Hong Kong lawyers will have great business opportunities in legal service market on the Chinese mainland, a senior official with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said in Guangzhou Friday.  

The cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland lawyers was promising as the country attracts more foreign investors, said Stephen Kai-yi Wong, deputy solicitor-general with the Department of Justice under the HKSAR government at the third China Lawyer's Forum held Friday.

Competition will improve service and lawyers from the two sides can provide high quality legal services through cooperation, he said.

The Ministry of Justice has issued four regulations and amended one to open the mainland legal service market to Hong Kong and Macao as part of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).

The central government has allowed permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao with Chinese nationality to enter the national judicial exam and apply for a practicing certificate while Hong Kong and Macao law firms are permitted to set up joint ventures with domestic counterparts.

Both Hong Kong and mainland lawyers have their own advantages and they will have great potential to work on international trade, finance and intellectual property, said Ip Shing Hing, president of the Law Society of Hong Kong.

Besides cooperating in business, the law firms from the two sides are likely to work more on law firm management after they are able to set up joint ventures, said Ip, who compared the present relations between Hong Kong and mainland law firms to two people living together.

"They have moved into one house but in different rooms and we expect some day in the future the wall between the two rooms will be pulled down," he said. "We hope one day Hong Kong and mainland lawyers will be able to become partners of the same law firm."

"What the administrations should do is to set up a platform for cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland lawyers," Wong said.

The HKSAR government has signed legal cooperation agreements with three cities on the Chinese mainland, Beijing, Chongqing and Qingdao, to exchange information and personnel, said Wong.

Hong Kong expects to develop such cooperation with local judicial administrations and law associations, he added.

So far some 40 Hong Kong law firms have set up representative offices on the Chinese mainland.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2003)