you. Could you please tell us your name?

Mr. Huang: Mr. Huang Yawen

Anton Tscherne: Could you also tell us the name of your law firm?

Mr. Huang: The name of our law firm is Zheijiang Pinshang Law Firm.

Anton Tscherne: Firstly, can we speak about your background. Can you tell us what university and law firm you graduated from?

Mr. Huang: I graduated from the Law department of Zheijiang University in Hangzhou. I received my law certification in 1989 and I started the law service in 1990.

At that time the law firm was called the “Jiaxing Law Firm” which belonged to the Jiaxing judical government.

Anton Tscherne: Very good. How about after that?

Mr. Huang: As time passed and with the development of the society and economy there came the reform from the government of the law firm system. Thus several lawyers at that time started the Pinshang law firm.

Anton Tscherne: What date was that?

Mr. Huang: In 2008 Pinshang law firm came into being.

Anton Tscherne: Where was the original address of the law firm?

Mr. Huang: The original location was in the Science Business Community Building in downtown Jiaxing.

Anton Tscherne: When did you move to this location on Guanyi road in Jiaxing?

Mr. Huang: Two years later we moved from that building to this address at Guanyi road in 2010. We moved to this area of the Nanhu district because there are not as many law firms here as in downtown.

Anton Tscherne: Let us now talk about this office. How many lawyers do you have at this law firm?

Mr. Huang: Currently we have 4 lawyers that have certification and 1 lawyer that is preparing for certification.

Anton Tscherne: In Jiaxing there are many factories. I believe there are 6000 factories that export products.

What type of services do you provide to Jiaxing factories. Is it:

-doing the paperwork to setting up a compay

- tax law

- employment law

- intellectual property law

- business contracts

Mr. Huang: The economy in the Nanhu distict has developed very fast over the past few years.

Our firm office is located close to the world trade center and our law firm offers services in law consultancy in fields such as: Intellectual property, establishment of company, taxes and employment issues.

Anton Tscherne: Very Good. Full service legal work.

In Jiaxing there are online companies like mbaobao and there are other famous internet companies in Zhejiang like alibaba, Tmall and Taibao.

Now in China there are many people doing online businesses. Do you do any legal work for people or companies in these areas?

Mr. Huang: Recently we have been working for an eCommerce company who required many services such as intellectual property and copyright establishment.

Anton Tscherne: Do you see law services work expanding for these online companies?

Mr. Huang: Yes. Ecommerce is being supported by the government for business expansion. Business growth is closely related to the internet. This also helps upgrade for industry development. We see great development for certain companies.

Anton Tscherne: In USA many companies put a trademark on their company name when they set up their companies. Do Chinese companies do this?

Mr. Huang: For trade marks coprportaions put much emphasis on their brands. We take in consideration to register trademarks.

Anton Tscherne: The whole world hears about all the buildings being built in China.

Do you do property law? For example, if someone wants to buy or build a building

Mr. Huang: The law services we provide in this area can be classified in 3 parts:

1. Architecture

2. Real-estate

3. Property law

Anton Tscherne: Very Good

Mr. Huang: Yes, these are the 3 areas. We have more than 10 years experience doing legal services for architecture companies.

Anton Tscherne: China is different from other parts of the world. If a company wants to build or buy a building in China what are some issues that should be considered?

Mr. Huang: For companies who wish to build a factory or office building the important factors are related to architectural permission certification and land uses permission certification.

Also, if there is a transfer of real-estate the laws govering propert, house ceretification, land use,VAT and contract tax are considered.

Anton Tscherne: This seems to be more complicated than in the USA.

Mr. Huang: Everything the company plans needs to be approved and permission gotten from government.

Anton Tscherne: I also read in China there is a land use law. How long is that valid? Is that valid for the ownership also of a building?

Mr. Huang: The longevity of the land use depends on the planned usage of the land. I will give 3 examples:

1. For house of citizens - it is 70 years

2. For office or commercial center - it is 40 years

3. For factories - this can be negotiated with the government however normally about 50 years

Anton Tscherne: Let us now talk about employment law in China.

Mr. Huang: There are many issues with employment law. Our office has 2 law experts in labor law in our office.

If there is a staff argument our law firm have done many arbitration issues in the past years

Anton Tscherne: What are the most frequent law problems most customers have?

Mr. Huang: Mainly in fields like contract arguments, employment, trade mark and civil compensation. Also arbitrator and creditor issues.

Also we deal with with share arguments in companies.

Anton Tscherne: I noticed that the big international law such as Clifford chance, DL Pipper are in shanghai. How does your law firm compete with these firms that have 100’s of lawyers

Mr. Huang: Our law firm is a comprehensive firm. We cover many legal aspects of the law.

Many Shanghai law firms however are specialized like sea and international law.

Jiaxing is smaller than Shanghai thus Overseas law mainly centered in Shanghai. Our firm legal business scope is really wide. That’s our advantage….wide scope of legal services.

Anton Tscherne: Is there anything else you would like to mention?

Mr. Huang: I understand that you (Anton) are building an internet platform. We as a law firm hope to serve more companies in and outside Nanhu district.

We also need a good platform to build a closer relationship between manufacturers and legal firms. You are building a bridge for mutual benefit.

A platform such as you are building is very good and will help companies help find legal firms. Often when companies have problems they do not know where to go. Your platform will help to meet law firms and companies meet .

Anton Tscherne: If someone needs your law advice what is best way to contact you.

Mr. Huang: They can call me. My telephone number is: 15305738848 ，0573-82988848

Anton Tscherne: There is one important factor for law professionals which is experience. You have 20 years of legal experience.

I would rather have a lawyer with 20 years experience than someone just finishing law school.

Mr. Huang: Experience is like other fields. Experience helps a lot. Many new lawyers know the law but how to settle the arguments is a key point related to experience.

Anton Tscherne: I agree. Thank you Mr. Huang for this insightful interview.