Navigating Legal Challenges: The Journey of a Chinese Lawyer

I hold dual PhDs — one in biochemistry, one in law, both from Columbia — and I've spent my career serving Chinese communities across Taiwan, mainland China, and the United States. My work spans multiple legal fields, but the thread running through all of it is the same: helping overseas Chinese understand and use the law, rather than fearing or avoiding it the way so many of us were culturally conditioned to.

Why We Avoid the Law, and Why That Has to Change

Chinese cultural background doesn't traditionally emphasize legal literacy the way American culture does. A lot of that comes from real historical trauma — decades, generations even, of watching law used as a political weapon under authoritarian rule back home. That fear doesn't just disappear when someone immigrates. I see it constantly: Chinese immigrants in the U.S. who are financially and mentally unprepared for legal issues, without so much as a basic "legal budget" set aside for emergencies.

My advice is simple but requires a real mindset shift: think of legal fees as an investment, not a loss. Building a legal advisory fund into your monthly budget is one of the most practical things you can do to prepare for disputes that, statistically, most of us will face at some point — whether we're ready for them or not.

How to Actually Find a Good Lawyer

No single lawyer can master every area of law, so matching the right specialist to your specific problem matters enormously. I always tell people not to trust advertisements. Instead, go watch actual court sessions relevant to your situation — inheritance cases, landlord-tenant disputes, whatever applies to you — and pay attention to which lawyers show up repeatedly. Ask the court staff, the clerks, the guards, who they'd trust with their own case. That kind of first-hand research tells you far more than any billboard or webpage ever could.

What I Tell Landlords

A lot of Chinese landlords come to me frustrated by tenants who refuse or delay payment, protected by legal measures — some originating from pandemic-era eviction moratoriums — that were enacted under real political pressure, often because tenant votes simply outnumber landlord votes in each jurisdiction. It puts landlords in a genuinely difficult position: unable to legally evict a non-paying tenant, even while facing real financial hardship themselves.

My advice is thorough screening upfront, before any of that becomes a problem: Social Security number, recent bank statements, pay stubs, references from previous landlords, credit checks, even a look at a prospective tenant's social media presence as a behavioral indicator. If someone won't provide complete information, decline them. It's far better to lose a prospective tenant than to spend years fighting unpaid rent you have no fast legal way to recover.

Staying Safe Amid Rising Hate

Since last February, there have been over nine thousand reported incidents of anti-Asian harassment, discrimination, and violence, concentrated in places like Oakland's Chinatown among others. I won't pretend that prejudice and discrimination aren't real. What I tell people is to accept that reality without letting it defeat them.

Practically, that means avoiding locations known for frequent violence, especially if you're alone or physically vulnerable. If you witness a hate crime or assault, record it discreetly on video rather than intervening directly, unless you're genuinely physically prepared to do so. Keep your phone in an easily accessible pocket so you can document quickly if something happens. Travel in groups when you can, and avoid going out alone at dusk or nightfall, since that's when most incidents occur.

Building Confidence and Standing

Asian men in particular face a lot of demeaning stereotypes in American culture — showing up as "least desirable" in cultural polls, treated as socially undervalued in ways that go beyond the merely personal. My advice, for anyone facing that kind of bias, is proactive self-investment: good dental care, dressing well, genuinely working toward English fluency so you can communicate and advocate for yourself without a barrier in the way. Immigrants often experience a kind of social "downgrade" regardless of what they accomplished back home, and I think holding onto real dignity through that transition matters as much as any single legal strategy. Charitable giving toward community causes helps too — not just as generosity, but as a visible, positive contribution that reshapes how a community is perceived over time.

When you're facing discrimination directly, especially from institutions or authorities, I always recommend asking plainly: "Do you have a translator?" Speak earnestly and with confidence, even if your English isn't perfect — sincerity communicates more than grammar does. A clear, calm demeanor gets you further than anger or helplessness ever will, in almost every interaction I've seen play out.

Scams Target the Vulnerable, Deliberately

A huge amount of what crosses my desk involves scams, and Chinese immigrants are frequent targets. I always tell people: if a deal defies logic — unrealistically high investment returns, an "opportunity" too generous to make sense — treat it with real skepticism. I think of these as "fallen pies," not blessings; anything that looks too good to be true generally is. My book, 100 Lies Men Commonly Tell, grew out of years of watching exactly this kind of deceit play out in ordinary daily interactions.

Online romance scams deserve special attention. I've seen cases, including one in New York where a woman lost tens of thousands of dollars, and this affects both women and men — particularly elderly people turning to online dating for real emotional companionship, which makes them easy targets for exactly that vulnerability. My advice is straightforward: verify credentials of anyone claiming a professional identity through official association websites, consult trusted friends before sending money to anyone you haven't met in person, and remember that public records, often accessible through a lawyer, can uncover a scammer's real identity and location far more easily than people assume.

I also see, again, victims — especially women and older individuals — who feel too ashamed to fully report what happened or disclose complete details even to their own lawyer. Without multiple victims coming forward together, police response is often minimal. Sharing a scammer's photo publicly and encouraging collective reporting is often what triggers real law enforcement action, more than any individual report on its own.

What Happened When I Reported a Break-In

I want to be honest about something that happened to me directly. When I reported a home intrusion, I noticed real hesitation from police once they heard my Chinese surname — they asked a white neighbor to file the report instead, expecting a faster response that way. That kind of bias is real, and I experienced it firsthand, not just as a professional observation.

Despite that, I still believe reporting matters. Filing a formal complaint creates an official record, and over time, those records can shift how police departments behave, even when any single report doesn't produce immediate justice. When institutional bias is severe enough, involving a civil rights lawyer directly is a reasonable and often necessary next step.

Building Real Political Power

I've watched how Jewish and Indian communities in America have built lasting influence by deliberately combining legal, political, and business education into real, generational power. Asian American influence is rising, but I don't think we'll see a Chinese American president or vice president without serious coalition-building that reaches well beyond our own community alone. I do believe we'll eventually see a Chinese American woman rise to serious political leadership — but only through the same kind of deliberate cross-community alliance-building that other groups have already proven works.

What I Tell Women Specifically

My strongest career advice for Chinese American women, immigrants especially, is to learn computer skills, coding, and artificial intelligence. These fields provide genuine job security, ease green card acquisition, and build real self-confidence that carries over into every other part of life. Mastering technology creates independence — professionally and personally — and measurably reduces vulnerability inside relationships where financial dependence might otherwise keep someone stuck. I don't think age is a legitimate excuse to avoid this. These are practical, achievable tools for building a genuinely better life here, and self-sufficiency is the real foundation for overcoming whatever combination of family pressure, workplace discrimination, or personal safety concerns a woman might be navigating.

Why This Work Matters to Me

Law touches every stage of life — birth, aging, illness, death. There's no opting out of that reality, only a choice between facing it prepared or facing it blind. Everything I do — the writing, the advocacy, these conversations — comes from wanting more of our community to understand the law well enough to use it, rather than fear it the way so many of us were taught to.