"As a professional lawyer specialized in international debt collection, I promise my clients that if I cannot collect the debt for you, I will not charge any money from you." This promise was made seriously by Stephen L. Bluestone, CEO and Managing Director of Bluestone Law International, when he was being interviewed by the reporter at the Second Conference on China's Management of International Credit and Risks held recently.

Stephen L.Bluestone said: "Our company represents both government and private clients, from government agencies, such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, to international banks, such as HSBC. In the past three years, I have been referred many claims throughout China, and I have become familiar with these cases. As far as the entire credit managing process is concerned, the debt collection cases that we are striking [sic] to work on actually should not have had occurred in the first place. In other words, the debts could have been collected if the person in charge had gone through the process correctly. Every year we collect 10 million U.S. dollars of debts for our clients throughout the world."

"Many Chinese enterprises think that it is very expensive to hire American lawyers. In general, American law firms charge approximately $250 to $400 per hour. In addition to that, the language barrier is also a problem." Stephen said: "These are not problems for us. We have lawyers who understand the Chinese language. Our fees are reasonable. We charge the fees from our clients only after we have collected the debts for them. Before that we do not charge our clients any fees. Therefore, Chinese enterprises do not have to be worried about not being able to afford the fee for the work that we perform for them. We will charge from 10% to 35% based on the amount of the debts that we have collected. We have agents located in many countries throughout the world. Therefore we are able to provide debt collection services worldwide. There is a saying in America that one bird in the hand is equal to two birds in the woods*. We can describe debt collection using this saying. That is, getting the cash back is equal to executing a sentence as well as equal to solving a problem. For a company with a lot of debts, there are many ways to avoid the sentence execution. For example, they can apply for bankruptcy, transfer the property to a private person or a sister company, or relocate taxes or other properties, or hide the property and so on. The outcome would be that a verdict is made but is not necessarily being executed. The employees in our company work very hard. The rate of our successful debt collection is about 40%, which is higher than the world average level. Under many circumstances, unsuccessful debt collection is due to the fact that Chinese companies are unable to provide legal documents, including documentation on product quality problems, which would give the companies that do not pay the debts reasons to refuse to pay the bill. In addition, some Chinese companies delay their lawsuit too long, and as a result, some companies with debts have already vanished during the delaying period.

Based on our sources, it is said that some small-sized Chinese companies do not have a large amount of exports, and most of the companies that do not pay the bills are owned by overseas Chinese. These importing companies usually want to try their luck by not paying the small amount of money for imported goods. They believe that Chinese enterprises will not come to the U.S. to collect such a small amount of money. In addition, they also believe that these Chinese companies will not be able to collect debts either.

One Chinese company in Dalian exported man's jackets worth $40,000 to a company owned by an overseas Chinese in the U.S. After the jackets were delivered, they never received the money. The company owned by the overseas Chinese in the U.S. claimed that the quality of the jackets was not good. Without knowing what to do, the Chinese company in Dalian came to our Bluestone International Law Firm. The lawyers in the law firm carefully studied the trading contract and helped the Chinese company in Dalian find more evidence that made the U.S. company eventually pay the bill.

Stephen suggests that during the trading process between two parties, (one) must keep records of each step taken, issues discussed and correspondences made. For example, something that you think would involve expenses, claims and disputes must have written records. You also must keep accurate telephone records. You should understand that once a dispute occurs, some emails, faxes and trading invoices are all very helpful for the case. As soon as the dispute occurs, you must act fast enough to provide the written documents and the facts to show where you stand and what the facts are. Even if the dispute has lasted for two years, you should definitely keep all supporting documents. You must at the same time provide the materials that are true, accurate and complete. Only then will the debt collector be confident in the case. Otherwise, they will lose their confidence in you and your case. As a result, they will not be able to work on the case effectively.

Stephen says: "Our business is also such a job that promotes world trade among countries. If companies who sell their goods cannot get their money back, no one in the future will be able to do business. Our job is to prevent such problems so that the exporting companies will be worry-free in conducting their business. Therefore, Chinese enterprises do not have to fear that they cannot collect the payment after the goods are sent out."

Bluestone Law International is rooted back 163 years to the company called McKillop Walker & Co. which was established in 1842 specializing in international credit management and debt collection, and representing overseas clients for credit reporting, debt collection, and other mercantile services. In 1930, Stephen's father purchased this company and as a result, credit management and debt collection have continued to the present day.