Last summer, I interned in Beijing, China with a tax practice group of a large international law firm. Since I had only worked for a solo practitioner in New York City prior to law school, I was excited to have this opportunity to experience working at one of the largest international law firms.
The firm I supported has a diverse array of practice areas spread across different offices that vary in size. The tax practice group with which I worked is one of the newer and smaller practice groups in the firm’s Beijing office. The Beijing tax group also works closely with the tax practice group in the Shanghai office. By comparison, the intellectual property group, which focuses on trademarks, is the largest practice group.
Both American and Chinese law students have interned with the firm’s Beijing office. However, I was the only American law student in the Beijing tax practice group. Summer recess for the local Chinese law students typically extends from July through September; since my internship program ran from May to June, the three other American law school students and I mingled with more than ten Chinese legal externs who were completing the final semester of their undergraduate legal studies. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), university students who major in law become qualified attorneys upon having passed the PRC’s National Judicial Examination (guojia sifa kaoshi).[1] However, since foreign international law firms—generally, firms whose headquarters are outside of the PRC— are not allowed to hire lawyers with an active PRC legal license, Chinese law students employed by such firms are typically encouraged to pursue qualification in another legal jurisdiction outside the PRC.[2]
The firm I supported has a diverse array of practice areas spread across different offices that vary in size. The tax practice group with which I worked is one of the newer and smaller practice groups in the firm’s Beijing office. The Beijing tax group also works closely with the tax practice group in the Shanghai office. By comparison, the intellectual property group, which focuses on trademarks, is the largest practice group.
Both American and Chinese law students have interned with the firm’s Beijing office. However, I was the only American law student in the Beijing tax practice group. Summer recess for the local Chinese law students typically extends from July through September; since my internship program ran from May to June, the three other American law school students and I mingled with more than ten Chinese legal externs who were completing the final semester of their undergraduate legal studies. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), university students who major in law become qualified attorneys upon having passed the PRC’s National Judicial Examination (guojia sifa kaoshi).[1] However, since foreign international law firms—generally, firms whose headquarters are outside of the PRC— are not allowed to hire lawyers with an active PRC legal license, Chinese law students employed by such firms are typically encouraged to pursue qualification in another legal jurisdiction outside the PRC.[2]
It is unconventional for a foreign international law firm to have a tax practice group. Most international law firms with offices in China do not have tax practice groups because the “Big Four” accounting firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers) dominate in the area of taxation. In addition, local PRC law firms provide legal services for nearly all local tax issues, which further limits the local tax client market of international law firms.
Tax clients generally hire lawyers of large international law firms to advise on complex issues arising from international or multi-national transactions. Such transactions may include anticipating and minimizing the tax consequences – both costs and concerns – for acquiring a targeted business in China, and drafting tax risks and potential areas of dispute for share/asset transfer agreements. The practice of our firm’s Beijing tax group also provided tax-planning advice, such as advising a multinational enterprise on the tax consequences of having a representative office in the PRC.
My internship focused on PRC tax law. Tax law in the PRC is not as complex as the United States tax code, and is still being developed. While the National People’s Congress (NPC) enacts basic tax laws, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) are responsible for tax policy and issuing regulatory rules. The SAT also administers and collects taxes. Both the MOF and SAT issue Circulars, which are supplemental interpretations of tax regulations intended to help implement the basic tax laws promulgated by the NPC. The SAT and the MOF have been delegated the power to interpret tax law and as such, their rulings and Circulars are binding upon tax authorities.[3] Most of the research I conducted during my internship involved reading these Circulars. Our firm published tax newsletters to explain new Circulars and their predicted effect upon international corporate clients.
As a native English speaker, much of my work involved editing these tax newsletters. I met with the firm’s legal editor on staff, whose job involves helping non-native English speakers to improve their grammar. After showing me examples of a variety of memos, the legal editor taught me about which methods for organizing legal writing were the most effective. The foundational principles were the same as those I learned in legal writing class in the United States; however, the writing style mimicked the Queen’s English from the United Kingdom.
My internship further encouraged me to develop language skills in another Chinese dialect in addition to honing my legal writing skills. At home and with my family I grew up speaking Cantonese—a dialect spoken mostly in Southern China and Hong Kong—and I provided medical interpretation for Cantonese patients when I worked at a New York City hospital before starting law school. While well-versed in Cantonese, the main dialect spoken in Beijing is Mandarin. So, in my free time, I met with a tutor to become more conversant in Mandarin. In the PRC, I found that the Beijing tax practice group relied heavily on regulations written in simplified Chinese, while other practice areas may be more English based.
