On November 11, 2011, Tsinghua LL.M program visited Baker & McKenzie LLP and Clifford Chance LLP, two well-known foreign law firms in China. Many of the students cherished this chance and prepared well for the visit.
The first visit was Baker & Mackenzie LLP located in China World Trade Center in Beijing. In a conference room, a report about Baker & Mackenzie’s global presence was made to the visiting group by lawyer Barbara Lee. The report covered the LLP’s distribution in China and the introduction of nearly all its business affairs, namely mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, energy and resources, real estate, intellectual property, taxation. After the report was the Q&A session when there was an effective interaction between the students and the reporter on some questions the students came up with, such as the personnel constitution of the foreign law firms, the sponsorship with universities, the relationship between private law firm and government-organized one and the requirement for young lawyers, etc. After that the visiting group took an office tour and appreciated its unique corporate culture.
Without a pause, the visiting group left for Clifford Chance LLP, which located in the building 1 of China World Trade Center in Beijing. In form of a simple but impressive luncheon party offered by Clifford Chance, two partners of Clifford Chance and several alumni of Tsinghua Law School who work in Clifford Chance welcomed the visiting group. During the lunch, a presentation was made to the students in which Clifford Chance’s history, office network, legal team, practice area and selected clients were briefly introduced. In the presentation, the partner stressed on what makes a successful legal career especially in China, both in junior stage and in senior stage. According to the visiting plan set in advance, the students looked around Clifford Chance’s offices and asked what they were interested in thereafter.
All the students in the visiting group had gotten a deeper understanding of the foreign law firms and learnt much about it, and the visit itself was a good social practice.
