外国律所将受益于中国开放进程

 Last year Baker¹ & McKenzie obtained a coveted² “001” licence from Chinese regulators. The designation confirmed that it would be the first foreign law firm allowed to establish a “joint³ operation” with a Chinese counterpart, FenXun Partners, in the Shanghai free-trade zone.

去年，贝克?麦坚时国际律师事务所(Baker & Mckenzie)从中国监管部门手中得到了其梦寐以求的“001号”执照。该执照确认了该律所将成为首家获准在上海自贸区设立联营办公室的外国律师事务所。与之联营的中国律所是奋迅律师事务所(FenXun Partners)。

Overseas law firms have long been frustrated⁴ by the restrictions⁵ they encounter in China. When they recruit talented Chinese lawyers, for example, their hires must give up their local law licences — and thus their ability to represent their new employers’ clients in Chinese courtrooms. In many industries, most notably⁶ banking⁷, it is far easier for Chinese companies and service providers to go overseas than it is for their foreign rivals to enter China.

海外律师事务所长期对他们在中国受到的监管限制感到沮丧。例如，在他们聘请有才华的中国律师时，接受聘请的律师必须放弃本土律师执照——这使他们不能在中国法庭上代表新雇主的客户。在很多行业（银行业最为明显），中国企业和服务提供商前往海外要比外国竞争者进入中国容易得多。

Foreign law firms are revelling⁸ in the continuing Chinese mergers⁹ & acquisitions bonanza¹⁰, advising local companies on overseas purchases that exceeded $100bn last year and then surpassed that amount in the first quarter of this year alone. But their ability to service multinationals¹² in the world’s second-largest economy is far more constrained¹³.

外国律师事务所正陶醉于中国持续的并购热潮，为那些收购海外资产的中国企业提供咨询。去年中国企业海外收购规模超过1000亿美元，而今年仅在第一季度内便超过了这一数字。但是外国律所在世界第二大经济体为跨国企业提供服务时受到的约束大得多。

However, Baker & McKenzie’s unique arrangement in the Shanghai FTZ demonstrates that there are some interesting liberalisation experiments that could in time open China’s professional service sectors¹⁴ to meaningful overseas participation¹⁵. This is particularly important in an era when international law firms, like the industrial multinationals they advise, have become increasingly reliant on global supply chains of their own. They support deals in the US, for example, with the help of low-cost back-office operations in Ireland and the Philippines.

然而，贝克?麦坚时在上海自贸区的独特安排表明，目前有一些有意思的自由化实验，有望在一段时间后开放中国专业服务领域，让海外提供商实质性地参与。在如今国际律师事务所（就像他们提供咨询服务的工业跨国企业一样）日益依赖于自己的全球供应链的时代，这一点格外重要。例如，他们利用设在爱尔兰和菲律宾的低成本后台业务，为美国的交易提供支持。

Baker & McKenzie’s collaboration¹⁶ with FenXun is carefully labelled a joint operation, as opposed to a joint venture, because the two partners remain “structurally separate”, says Milton Cheng, managing partner for the firm’s China and Hong Kong operations. Despite this, a Baker & McKenzie lawyer assigned to the operation can in effect advise the firm’s multinational¹¹ clients on matters of local law anywhere in China. In this way, local hires who gave up their China licences to join the Chicago-based firm can “revive” them. “If there’s one thing you learn from being in China, it’s patience,” Mr Cheng says. “We see this FTZ development as a very positive step?.?.?.?If it all works it will help the liberalisation process.”

贝克?麦坚时中国内地和香港业务管理合伙人郑维明(Milton Cheng)表示，贝克?麦坚时与奋迅的合作被谨慎地贴上了联营、而非合资的标签，因为两家合作律所在结构上仍然是独立的。尽管如此，贝克?麦坚时被指派投入联营的的律师，实际上可为该律所的跨国客户提供有关中国本土法律问题的建议。这样一来，为了加入这家总部位于芝加哥的律所而放弃了中国律师执照的本土律师就可以“复活”这种资格了。“如果你能在中国学到什么的话，那就是耐心，”郑维明称，“我们把自贸区的发展视为非常积极的一步……如果一切顺利，它将有助于自由化进程。”

There have been some headaches along the way. While the Baker & McKenzie-FenXun joint operation was formally established in early 2015, it took almost a year for the new entity¹⁷ to get clearance¹⁸ to open its own bank account, making it difficult to do something as simple as issue invoices¹⁹.