One of the biggest advantages of working at an international law firm was learning about how they nurture their associates and interns. In addition to attending weekly meetings of the Beijing tax practice group, I attended numerous training sessions pertaining to all the areas of law for which the Beijing office had a practice group. Each week, a partner from a different practice group would conduct a seminar on the basic laws of their specialty and talk about recent issues within their field. Since I am still undecided as to which legal specialty I would most like to pursue, these seminars provided a wonderful opportunity for me to explore areas as diverse as intellectual property, litigation, corporate and transactional, and securities. For example, the litigation seminar, which I attended was dedicated to the PRC legal. These seminars would be held via video conference across all of the firm’s offices in Asia (Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Vietnam).
I was extremely lucky to have this chance to intern abroad in China after my first year. I highly recommend interning internationally, even if the internship may not be in the precise field of law in which you are most interested. As my opportunity proved for me, international summer internships can yield an unparalleled vantage point into what it is like to live in a different country, to speak its language, and most of all, to learn about how to operate within its legal system.
[1] Carl F. Minzner, China’s Turn Against Law, 59 Am. J. Comp. L. 935 (2011).
[2] Mark A. Cohen, International Law Firms in China: Market Access ad Ethical Risks, 80 Fordham L. Rev. 2569 (2012).
[3] Deloitte China Master Tax Guide 2011/12.
Tax clients generally hire lawyers of large international law firms to advise on complex issues arising from international or multi-national transactions. Such transactions may include anticipating and minimizing the tax consequences – both costs and concerns – for acquiring a targeted business in China, and drafting tax risks and potential areas of dispute for share/asset transfer agreements. The practice of our firm’s Beijing tax group also provided tax-planning advice, such as advising a multinational enterprise on the tax consequences of having a representative office in the PRC.
My internship focused on PRC tax law. Tax law in the PRC is not as complex as the United States tax code, and is still being developed. While the National People’s Congress (NPC) enacts basic tax laws, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) are responsible for tax policy and issuing regulatory rules. The SAT also administers and collects taxes. Both the MOF and SAT issue Circulars, which are supplemental interpretations of tax regulations intended to help implement the basic tax laws promulgated by the NPC. The SAT and the MOF have been delegated the power to interpret tax law and as such, their rulings and Circulars are binding upon tax authorities.[3] Most of the research I conducted during my internship involved reading these Circulars. Our firm published tax newsletters to explain new Circulars and their predicted effect upon international corporate clients.
As a native English speaker, much of my work involved editing these tax newsletters. I met with the firm’s legal editor on staff, whose job involves helping non-native English speakers to improve their grammar. After showing me examples of a variety of memos, the legal editor taught me about which methods for organizing legal writing were the most effective. The foundational principles were the same as those I learned in legal writing class in the United States; however, the writing style mimicked the Queen’s English from the United Kingdom.
My internship further encouraged me to develop language skills in another Chinese dialect in addition to honing my legal writing skills. At home and with my family I grew up speaking Cantonese—a dialect spoken mostly in Southern China and Hong Kong—and I provided medical interpretation for Cantonese patients when I worked at a New York City hospital before starting law school. While well-versed in Cantonese, the main dialect spoken in Beijing is Mandarin. So, in my free time, I met with a tutor to become more conversant in Mandarin. In the PRC, I found that the Beijing tax practice group relied heavily on regulations written in simplified Chinese, while other practice areas may be more English based.
One of the biggest advantages of working at an international law firm was learning about how they nurture their associates and interns. In addition to attending weekly meetings of the Beijing tax practice group, I attended numerous training sessions pertaining to all the areas of law for which the Beijing office had a practice group. Each week, a partner from a different practice group would conduct a seminar on the basic laws of their specialty and talk about recent issues within their field. Since I am still undecided as to which legal specialty I would most like to pursue, these seminars provided a wonderful opportunity for me to explore areas as diverse as intellectual property, litigation, corporate and transactional, and securities. For example, the litigation seminar, which I attended was dedicated to the PRC legal. These seminars would be held via video conference across all of the firm’s offices in Asia (Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Vietnam).
I was extremely lucky to have this chance to intern abroad in China after my first year. I highly recommend interning internationally, even if the internship may not be in the precise field of law in which you are most interested. As my opportunity proved for me, international summer internships can yield an unparalleled vantage point into what it is like to live in a different country, to speak its language, and most of all, to learn about how to operate within its legal system.
[1] Carl F. Minzner, China’s Turn Against Law, 59 Am. J. Comp. L. 935 (2011).
[2] Mark A. Cohen, International Law Firms in China: Market Access ad Ethical Risks, 80 Fordham L. Rev. 2569 (2012).
[3] Deloitte China Master Tax Guide 2011/12.
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