The Shanghai Corporate Counsel Association (SCCA) has revealed that about 800 candidates have sat this year's national Enterprise Legal Advisor (ELA) exam in Shanghai. Although the number doesn't show an obvious increase compared to last year's, the association's deputy secretary general Shen Hui noted that the candidates are no longer limited to those who work in state-owned companies or work as in-house legal counsel.

"This year, we've seen more people from companies' finance departments and business units taking the exam, and an increasing number of candidates are from private companies and even multinational companies," said Shen. "Non-legal staff are regarding the ELA qualification as a valuable addition to their professional credentials and a process through which they can become more legal-literate."

1,276 people in Shanghai registered to take the 2010 exam, and about 60% of the applicants actually sat the exam. Shen explained that as many of the candidates are working full-time, they couldn't make it due to busy business and work commitments. In addition, the average national pass rate is around 40%, which demonstrates the difficulty of the exam, so some candidates may decide to drop out.

The national ELA exam, commenced in 1998, consists of four parts - general law, commerce and finance law, company management and practical corporate legal skills. Candidates who pass the exam will be granted the national ELA certificate. Prior to this year's exam, there were more than 1,600 qualified ELAs in Shanghai.

Shen believes there is significant room for growth, but that certain limitations of the qualification temper its popularity. "The ELA certificate is widely perceived as a qualification that's only required and recognised for positions within SOEs. A lot needs to be done to improve the credibility and recognition of the qualification across all sectors and the judiciary system, and broaden the range of legal professional privilege it can provide to the qualification holders," said Shen.

The Shanghai Corporate Counsel Association was established in 2004 and is the administrative and representative body of qualified ELAs in Shanghai. Another main function of the association is to provide continuous training and education to its members. Currently, the association has nearly 100 corporate members (70% of them are SOEs) and more than 1,500 individual members. ALB