Abstract
Since 2002, more foreign law firms have come to China to practice law. Among various fields of legal services, commercial lawsuits involving foreign investors’ interests challenge most the professional codes followed by these law firms. Changes in foreign law firms’ behavior in coping with such lawsuits reflect one dimension of China’s market institution in China’s post reform era constituted by professionalism and clientelism. This research attempts to analyze the mechanism of such an institution by observing the behavioral pattern of foreign law firms when they deal with lawsuits involving foreign interests. The data collection mainly relies on in-depth interviews with five American law firms based in Beijing and content analysis of litigation materials.