Understanding languages, customs is key to global approach

When he was in high school, Wang Yizu enjoyed a course related to legal knowledge in daily life because it sparked his interest in using the law to solve disputes.

That interest later spurred him on to become a law student at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai.

Even though his major is law, he has never given up learning English. During his college years, he took part in numerous English-speaking competitions and debates to practice his language skills.

At that time, he did not know how the two disciplines, the law and English, could be combined until he started occasionally participating in a moot court.

"The process that applies both legal and English skills to resolve international disputes is a situation where one plus one is greater than two, which makes me feel very excited," Wang added.

At the end of May, he came to Beijing to attend the nationwide international legal talent competition held by the China University of Political Science and Law.

He defeated a number of older contestants with bachelor's degrees in English, or who had studied overseas, to secure second place.

As he turned 22 in April, and is about to graduate from the ECUPL, he considers the result a precious gift.

"Standing out in the competition is inseparable from my interest in law and my persistence in English learning," he said.

"In addition, the experience accumulated in the previous mock arbitration and moot court has helped me build and develop a cross-cultural way of thinking in the face of global disputes, which, I believe, is more important for me going on to be an international legal talent," he said.

In Wang's view, foreign-related legal work requires practitioners to not only be fluent in English and deeply understand domestic and overseas laws, but also to be familiar with the business culture and case settlement methods or styles of the countries involved in an international dispute.

"For example, drafting legal documents in Chinese is not the same as drafting them in English. Sometimes, the content that is formed in accordance with Chinese logic is confusing to native English speakers," he explained.

He said that thinking with an "international perspective" should be constantly exercised, and he lauded the competition for providing an opportunity to improve this skill.

"Whether I become a foreign-related lawyer or a judge dealing with international commercial cases, that way of thinking, as well as the experience accumulated in the competition, are indispensable," he said.