On Chinese Legal Services After Accession To The WTO

Legal services, as one of the professional services under the trade in services, are a particular form of trade in services .Their market access is subjected to the scope of General Agreement on Trade in Services (hereafter referred as GATS).The Parties to the GATS will gradually open the market of Legal services through negotiation, which may enable the foreign lawyers to provide legal services for domestic companies, enterprises and individuals. From the practices of legal services provided by the Parties, legal services mainly refer to the services offered by lawyers.Our country has entered into the World Trade Organization (hereafter referred as WTO) successfully, as WTO enclosure of protocol, GATS take legal effect to our country already. Legal services in China is confronting challenge from abroad after joining WTO. The question just like how to open our market, how to compete with the others, and how to perfect our legal system are becoming more and more import. Legal services is a part of Special Services Trade Service. Chinese Legal services is optimized only by enhancing the lawyers'abilities, improving the competences and perfecting the legal services system. At the same time, we should open our legal service market step by step.From the perspective of combining theory with practice, the author attempts to do some research on the opportunities and challenges to Chinese Legal services industry caused by GATS with Chinese accession to the WTO, the counter strategies of Chinese Legal services industry and the relevant adjustment of Chinese trade regime on legal services. Moreover, some suggestions are made.This paper is composed of six sections: the preface, the conclusion and the body, which consists of three parts.In part one, after the definition of Legal services, I mainly analyzes the features of Legal services, the mode and the body of international Legal services, then discusses those principal barriers to international service trade and WTO Member's specific commitments under the Legal services.The second part makes an analysis of the situation of foreign Legal services industry and legal industry market. Although China has made some remarkable achievements on the reform and development of Law services industry, there are still some difficulties: delimitation, system, quality of lawyers, and so on... This part also introduces the situation and degree of legal services market access in countries of both civil law family and common law family, which has the history of several hundred years, is a good reference for Chinese management and access of Legal Services market.The third part expounds the opportunities and challenges to Chinese trade in Legal services with the accession to WTO. The accession to WTO brings both opportunities and challenges for Chinese young lawyers. Chinese Legal Services industry is facing with the competition on business, talents and management. From the perspective of protecting the stability of Chinese Legal services industry, we should follow the principle that the market should be opened gradually and actively.In the last part I put forward that we should adjust our market and our legal service system, to establish the regime of legal services, which should comply with the rules of market economy, and make Chinese Legal services industry step into the world.