Foreign lawyers are not permitted to practice law in Taiwan without permission from the Ministry of Justice, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said today in a news release announcing that an investigation has been launched in response to an online post that claimed a Chinese lawyer attempted to represent an Austrian company in a hearing yesterday.
A Chinese lawyer requested to act as an advocate in the Taichung District Court on behalf of an Austrian company, a lawyer, surnamed Tsai (蔡), wrote in a post on social media platform Threads yesterday.
The Chinese lawyer, surnamed Liu (劉), said he was hired by the Austrian company as a legal personnel, the Taiwan Bar Association (TWBA) said.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
Upon learning his name and background, the opposing side’s lawyer, surnamed Tsai (蔡) raised an objection with the judge, it said.
When Tsai confronted the unnamed Chinese lawyer, the latter allegedly said “there’s no law against it,” Tsai said on Threads.
Tsai requested Liu to provide proof of his employment status, such as documents showing proof of labor insurance and national health insurance.
After hearing arguments from each side, the judge ruled that the Chinese lawyer could not act as the company’s advocate but could act as an agent of service for receiving legal documents in Taiwan.
The Taichung District Court today said in a news release that Liu does not possess lawyer qualifications in Taiwan and was not able to provide relevant proof.
The court did not approve Liu to act as the Austrian company’s advocate and ordered him to submit relevant information, it said.
No proceedings concerning the case were conducted yesterday, it said.
Lawyers who obtained their qualifications in other countries or regions, including China, are considered foreign lawyers, prosecutors said.
To practice law in Taiwan, a foreign attorney would need permission from the Ministry of Justice and be admitted to a bar association within six months of receiving such a permit, according to the Attorney Regulation Act (律師法), they said.
The case mentioned in the Threads post could be a violation of the act, prosecutors said, adding that it has already assigned a prosecutor to look into the situation and clarify it.
These actions could set a precedent for other foreign attorneys to bypass the qualification process and enter Taiwan’s judicial system, undermining local lawyers and posing risks to Taiwan’s judiciary and national security, Tsai said.
Tsai’s post also questioned whether the Austrian company and its lawyer considered Taiwan as part of China.
If so, he said, allowing Liu to appear in court would be an implicit denial of Taiwan’s legal and institutional independence, seriously undermining judicial sovereignty.
It is not possible or legal for Chinese lawyers to practice in Taiwan, the TWBA said.
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