China

Letter from international legal community condemns arrests of Chinese lawyers

Prominent lawyers and former judges joined with presidents of international bar associations in condemning in a Monday letter the recent arrests of Chinese lawyers and associates. “You have repeatedly stated that ‘China is a country ruled by law,’ ” says the letter to Chinese president, Xi Jinping, which is published…

Jan 25, 2016 10:38 AM CST

Several Chinese lawyers are arrested; state media said one was ‘blabbering about the rule of law’

China has formally arrested several human rights lawyers on charges of subversion about six months after detaining them, according to other lawyers. Among those arrested was Wang Yu, the country’s most prominent woman human rights lawyer, report Reuters and the Associated Press. Wang has defended an online free-speech advocate and…

Jan 13, 2016 7:52 AM CST

China human rights lawyer gets suspended sentence for online posts

China human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has received a suspended three-year sentence for “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels” in online posts. The sentence has the effect of barring Pu from law practice, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). He has already been imprisoned…

Dec 22, 2015 11:30 AM CST

Chinese officers scuffle with protesters outside trial of human-rights lawyer

It took about three hours on Monday for a Chinese court to try a human-rights lawyer accused of “picking quarrels” and inciting ethnic hatred for his sarcastic posts on a website similar to Twitter. The New York Times calls the trial of Pu Zhiqiang “the latest attempt by the Communist…

Dec 14, 2015 8:51 AM CST

Innocence project movement in China rises to aid the wrongfully convicted

China's death penalty train, widely believed to be the world's most active, is showing some signs of slowing down. And domestic innocence projects may be having an effect, though small, on getting wrongful convictions in capital crimes overturned.

Dec 1, 2015 2:30 AM CST

Chinese companies doing business in the US build barriers to legal remedies

While an increasing number of Chinese companies are doing business in the U.S., China has nevertheless built a legal firewall around its financial services firms by refusing to acknowledge the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and regulatory agencies.

Nov 1, 2015 2:45 AM CST

Chinese firms keep a low profile in the US, but ambitions grow

While U.S. law firms have expanded heavily in China, peaking with Dentons’ Swiss verein merger with Beijing-based Dacheng Law Offices, there has been little movement as yet in the opposite direction by Chinese law firms. Even the largest Chinese firms tend to have quite small offices in the U.S. Beijing’s…

Nov 1, 2015 1:30 AM CDT

Baby born on China Airlines flight diverted to Alaska eligible for US citizenship, official says

A Taiwanese woman who gave birth on Oct. 8 aboard a China Airlines flight to Los Angeles that was diverted to Alaska may have succeeded in what local media in Taiwan have portrayed as an effort to gain U.S. citizenship for the baby. A state official in Alaska says an…

Oct 23, 2015 2:00 PM CDT

The Bluebook’s 20th edition prompts many musings from Bryan Garner

About 10 years ago, I was finishing a book for a friend of mine in London, the late Sir Robert Megarry, when in his mid-90s his health began to fail. The book was his New Miscellany-at-Law (2006)—the third in a series of humorously erudite books that he began in 1955.

Aug 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT

China cracks down on lawyers said to have ‘sabotaged the legal order’

China’s crackdown on lawyers is likely intended to crush a movement to defend the rights of individuals, according to an editorial. Chinese authorities have detained more than 200 lawyers and associates in recent weeks, and some believe it is the most serious assault on lawyers in decades, according to the…

Jul 31, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

China detains or queries 100 lawyers, activists and others in sweep targeting human rights law firms

An unprecedented crackdown focused on one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers and her firm has resulted in the arrest and/or questioning of over 100 attorneys, activists and others during the past week. The lawyer, associate Wang Yu of the Fengrui Law Firm in Beijing, has been criminally detained,…

Jul 13, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Opposing moves by U.S. firms in China show difficulty of overseas practice

In January, New York’s Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson said it was closing its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, though it may leave a service center in Hong Kong. A few days later, Dentons announced a merger with Beijing-based Dacheng Law Offices, China’s largest law firm; the combined firm…

May 1, 2015 2:20 AM CDT

Signing ceremony marks Dentons’ combination with Chinese firm, creating world’s largest law firm

Leaders of Dentons and Chinese law firm Dacheng commemorated the joining of their two law firms—producing the world’s largest law firm by head count—in a signing ceremony this week. The ceremony was held in Beijing on Tuesday morning after Chinese regulators approved the deal, Law 360 (sub. req.) reports. A…

Jan 27, 2015 6:57 AM CST

Dentons and Chinese law firm vote to merge, producing the world’s largest law firm by head count

Dentons and Chinese law firm Dacheng have approved a merger that would create a 6,600-lawyer entity, the world’s largest law firm by head count. The firms are awaiting approval by Chinese regulators for the combination, which will use a Swiss verein structure, report the American Lawyer and the Wall Street…

Jan 22, 2015 7:57 AM CST

Chinese Communist Party announces reform measures to increase judicial independence

China’s ruling Communist Party has announced measures to increase judicial independence, particularly by shining more sunlight on party officials getting involved in legal matters, the Associated Press reports. While some critics scoff at the likelihood of true reform, some others see the move as positive at the local level, where…

Oct 23, 2014 2:23 PM CDT