I was pleasantly surprised. I had spent years with that dull fear that one day I would have to engage with the Chinese legal system, a fear of the unknown. We all approach China (and any non-native culture or country) with our own individual issues. Sometimes, I jump up to defend China and other times I am the leading cynic.
When it came to Chinese law and the legal system, I definitely defaulted to the cynic side. Mind you, that was based on nothing but blind fear of something about which I did not have the slightest bit of first-hand evidence. Then I met my lawyer.
He is just an independent lawyer, doing his lawyer thing. I had a problem with another business using my company's name illegally, and a very helpful lady in the local Commerce Bureau gave me his name.
He was simple, to the point, easy to work with, and obviously had a very good handle on how to do his job...which is much more than I can say for many "professionals" in China. He listened to my problem and immediately knew what information we needed to obtain and had a clear game plan of how to proceed.
I think what I liked best about him is that he did not make too much or too little of the situation. Meaning, he found the most appropriate measures to take, something as simple as writing a couple letters in Chinese legal-ese. He never mentioned "sue" or "court"...which are certainly two words that rank fairly high in the "dreaded" category in my book.
Anyway, this is not a plug for my lawyer, but a simple story of one person who had one good experience. I walked away from the situation with a much better taste in my mouth than I had originally expected.
One less fear to fear.
