A Fudan University graduate, Edgar Choi is a well-known name in the expat community and, for the past few years, has been the number one person foreigners turn to when facing legal issues. This Hong Kong-born lawyer/legal advisor/author has been helping expats in China with corporate and labor law cases, and even doing pro bono work by offering free legal advice during the pandemic. He’s also been running the “Law in a Minute” WeChat group, where people are encouraged to ask questions and present their legal problems.
Choi has written four Chinese law books on economic, corporate, financial and intellectual property law, however a series of articles on the Chinese labor law was what really got the ball rolling – thousands of foreigners in China reached out to him asking for help and advice.
Choi explains: “There were hundreds of new subscribers and my WeChat was exploding with friend requests. Everybody was in the middle of trouble due to employers not paying their salaries. Every minute that I was awake, I was answering questions pro bono. My dearest mom was worried about me as I was on the phone all the time and awake until 3am, but I wanted to do what I could to help the poor souls!”
Choi has published a new book, Business Law in a Minute, in which he uses interesting stories from real life cases with a goal to, in his words, “guide you through know-hows of self-protecting.” According to Choi, by learning law one protects oneself from verbal, mental and physical harm. He tells us: “Most people don’t even know what rights they have in China, or they know a bit of law from their home country and find out that the rules are exactly the opposite here. I have seen many expats get into trouble for not knowing the law because they didn’t even know what they were doing was illegal!”
The majority of his clients are teachers who are being or have been blackmailed, extorted and threatened by their employers. “Teachers were easy pickings for bullies because they did not know the law, were kind, loving and patient people who put kids in the first place, and did not even speak Chinese.” Explains Choi. ”Employers knew how difficult it was for them to find a good lawyer who spoke English fluently to defend their rights, and preyed on this to strip away their legal rights.” Choi says that some of his clients had tried to find local attorneys to represent them, but were unsuccessful mainly due to the language barrier and the special laws for foreigners.
According to Edgar, it’s very difficult for people to understand the Chinese legal system because China adopts numerous rules and interpretations of local policies, some of which are too rare to find. That’s one of the reasons he decided to write this book – to make Chinese law more fun by using interesting cases and their outcomes.
Even though most of his cases have teachers as main characters, Choi has also dealt with unethical landlords who refused to return deposits for no reason, trading companies or factories that refused to send goods even when the full amount was paid or when the goods sent were damaged, and other kinds of contract disputes between foreign and Chinese companies. If you’re interested in finding out if you should get paid during COVID shutdowns, if you’re entitled to sick or maternity leave, how to sue a seller, how not to get scammed, or when you get your pension, among other issues, and if you would like to learn about legal challenges other foreigners have been facing, Edgar’s new book should definitely be an interesting read. It can be purchased for RMB 108 and includes free legal consultation. If you’re in need of legal help, you can contact Edgar by adding his WeChat: edgarwlchoi
Photos: Edgar Choi, Pexels
