等级化、网络化与区域化:基于律师事务所空间分布的中国城市体系研究

Hierarchical,Networked,and Regional Trends:A Research Based on the Spatial Distribution of Law Firms of City System in China

借鉴"全球化与世界城市研究网络"(Ga WC)所采用的方法,以6大生产性服务业之一的法律咨询服务(律师事务所)为指标,分析了中国排名前50位的律师事务所的总部及其分支机构在289个城市的空间分布.发现东部沿海地区城市和内陆省会城市的服务值以及连接度普遍较高,法律咨询服务在北京、上海、深圳等少数城市存在很强的集聚性,主要的法律服务机构分布在约20%的城市之中;同时这些城市之间存在明显的等级性,服务值分为4个等级,连接度分为5个等级.法律咨询服务在我国少数经济发达区域中的城市集聚,并且在本区域内城市间的相互联系很强,存在显著的区域性;在长三角、珠三角、京津冀、东北地区、山东半岛和福建东部沿海地区等区域已经形成了不同完善程度的区域城市网络结构.形成上述特性的主要原因是各城市的经济实力与特性、我国体制下的政治因素以及现阶段法律咨询服务机构在我国的空间扩张模式,类似于前人研究所揭示的美国的情况.

Adopting the methodologies of Globalization and World City （GaWC） Research Network, the spatial distribution of the headquarters and divisions of the top 50 law firms in 289 Chinese cities is analyzed. The main findings include ： （ 1 ） the service value and connectivity of cities in coastal area and capital cities of inland provinces are generally high, the law firms are highly concentrated in few large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and mainly distribute in the 20% of all the cities; （2） at the same time there is a hierarchical tendency among those cities, which can be classified into 4 levels from the service value, and 5 levels from the connectivity; （3） the cities with large number of law firms and high connectivity are exclusively economically developed ones, and locate in the developed regions. There have already formed several city networks at different levels in Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area, Shandong Peninsula, and the coastal area of Fujian Province, etc. （4） the current situation can be attributed to the different levels of economic development of and political power bestowed to those cities, and the recent spatial extension ways of the law firms themselves. This is quite similar to the situation in the United States of America revealed by other studies.