More Internship Observations

An agitated “coworker” stormed back into the office today after going to court for her client in the 鼓楼 municipal court. As she began to unload her frustrations on her coworkers, I sat there somewhat clueless as to what it was all about. I had written before about the issue of judges and the corrupt system in which they are selected, and this was just one of the prime examples of why China’s legal system needs some serious revamping.

In the front of our office, there is a list of principles that the lawyers at my law firm abide by, and all the lawyers in our firm truly keep one to heart above all else: having the client’s best interests at heart. In this particular case, it was an issue about worker’s compensation, I believe, and was between an insurance company and my coworker’s client. Essentially, they wanted to only pay for the period of time her client was injured, deducting all the taxes, when in reality, the insurance company is supposed to cover much more than that. I wasn’t sure entirely how it all worked out mathematically, but the insurance company was somehow not paying enough, and was going by the wrong numbers. My coworker came back really upset mainly because her client was not going to get the money he needed, and the judge was too ignorant of the Law to 判 the right decision. As she began consulting with the other legal staff, the lawyer in our firm with the most expertise in the area confirmed that she was completely right, and that in a similar case he had done before, it was equally frustrating to get the judge to understand what the law exactly dictates about this area.

My coworker, 范姐, was not necessarily in hysterics, but pretty darn near close to it. She was so frustrated by the judge and his lack of insight into the Law. I don’t blame her. Considering that the average judge has little to no background in Law other than the 1 year of self-study and experience in the field, their judgment is often a bit skewed. They demand that the lawyers provide the actual article written in the law itself, printing off a copy for them to keep, when in practicality, the judge should already know what the law says. The lawyers have these for personal reference, so it is sort of preposterous that the judges are completely clueless. Essentially, due to this, a lawyer’s job is to find the most evidence for their stance and prove it to the judge, convincing him/her to side with their client. The judge merely makes a decision, and has little work to do himself. No wonder the competition to become a court judge is so intense lately. You don’t need to know very much, and you end up taking the credit for others’ work and make a lot of money in the process.