Unlawful legal services organizations to be banned

Home>>China

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 08, 2004

Unlawful legal services organizations to be banned

China will ban illicit legal services organizations in 2004, in an effort to regulate the market, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen said Wednesday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

China will ban illicit legal services organizations in 2004, in an effort to regulate the market, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen said Wednesday.

Similar nationwide campaigns were launched by China in 1988 and 1993, Zhang said.

Zhang explained that some legal services organizations do not meet the operational requirements, and some have been set up without approval.

Meanwhile, different organizations are supervised by different government organs, which has resulted in unclear and overlapping management.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Civil Affairs and State Administration for Industry and Commerce made a joint inspection of the legal services market in seven provinces in 2003,and then submitted a proposal for rectifying the market to the State Council, China's cabinet.

Zhang said that legal services organizations violating the regulations should be improved and rectified, and illicit organizations should be prohibited.

He said that lawyers and law offices are the mainstay of the legal services market, but other legal services organizations would be retained in rural areas due to a shortage of lawyers and law offices there. In cities, these organizations will withdraw from lawsuits gradually, and specifically provide public legal counseling.

Meanwhile, China will take measures to regulate the conduct of lawyers, and improve their professional ethics and credibility, Zhang said.

"We hope that lawyers will be trustworthy and not charge irrationally high fees," he said.

The MOJ and the Supreme People's Court will issue a joint regulation to supervise the conduct of and exchanges between lawyers and judges in lawsuits.

So far, some 20 provinces keep credibility records for legal services workers, and the MOJ plans to promote this in 2004, according to Zhao Dacheng, director of the Lawyers and Notarial Affairs Department of the MOJ.

Source: Xinhua

Questions?Comments? Click here

China in growing need of WTO-related legal service

China opens legal services market

China to improve legal services

Exploration rover "Spirit" lands safely on Mars ( 9 Messages)

Two major state banks to pilot joint-stock system ( 3 Messages)

China pondering its own "green card" system ( 16 Messages)

Roaring BMW: Was it "road rage" or an accident? ( 2 Messages)

Beijing's traffic no longer a headache by year 2008 ( 5 Messages)