Jacob in Indochina

“The Vietnamese grow the rice; the Khmers watch it grow; the Laotians listen to it grow.”

—French Colonial saying

The region of Indochina is composed of three countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. While the term stems from early Portuguese explorers who considered the region as being between India and China, thus Indo-China, it is primarily associated with the three-country region that was colonized by France in the last half of the Nineteenth Century. Indochina was also solidified as a region through the common socio-political relationships of empire and power that focus on Dai Viet, Angkor, and Lan Xang. In the Twentieth Century Communism, civil wars, and the three Indochina wars united the region in a shared experience.

Despite these similarities, the three countries are extremely different. Each one is influenced by different religions, different ethnicities, different languages, and different cultures. Vietnam is Confucian and primarily Mahayana Buddhist, stemming from its early occupation by China, and primary regional participant in the three Indochina Wars. Cambodia is Theravada Buddhist, speaks Khmer, and is scarred by the “genocide” of the Khmer Rouge. Laos is also Theravada Buddhist, but its Sangkham was controlled by the Communists and now promotes a pro-government doctrine, it is the most bombed country on earth.

I have lived in all three countries, working as a lawyer in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I am familiar with the cultures and history of the region and know how to operate as a businessman and legal representative of foreign investors. I also know how to approach the people on a more humane level, putting relationships of trust first, and worrying less about profit margins and exit strategies than the communication across cultures that is vital to understand the region.

After ten years of living and working in Indochina, I have decided to open shop for myself, and offer consulting services for the three-country region. I have networks and contacts in all three countries, access to locals and language experts, lawyers. And if I don’t have access to it, or know it, I know how to get access to it or learn it. That is something that I often say, I may not know everything, but I know how to learn it.

I am also a writer and am embarking on an ambitious project to write about Indochina and Southeast Asia in a series of fictional adventures. In order to promote my professional and fictional lives with one direction, one brand, I intend to work throughout the region and to bring my knowledge and expertise to bear for investors, researchers, civil society, and anyone else who can think of a call for my services.

Turn to this Linkedin page for updates and articles about aspects of the three countries, about the legal developments that occur, about political and business news, about culture and society. I intend to use this page, and a related Facebook page, to not only promote knowledge and services but to give me a reason to unify my thinking and criticism of the region. If you’re interested in purely legal updates, you can follow me on Linkedin here.

Join me, then, for an adventure in Indochina.