When he first began studying Chinese law, Peter Corne concluded that lawyers in China, both domestic and expatriate, “were perpetrating a kind of illusion”. Mr Corne, an Australian-trained lawyer who today heads the Shanghai office of Eversheds, the UK firm, says: “Western lawyers, like me, and Chinese lawyers who had been to the States and come back were trying to promote a system of law based on western training.” China still does not have a legal system that matches those of most western countries. While many foreign lawyers have offices in China, they cannot officially practise law in the country and have to act through local firms.
剛開始研究中國法律時，孔宏德(Peter Corne)得出的結論是：在中國的律師，無論是本土的還是外來的，“都抱有一種幻想”。孔宏德是一位在澳大利亞接受教育的律師，如今是英國律師事務所安永實(Eversheds)上海代表處負責人。他表示：“像我一樣的西方律師，以及留美歸來的中國律師，都試圖推動一種建立在西方教育基礎上的法律體系。”中國的法律體系仍與西方多數國家不同。雖然許多外國律師都在中國設立了代表處，但他們在中國不能正式執業，必須通過當地律所進行代理。