China Calls for Improved Legal Services, Judicial Administration

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 24, 2001

China Calls for Improved Legal Services, Judicial Administration

China's Ministry of Justice has called on judicial administrative departments to help domestic legal service providers improve their services so as to back China's full-scale cooperation and competition in the international arena next year.

Law Firms Encouraged to Adjust Work Way

Chinese law firms need to adjust their ways of doing business so as to better meet the market demand and compete with their overseas counterparts, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen was quoted as saying at a recent national conference.

He also encouraged lawyers to provide consultations to Chinese enterprises with overseas clients.

China has committed itself to removing geographic and quantitative restrictions on the branches of overseas law firms on the mainland within one year.

Legal Professionals in Demand

Zhang also expect judicial administrative departments in China to help train more legal professionals with proficiency in economics, science and technology, foreign languages and WTO rules.

"China's accession to the World Trade Organization will have a strong impact on our concept and system of judicial administration," Zhang was quoted as saying.

New Laws Needed

At the same conference, Liu Yang, deputy minister of justice, called for the early adoption of new laws on judicial administration, including the revision of the 1996 Lawyers Law and the drafting of detailed rules for the enforcement of the 1994 Prison Law.

Also on top of her ministry's agenda are the drafting of laws on public notarization, re-education through labor, legal aid, laws regulating expert testimony, mediation and the popularization of legal knowledge, Liu said.

Legal Service Sector to Open Wider

In recent years, the rapid development of China 's export-oriented economy has given strong impetus to the opening of China's legal service sector.

So far, the Ministry of Justice has approved 120 foreign law firms to establish offices in China 's mainland. Their businesses have also expanded from acting as agents in small investment projects to a variety of fields, including securities, mergers and large infrastructural construction projects.

In light of such circumstances, the Ministry of Justice is planning to promulgate new professional regulations on the expansion of businesses by foreign law firms in China.

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