Practicing Transparency - Foreign Lawyers in China's Transitional Economy

China is in the midst of unprecedented economic transformation. Fundamental legal reform accompanies these changes as the govern­ment promotes the rule of law. Foreign lawyers have played a critical role in this process working toward greater transparency in China's legal system. This book examines how foreign lawyers working in China promote China's legal transformation in their daily practice and how the country's opaque legal environment causes lawyers to alter the roles they play for clients. While working in China these foreign lawyers operate under restrictions on their legal practice. This book analyzes how these lawyers respond to such restrictions by following bending or violating the Chinese regulations. This innovative sociological study is based on extensive original interviews with legal practitioners in China. Readers with an interest in China law or sociology will find this book particularly illuminating.