As China's first generation of female lawyers are making partner, Alice Gartland speaks to the rainmakers about what marks them out compared to their US and UK counterparts

"Be a rainmaker or don't make partner," says Cheryl Luan, partner in Guantao Law Firm's Beijing office. In 1979, there were less than 200 licensed lawyers in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and by 2010 China had 206,000 lawyers nationwide.

Of those, it is roughly estimated that 22% or 45,000 plus are female. It wasn't until the early '90s that the legal market really started to blossom. Those who have made it to partnership over the last 20 to 30 years are China's first generation of lawyers.

They "only have peers, not predecessors", says Shao-Ying Mautner, managing director at GC.GC. And they are not just rainmakers; they are "ground breaking".

While it is not possible to ascertain the percentage of female partners in the PRC, there is consensus that although there are equal or even more numbers of women entering the profession, for now their representation at partnership level is significantly lower to men and comparable to the trends found in other countries.

At the same time the success and talents of prominent female lawyers in the China region is drawing attention. 

In Hong Kong there is an expanding group of female lawyers dominating the foreign law practices in the China region such as Jeanette Chan Head of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison's China practice and Elaine Lo, Asia chair and senior partner of Mayer Brown JSM. 

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has eight female partners in Asia and three of them are practice group leaders. Teresa Ko, Freshfields' China Chairman,  has also recently been  appointed as non-Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, sending a powerful message about the strength and talent of female lawyers in the region. 

"I grew up at a time when we were less focused on gender diversity. Fortunately, I had the support I needed in order to succeed and I was made the first ever China chairman of Freshfields in its 269 years of history. I am very committed to nurturing, inspiring and empowering others, particularly females, to follow the path of a career in the legal profession," says Ko (pictured).

That path is not always straightforward and the legal system in China, rather like the country itself, incorporates a diverse range of contexts.

The world of international corporate law in Hong Kong is a very different place to the environment of working within the judicial apparatus in the mainland, for example.

However, the high profile success of a number of female lawyers combined with relative youth of the Chinese legal system and the historic and cultural influence of egalitarian socialist doctrine makes it an interesting point of comparison with other jurisdictions.

Research

Amy Sommers, partner at K&L Gates in Shanghai, and Beth Bunnell, managing director, Asia Legal Resources in Hong Kong, who have worked in China for eight and 17 years respectively, wanted to find out what could be learned from the experiences of female lawyers in China and whether the challenges they faced were the same as their counterparts in the US or Europe. 

Sommers and Bunnell interviewed female expatriates who had worked in China for a long time and Chinese lawyers working in PRC law firms, mainly in Shanghai and Beijing for their paper 'The role and impact of globalisation on women's careers: women in the Chinese legal profession', which was presented at the International Women in Law Summit held in London in March.

The summit was jointly organised by the Law Society of England and Wales and the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) in the US.

The aim of the summit was to identify and address barriers to women's career progression and, as a legacy, create a manifesto to drive a more proactive agenda on the issue at both national and international levels.

The striking point of the survey's findings was the "strength of the perception that gender does not impact on issues that are frequently discussed as problematic in the US/UK legal profession".

Issues often encountered by female lawyers in the West such as not getting the chance to pitch for plum assignments, concerns about unequal pay or feeling like they are marginalised in meetings do not seem to be a problem.

However, those responses are juxtaposed against the survey's finding that "only 16% of the women reported that their gender has a positive impact on their profession and 33% indicated that it has a negative impact. 38% also expressed the view that gender has a more negative impact in China on career advancement and success in the legal profession than in the US and UK. 

"So, by several measures [the women that Sommers and Bunnell spoke to] reported that they were doing well professionally, and yet they also acknowledged that their position was negatively impacted by their gender."

The survey also identifies some broad themes in the experiences of those surveyed. For example, the impact of work/life balance and a childbearing role; a pragmatic approach that emphasises hard work as a means of overcoming challenges; that women felt that they could leverage gender-based stereotypes to their advantage, such as the perception that women were more diligent or detail-oriented; and it suggests that some practice areas are more difficult than others for women in China, in particular, litigation.

The survey also emphasises the strength of female lawyers' business development skills and how women in the Chinese legal profession are much more comfortable in leveraging personal networks in their business development activities than women in the West.

"Chinese women lawyers do have frustration and their gender can have a negative impact. Not necessarily because of institutional factors but more social factors to do with child rearing and social expectations around that. Also they tend to take on the role of looking after the elders in the family.

I wouldn't want to minimise the challenges they face. But this approach to building relationships is empowering, and could help women in other jurisdictions overcome some of the challenges they face," says Sommers.

"One of the things that Western women say again and again is that they feel uncomfortable leveraging their personal contacts for business and somehow view it as manipulative or crass," says Sommers.

"I would argue that inhibits them and in turn, makes women dependent on senior people (often men) in their firms to give them access to institutional clients, participate in pitches and help bring them along in their professional development. What's often referred to as a 'sponsor'." 

However, in China "most female lawyers do not tend to compartmentalise their business and personal networks in the same way," says Bunnell.

Rainmakers

That view was echoed by several lawyers. "My parents' generation spent decades in the same company, so business and personal issues crossed together. There isn't such a strong feeling that things should be so compartmentalised," says Luan.

Maggie Li, regional counsel for Greater China and Korea for a Fortune 500 Company, adds: "There is no real line between professional and social groups when we make friends here in China. The more we mingle with all these people, the greater the chance to be a rainmaker."

