China Esquire

Checked my mail the other day only to find a copy of Paul Midler’s book Poorly Made in China: An Insider’s Account of the Tactics Behind China’s Production Game. In it, Paul defines and talks about the problem of quality fade, which I am sure I must’ve talked about last year when I was on a posting rampage. (For those of you who don’t know, quality fade refers to when a factory starts out producing high quality products and then later turns out inferior products by cutting corners to save costs)

The Economist already ran a brief review/summary/introduction to the book here. I haven’t read it yet, but definitely looking forward to it, as is Mrs. China Esquire’s father, who is a sociology professor and interested in such topics. I plan to review when I take my paternity leave next month, so stay tuned for more information on the book.

For now, let’s just say that I can’t wait to read it.

Stan Abrams recently did a great post at China Hearsay about trademark registration, which piggybacks on Dan’s post at CLB. So why am I so enamored with this post? Because Stan is saying something that so many attorneys wish we could say to our clients. Not because we hate our clients, but because sometimes it’s easier to give the straight talk rather than give “professional sounding” advice.

I compiled key parts of Stan’s post after the jump.
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I just couldn’t resist doing posting at least one baby picture of Baby China Esquire.  I know, its not related to Chinese law, business, non-profits, or society other than the fact that the little baby has Chinese parents…  but I hope that you will pardon my excitement!

I hope to get back to blogging about my normal blog subjects again soon.

Just an FYI, I’ve been very busy and haven’t been able to post.  Mrs. China Esquire and I had the privilege (and the responsibility) of bringing Baby China Esquire into the world this past week.  As a result, I haven’t been getting much sleep on top of an already rigorous work schedule.  I don’t plan to disappear completely, but if my post count remains low for the time being, you know why.  I must say, baby is awfully cute!

The New York Lawyer had an article yesterday entitled “ Chinese Lawyers Could Be Disbarred for Taking Human Rights Cases“.  It should come as no surprise to most readers that stuff like this happens in China.  I wasn’t all that surprised.  The only interesting twist?  Its the judiciary in China that is threatening to disbar attorneys who take up human rights issues.  More after the jump.

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And so this brings me to part 2 of my NERA notes—the part presented by Fei Deng, who talked about the role of nationalism in this deal.  Unfortunately, she decided to start with imperialistic times and talked about things like the Summer Palace, and Chinese humiliation.  Not any of my favorite of topics.

But then she went back to Coke-Huiyuan.  More after the jump.
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Got this little post card in the mail the other day.  My alma mater, UC Hastings College of the Law, recently hired a “China expert”.  (wait, I thought that was me?!)  Professor Keith Hand is going to do an MCLE presentation entitled “China’s Legal System at a Turning Point.”  I have no information about the actual program, but he and David Tang at K&L Gates appear to be leading this lecture.  

Here are the details:

Thursday, June 18, 2009 (6/18)
6pm Reception
6:30pm Lecture
K&L Gates San Francisco
4 Embarcadero, Suite 1200, SF

I might be showing up for this one too, but not sure since Mrs. China Esquire is supposed to have Baby China Esquire around that time.  But we’ll see.

I figured I would get around to this eventually.  But it took a while to finally find some time to post my notes from the NERA Antitrust and Litigation in China seminar.  There were 3 speakers, so I will post multiple blogposts—because they each had a different focus.

Greg Leonard presented about the role of MOFCOM.  After giving an overview about the development of the legal and judicial system in China, he launched into an overview of MOFCOM and talked about the Coke-Huiyuan scenario.  More after the jump.

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Here’s something truly new with firms…  an international firm is building up its LITIGATION practice in China.  (Okay, Hong Kong, which is arguably part of and not part of China)  But this news story really caught my eye since I’ve been seeing the trend being more IP or corporate as a focus.  (or the generic term “China practice”)  Skadden’s decided to break the mold.  More after the jump.

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Today is the kickoff of TechSoup Global’s Partner Summit 2009.  And in case you were wondering, yes, we tried to briefly cover the NGO/GONGO sector in China.  John Fung, from HKCSS (our partner in Hong Kong and Macau), spoke this morning about how IT can strongly affect a smaller NGO in China.  This can give NGOs the tools they need to become more effective.  This is our TechSoup mission statement.

John spoke with a variety of NGOs in China about IT and technology.  He gave one case study: an NGO working with HIV/AIDS in China.  More about this group after the jump.

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There was a time when I had a slowdown of these sort of postings about a new law firm opening shop in Beijing and/or Shanghai.  Last time it was Loeb & Loeb, which I noted was interesting from a smaller U.S. firm.  Well, now we have a U.S. regional firm based out of Atlanta–the South–opening up shop in Beijing. Morris Manning & Martin, which I had never heard of being (being based in the Bay Area, CA), recently announced its Beijing office launch.  (they also have a presence in Taibei, Taiwan)  In fact, the law firm in a press release brags:

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP is the only Atlanta-based law firm with a presence in Beijing.

So what are a bunch of southerners doing in Beijing?  More after the jump.

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TechSoup Global (”TSG”), where I work, is actually looking to add a Staff Attorney (Volunteer/Fellow) later this year.  Above the Law and other news outlets have been covering the news (e.g., here, here, and here) about large law firms like Skadden, Morgan Lewis, Latham & Watkins, Weil Gotshal, Orrick, White & Case, and Mayer Brown (and more!) deferring start dates and offering stipends of $60,000 to $75,000 to volunteer at a public interest first.   When the economy gives you lemons, make lemonade.  So TSG is looking at add 1-2 Staff Attorney Fellows among those who have been offered deferral stipends.

Our selling point: how many non-profit orgs can offer you a chance to work on cutting edge international legal issues, in-house counsel corporate style experience, and a good environment in a sustainable, socially-minded enterprise business model?  We’d like to think we’re the only one.  More details after the jump.

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