China Badly Wants Advanced Legal Professionals

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 16, 2001

China Badly Wants Advanced Legal Professionals

China is in great need of advanced legal professionals now that it is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a forum held in Beijing Saturday.

China is in great need of advanced legal professionals now that it is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a forum held in Beijing Saturday.

Focusing on the reform and development of legal education in Asia, the forum solicited diverse opinions from the attending Chinese officials and experts in this regard.

Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court of China, said law schools should not only enlarge students' knowledge and improve their abilities, but, more importantly, foster their loyalty to law and social ethics.

Only by doing this will schools be able to train qualified legal professionals, Xiao added.

Zhang Fusen, minister of justice, said China is now in urgent need of legal professionals who are not only fully acquainted withWTO practices but also with the Chinese domestic situation.

Starting in 2002, all the judges, procurators and lawyers in China will have to take an examination, a step which is expected to greatly help improve the quality of Chinese law workers as a whole, Zhang said.

China has been providing enhanced in-service training for its law workers. Nearly 100 senior judges from the Supreme People's Court sent to study abroad had returned home by this October.

Wu Zhipan, a professor at Beijing University, said the growing economic globalization trend will have a far-reaching influence onChina's legal education, adding that universities should do more to improve students' English communication ability.

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