China Law Blog

This is the international version of a more general truth that clients want to work with professionals interested in them, even when they come from the same culture. Rainmakers really care about their clients, and the clients can tell.

Ford Harding,

You are absolutely right. Funny how obvious it is now that you have pointed it out, but I missed it in its context.

At the risk of sounding pretentious by applying this notion to the human extent...

It may be worth noting that we've been politically conditioned to either feign interest or express disapproval in order to gain approval of third parties (i.e., pandering). We often do this without taking the slightest genuine interest to understand the positions about which we pass summary judgment.

This is not to suggest that we shouldn't take a position, but that we benefit far more when we've made an effort to understand the parties involved in the issue.

While quite obvious to those in the legal profession, I need to remind myself of that frequently.

I also find myself regularly defending China from unwarranted attacks by those who have not made the slightest effort to learn anything about today's China, her progress, people, traditions, or history. With so little effort, China is easy to love, and her faults become much more tolerable.

Geez! That was, indeed, pretty pretentious sounding.