Law in China

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From the New York offices of Global Trade & Technology Center:

Join "Lawyer in China" on Facebook -- your online legal advisor!

The Chinese economy is booming. Have you considered exploring the business opportunities in the People's Republic of China? Do you need legal advice for your business in China? If so, register on Facebook and join the group "Lawyer in China," the online legal advisor for your business in China.

If you are a lawyer interested in the Chinese legal service market, you are welcomed to join the group too. The group is looking for lawyers to serve the group members, they will appoint one to two lawyers for each major city worldwide: i.e. Shanghai, Beijing , Shenzhen, New York, Tokyo, London, and Berlin. Lawyers can submit their vitas and profiles to the members to illustrate their legal expertise by answering questions submitted by members.

Please note that only one to two lawyers will be appointed for each city. Their policy is on a first come first serve basis for lawyers to be listed for respective cities.

Description of the group:

• A platform for legal professionals to demonstrate their legal expertise;
• A platform for non-legal professionals to seek legal advice.

If you have any legal questions, please feel free to post it on the homepage of the group so that the moderator, officers or even other members may respond with valuable assistance.

Note from Laurel: Be careful here. No clue as to the expertise of the site creator nor the legitimacy of the platform itself. We are not endorsing the work, rather, just letting you know about it.

Separately but related and with the help of an expert IP attorney, just finished working on a great article for Entrepreneur magazine on global trademarks which I think will be very helpful to you, especially if you are thinking about protecting a logo, slogan or product name internationally. Watch for it in October.

International Trade (2006)

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We received the following trade statistics for 2006 from our friend Myles Matthews, President and CEO of Global Trade & Technology Center. He indicated it will take a few months to analyze trade information for 2007.

The United States trade set a record for total trade which includes total exports, imports, and total trade deficit in 2006. In 2006 exports surpassed a milestone exceeding $1 trillion for the first time. Fewer than 5% of all countries (11) held almost 80% of the US trade deficit. The 5 leading countries in order of these 11 where China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Germany.

The US probably surpassed $3 trillion in total trade in 2007. US trade with 39 nations exceeded $10 billion in 2006, an increase of 5% over 2005.

The 25 leading ports of entry and exit in the US for 2006 where:

1 Los Angeles -- $329.4 billion total trade +12.3%
2 New York/New Jersey -- $295.0 billion total trade +10.2%
3 Detroit -- $238.5 billion total trade +3.7%
4 Houston/Galveston -- $162.2 billion total trade +18.9%
5 Laredo -- $157.4 billion total trade +13.0%
6 New Orleans -- $152.8 billion total trade +17.4%
7 Chicago -- $120.6 billion total trade +11.1%
8 Seattle -- $119.9 billion total trade +19.2%
9 San Francisco -- $111.1 billion total trade +12.3%
10 Atlanta/Savannah -- $82.5 billion total trade +13.7%
11 Buffalo -- $82.2 billion total trade +6.0%
12 Cleveland -- $77.6 billion total trade +11.1%
13 Miami -- $72.1 billion total trade +9.4%
14 Philadelphia -- $69.2 billion total trade +19.3%
15 Dallas/Fort Worth -- $58.2 billion total trade +17.5%
16 El Paso -- $52.3 billion total trade +9.0%
17 San Diego -- $50.8 billion total trade +17.0%
18 Charleston -- $49.2 billion total trade +2.6%
19 Norfolk -- $44.5 billion total trade +10.4%
20 Ogdensburg, New York -- $44.4 billion total trade +7.2%
21 Great Falls, Montana -- $40.3 billion total trade +9.3%
22 Baltimore -- $39.6 billion total trade +2.6%
23 Tampa -- $37.6 billion total trade +27.8%
24 Boston -- $33.3 billion total trade +3.7%
25 San Juan -- $32.6 billion total trade +11.4%

These numbers will continue to improve for exports based on the value of the dollar.