It's about "seeing your personal networks as opportunities for business, not in an exploitative but in a generous way," says Sommers (pictured). 

"Friends have directly referred work to me and vice versa. And there are instances where we will try and promote each other as speakers and experts thereby enhancing each others' credibility. It's more than stereotypical 'guanxi' [connections]."

It also seems to be a product of the general function of the China market.

"Winning business [in China] is relationship based. The stakes are high and you want to work with people you can trust and people who care about your business and what you are doing," says Connie Carnabuci, who is head of Freshfields IP/IT and TMT practices in Asia and global co head of the Technology Group.

Ko believes women are strong rainmakers in China because, "the ability to build trust is key. This requires commitment, passion and a real understanding of what clients need. Plenty of [emotional intelligence] and excellent communication skills are also part of it. And rainmakers want to take on a real challenge."

Capability – let your work do the talking 

Sommers and Bunnell's paper identifies that certain male-focused entertainment, which still often dominates business culture in China, was not something many women felt comfortable to participate in and instead choose to focus on alternative marketing strategies.

The paper suggests that litigation is also an area where there is greater emphasis on those activities, which in addition to being a potentially more aggressive environment, makes it a more challenging area in which to operate.

A number of the lawyers spoken to for this article emphasised the importance of joining business associations in the early stages of their careers, building up trust amongst those networks and eventually converting those links into referrals for work. 

The overriding theme was that these lawyers let their work do the talking.  "Demonstrate your legal capability, win the client and they will introduce you to other clients and so on," says Amy Zhang, partner at Haworth and Lexon Law Offices in Shanghai. "It's legal capability rather than gender that's most important."

"Be proactive, think ahead and responsive. Be honest and always talk with substance," says Audry Li, senior partner at Zhong Lun Law Offices in Shanghai about how to keep clients and maintain long term working relationship with clients. It is also about being open and "sharing information about legal developments." 

Carnabuci also describes how "the supply side of the market is [still] pretty thin. The demand for high-quality legal services is growing exponentially.

"And although there are a lot of new entrants coming into the market, there's still only a pretty small pool of experts. The willingness to come in, to brain storm [with the client], not to judge and to share knowledge and ideas generously – that works well for me."

"Everyone has their own style," says Miao Qu, partner at King and Wood Mallesons. "It's about building trust and showing your commitment in the long term." 

Donna Li, senior partner at Allbright also emphasises the strengths of women's "communication skills and empathy with clients."

A number of lawyers talked about initially being given discrete pieces of work from clients and then building up the relationship from there.

While male colleagues may be more focused on drawing in big new projects, female lawyers tend to be "better at retaining clients and building a relationship in the long term," says Luan (pictured).

There is a level of relationship development that females can bring that pays dividends in this part of the world. We are also seeing many more women in legal counsel roles on the client side," says Carnabuci.

Meanwhilte Qu believes  "that can help with business development as female lawyers may feel more comfortable building relationships with them." Qu describes how they are likely to have things in common, and share similar challenges regarding managing child care responsibilities with work commitments.

Overall though it's "rainmaking by reputation," says Mautner. "When the Chinese legal system opened up there were huge opportunities and lots of competition. Gender is irrelevant in that environment. The system has room for the strengths of both men and women. Women have come to prominence through ability and the system is supporting that."

Looking ahead

The traditional 'eat what you kill' organisational structure of PRC firms, where a partner's salary is directly related to the business that they bring into the firm, means that entrepreneurship is also given greater emphasis. "It isn't an environment where senior people help bring work to you," says Luan.

The relative youth of the legal market also means that there is a lot of "excitement and that dictates things from a business development standpoint. There is a sense of entrepreneurship," says Bunnell.

A number of PRC firms are moving towards a more collaborative structure like international firms, in order to enhance competitiveness. With that comes a new focus on the importance of professional and organisational development and an emphasis on a more process driven approach to career progression. Whether that will channel rather than dampen the nascent entrepreneurialism remains to be seen. 

Also, while the introduction of professional development programmes may not be gender driven, diversity and business development is very much on the agenda in the sphere of leading international firms and businesses in the region.

Taking the lead

Clients increasingly ask for firms to provide information about their gender diversity policies when providing requests for proposals. "Clients want to know we share the same values", says Carnabuci (pictured).

Freshfields has recently set up a senior woman associate programme for their Asia practice, which takes a selection of female lawyers with between five and eight years' post-qualification experience and, among other initiatives, provides workshops to help them focus on developing their business plans and building their own personal brand.

They are also given a mentor and a coach (from outside the firm), to help them "dream big", says Carnabuci. Freshfields is also looking to develop an appropriate initiative for women at an earlier point in their career.

In Hong Kong, The Women's Foundation, a leading Hong Kong non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of women, has just announced the launch of a chairmen's outreach initiative to promote transparency and measurable objectives around women's participation on Hong Kong company boards. Ko was co-chair at the launch event.

The Women's Foundation's new initiative, which it will be launching in partnership with the UK-based 30% Club, will celebrate any incremental progress from the current level of only 10% of directors being women towards an aspirational goal of 30%.

Similarly, a number of firms are considering introducing targets for the number of female candidates they have in their pipelines for partnership.

"Gender can in some ways be a proxy for a whole range of issues around us… How do you manage your time, work effectively in teams. It's an introduction to a whole lot of conversations," concludes Carnabuci.