I. Who we are?
A Standing Counselor, also known as “a Standing Legal Advisor”, means some licensed lawyers who work as the long-term law consultants of Clients including but not limited to commercial enterprises or non-commercial organizations like government departments (“Clients”), with long-term engagement agreement of years and collect service charge by year, and offer Clients with all kinds of law services, which in normal circumstances do not include the jobs of main litigation or arbitration jobs. So, in details:
1. They are licensed lawyers.
2. They sign long-term engagement agreement with Clients, at least one year, sometimes two or three years or even more; they are not full-time employees of Clients, but Clients’ long-term consultants.
3. They charge Clients annual fee, that is, Clients pay them each year.
4. Their job content is all sorts of law jobs including demand letter and negotiations with opponent with handle Clients’ dispute cases but excluding litigation or arbitration cases. In another word, they can do out-of-court job for Clients on litigation or arbitration cases, but will no appear on court for Clients, which need another new engagement agreement with Clients.
II. What they can do for you?
And the typical jobs of the Standing Counselors (we also use “Lawyers” instead below) should include below jobs in China or relating to China, when the governing law could be the laws of China:
1- Consultation Service -- In answering Clients’ questions or problems occurred in Clients’ daily business operations, Lawyers shall offer Clients with written law advisory opinions according to PRC laws and governmental regulations.
2- Contract Service -- Upon Clients’ order Lawyers shall draft, look through, check and revise Clients’ Agreements with third parties in Clients’ daily business operations, and help to arrange client’s contractual relationship with landlord (this is specially for the WFOE in China), vendors, clients and so on legally.
3- Demand Letter Service -- Lawyers shall draft Lawyer’s letter (demand letter, including but not limited to notice of claim, final notice before legal actions) to third parties (in China) for and on behalf of Clients when Clients has law disputes with the third parties, and, to protect Clients’ legal rights and benefits in China.
4- Public Notice Service -- Upon Clients’ requests, Lawyers shall draft and publicize A’s pronunciamentos in Chinese public medias for Clients.
5- Negotiation Service -- Upon Clients’ requests, Lawyers shall take part in and assist Clients in negotiations and/or communications with Clients’ business partners/cooperators, in Clients’ daily business operations in China.
6- Company Verification Service 1 -- Lawyers shall provide Clients with investigation service on the party (the "Opponent") with whom Clients is going to sign contract, and offer Clients with feedback report of the investigations on the Opponent including their legal and actual status, company basic registration information, annual report the Opponent had publicized online, and whether the Opponent was ever involved in any litigation in the People’s Republic of China.
7- Company Verification Service 2 -- Lawyers shall provide Clients with verification service on whether a Chinese Company with whom Clients is in contacting is a manufacturer or not, by methods of a) investigation on registration information of the Company including but not limited to Company name and business scope, and b) field visit on the Company’s actual business site.
8- Company Inner Employment Management System and Daily Operation Service – This is specially for domestic WFOEs. If client has one WFOE in China, we will help client to establish a company inner employment management system, and help client’s daily operation on the employment relationship, as per PRC Labor Laws. As a WFOE, this is a big and very important job which is vital to the WFOE’s daily operation.
9- Other Law services – Other non-litigation / non-arbitration law jobs in China upon Clients’ request, for example, witness services.
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More please see Part Two: