Ruihua Wang, associate at the London office of Linklaters, discusses the event celebrating the Chinese New year at the Law Society on 26 February.
The reception
Attended by over a hundred guests, the reception was opened by Dr. Xiaojiu Zhu, the chairwoman of UKSCL. The event had generous support from the Law Society, Bank of China, China Taiping Insurance and Cruickshanks Solicitors. Dr. Zhu addressed in her opening speech that the UK qualified Chinese lawyers play a unique and significant role in building stronger relationship between the two countries and particularly in better assisting language communication, culture integration and promoting legal awareness.
Speeches
Mr. Rehman Chishti, Conservative member of parliament for Gillingham and Rainham, emphasized that the British government is very keen to develop a closer and stranger tie with China and they firmly believed that the Chinese community has made substantive contribution to the development of the UK society.
In counsellor Fei’s speech, he acknowledged the important role that UKSCL plays in developing better relationship in trade, investment, culture and legal communication between two countries. He also mentioned a number of notable initiatives of UKSCL.
Firstly, UKSCL has assisted the Chinese embassy in launching an online legal guide to equip the Chinese community and Chinese businesses with basic knowledge of the UK legal system, and how to live and work in the UK, and provided a legal database with Chinese speaking UK qualified legal specialities.
Secondly, UKSCL set up a joint Wechat group, which enables timely responses to enquiries from the Chinese citizens coming through the Chinese Embassy. Thirdly, counsellor Fei personally initiated an annual forum attended by 20 lawyers and 10 embassy staff discussing on how to better serve the Chinese community in the UK.
The message from Joe Egan, president of the Law Society, highlighted the positive contribution which Chinese lawyers make to the legal profession, both in the UK and internationally.
In the message from Rt Hon Mark Field MP, minister of state for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he congratulated and commended UKSCL for the service it provides and the values it promotes.
Ms. Ruihua Wang, the deputy chairwoman of UKSCL, summarised the achievements of UKSCL in 2017 with three key phrases: bridging the gap, professionalism and social responsibility. The first key phrase ‘bridging the gap’ is demonstrated by actives that we organised for exchanging ideas between judiciary/lawyer in both UK and China. On May 19 2017, we had an in-depth discussion with a delegation from the prosecution service of Shan Xi province, China on topics in criminal procedural law such as sentence reduction, bailing. The second phrase ‘professionalism’ has been manifested by a well-received talk by Dr. Colin Ong, probably the only mandarin speaking Queen’s Counsel and a well-respected barrister and arbitrator. The talk focused on ‘how the Chinese business should conduct international commercial arbitration under China’s one belt one road initiative’ and was generously sponsored by Howard Kennedy LLP.
UKSCL also hosted an immigration law talk on 21 December 2018 by three members of UKSCL, specialists in immigration. The third key phrase ‘social responsibility’ is demonstrated by the legal aid programme lunched by UKSCL on 18 February 2017 at the Chinese Community Centre in London’s Chinatown, which provides free legal advice to the underprivileged people in the Chinese community.
Plans for the year ahead
UKSCL aims to expand the portion of the Chinese Community who can benefit from our pro bono service. We will reach out to Chinese students in London and small Chinese businesses and encourage them to access our service. We also have plans to give further lectures on topics such as employment law, landlords and tenants and family law, some of the most common topics we come across in the pro bono project.
UKSCL welcome suggestions and advice on how we can do a better job in expending our memberships, collaborating with other organisations and serving the wider society.
Reporter: Xiaolong Zhao
2019年2月18日，英中律师协会 （The UK Society of Chinese Lawyers ）举办了一年一度的新年酒会。
本次新年酒会得到了英国各界人士的支持， 包括英国律师协会副主席 Simon Davis、上议院议员在野党前工党议员 Lord Pendry、中国大使馆童学军公使兼总领事、中国银行英国分行副行长肖亮、伦敦华埠商会主席邓柱廷等上百人出席。与会来宾还包括英中律师协会会员（大都为取得英国律师资格的华人华侨）、华人企业社团、商会、中国银行以及中国在英公司各行各业的负责人和中文学校的代表，还有一些其他团体的代表，如英国华人金融家协会、英中企业家协会、英华会计协会等。本次酒会得到了英国律师协会、中国银行、中国太平以及凯江律师事务所的鼎力支持。
在酒会上，英中律师协会回顾了2018年英中律师协会所做的工作成果，并展望2019年工作计划。英中律师协会会长朱小久博士致欢迎词并隆重介绍了到场贵宾。朱小久强调了华人律师在致力于推进中英全面交流时在语言沟通、文化融合以及法律支持等方面所起到的独特且有效的桥梁作用。
在酒会上，贵宾们还做了简短精彩的讲话，英国律师协会副主席 Simon Davis 高度赞赏了协会在中英两国法律交流中所起到的积极作用，并祝贺朱小久在2018年荣获大英帝国员佐勋章（MBE），他称这是对朱会长在中英法律交流以及推广在英华人社区工作的充分肯定和鼓励。
童学军公使兼总领事高度赞赏英中律师协会在支持中英双边贸易、教育、旅游和文化交流方面发挥的重要作用。童学军公使提到协会在促进中英关系中的重要桥梁作用，并着重强调在英华人律师在推进中英两国法律实务交流中所做的积极贡献。
中国银行英国分行肖亮副行长提到中国银行英国分行在华人社区致力于宣扬法律普及以及不同文化之间的融合。另外，肖行长也高度认可协会的三大宗旨即：沟通协作、专业性和社会责任，并高度赞赏协会组织的免费法律咨询服务。
虽然有一些贵宾因公务原因未能与会，但他们也发来了祝贺信。英国政府东亚地区外务部部长 Mark Field在贺信中高度评价英中律师协会在中英交流工作中所起到的积极作用，并强调英国政府致力于发展良好健康的英中关系。
最后，王瑞华副会长对一年来的工作进行了总结，包括：2017年2月18日启动的英中律师协会和华人社区中心联合为华人华侨提供的定时定点的免费法律咨询；2018年5月和11月协会和中国驻英大使馆合办为侨服务法律讲座，在移民、非法劳工、房产及欧盟数据保护条例等领域为侨胞提供的法律指导；2018年11月，协会律师代表和中国驻英领事馆举办的第三届座谈，分享法律实务经验更好地为侨服务；在与国内律师同行的交流方面，协会也积极发挥着桥梁作用，2018年11月协会协助浙江法学会在英国律师协会举办了一场主题为“社会组织如何有效参与政府多元化纠纷解决”的座谈会，英协的国际部长亲自参加并参与探讨；同时协会也积极为在英华人律师举办交流和培训的平台，协会在2018年11月与12月分别在金杜律师事务所与贝克·麦坚时律师事务所举办“实务律师与公司法务职业对比”及“诉讼融资和科技领域的争端解决”为主题的圆桌讨论会。此外，工作报告还展望2019年的工作计划，2019年英中律师协会计划在华人社区中扩大服务受益的潜在群体，并将加强与中国学生和中国企业的联系，普及法律知识。