在此过程中有一些令人头痛的问题。尽管贝克?麦坚时-奋迅联营办公室在2015年初就已正式成立，但这个新实体几乎花了一年时间才获准开立自己的银行账户，此前连开具发票这样简单的事情都很困难。

Among developing economies, China has not been alone in frustrating²⁰ some of the world’s best legal minds with Byzantine market entry barriers. The Indian government is known to be hostile towards foreign professional service providers, having scuppered what would have been a landmark²¹ global services agreement in 2014. Malaysian rules require that Baker & McKenzie can only call itself Baker & McKenzie if it actually employs a lawyer named Baker and a lawyer named McKenzie in its local operation. With a dearth²² of qualified²³ Malaysian lawyers having either of these Anglo-Scottish surnames, Baker & McKenzie’s Kuala Lumpur office instead bears a “Wong & Partners” shingle²⁴.

在发展中经济体中，中国并非唯一设置繁复的市场准入壁垒，让世界上最优秀的一些法律人才碰壁的国家。印度政府对外国专业服务提供商不友好是出了名的，2014年印度的反对使一项具有里程碑意义的全球服务协定化为泡影。马来西亚的规则要求，贝克?麦坚时律师事务所除非确实在该国有一名叫贝克的律师和一名叫麦坚时的律师执业，否则就不能用这个公司名。该所找不到这种盎格鲁-苏格兰姓氏的合格马来西亚律师，结果只能挂上“Wong & Partners”的招牌。

A key benefit of the establishment of Baker & McKenzie’s Shanghai joint operation is that the firm’s clients in China will be able to tap into global supply chains that today affect law firms as much as they do manufacturers. “For the last eight years we’ve been investing a lot in understanding pricing and getting much more conscious about how to keep contracts within reasonable margins,” says Eduardo Leite, Baker & McKenzie chairman. Mr Leite notes that his firm deals with price-conscious “procurement officers” who keep as close an eye on legal bills as they do invoices from component²⁵ suppliers.

设立贝克?麦坚时上海联营办公室的一个关键好处是，该律所在中国的客户能够利用其全球供应链。如今供应链对律所的影响不亚于对制造商的影响。“过去8年来，我们在理解定价、大力增强把合同保持在合理利润范围内的意识投入了很多，”贝克?麦坚时董事长爱德华多?莱特(Eduardo Leite)说。他指出，该律所要和对价格敏感的“采购经理”打交道，这些人密切关注法律服务账单，就像对待零部件供应商的发票一样。

It is now only a matter of time before Baker & McKenzie’s back-office support centres in Belfast and Manila begin to support legal casework in remote parts of China. That will start to entwine the world’s second-largest economy into global service supply chains as deeply as the manufacturing ones it revolutionised a quarter of a century ago.

现在，贝克?麦坚时在贝尔法斯特和马尼拉的后台支持中心开始支持中国偏远地区的案子只是时间问题。那将开始把世界第二大经济体深深地嵌入全球服务供应链，就像四分之一个世纪以前中国融入全球制造供应链，并带来一场革命那样。

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

8 revelling   

v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉

参考例句：

• I think he's secretly revelling in all the attention. 我觉得他对于能够引起广泛的注意心里感到飘飘然。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were drinking and revelling all night. 他们整夜喝酒作乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

10 bonanza   

n.富矿带，幸运，带来好运的事

参考例句：

• Bargain hunters enjoyed a real bonanza today.到处买便宜货的人今天真是交了好运。
• What a bonanza for the winning ticket holders!对于手持胜券的人来说，这是多好的运气啊。

11 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

12 multinationals   

跨国公司( multinational的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These local companies are only small fry compared with the huge multinationals. 同那些跨国公司比，这些当地的公司不过是小鱼小虾。
• Some people believe that the multinationals have too much power. 有人认为跨国公司的权力太大了。

13 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

14 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

16 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

17 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

18 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

19 invoices   

发票( invoice的名词复数 )； （发货或服务）费用清单； 清单上货物的装运； 货物的托运

参考例句：

• Take the example of a purchasing clerk keying invoices into a system. 继续说录入员输入发票的例子，这个录入员是一个全职的数据输入人员。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

20 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

22 dearth   

n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨

参考例句：

• There is a dearth of good children's plays.目前缺少优秀的儿童剧。
• Many people in that country died because of dearth of food.那个国家有许多人因为缺少粮食而死。

23 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

24 shingle   

n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短

参考例句：

• He scraped away the dirt,and exposed a pine shingle.他刨去泥土，下面露出一块松木瓦块。
• He hung out his grandfather's shingle.他挂出了祖父的行医招牌。

25 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。