Jiangsu reallocates legal service resources for epidemic prevention, control

The Department of Justice of East China's Jiangsu province, together with the province's lawyers’ association, readjusted their legal service resources after the COVID-19 outbreak in late January to ensure adequate legal services for every community and village in the province.

The reallocation of the province's 42,000 lawyers was based on the locations of communities and industrial parks across the province and was designed to provide all grassroots units with legal services.

Lawyers have been taking an active role in helping local government draft and review official documents on epidemic prevention and control. They also offer legal advice to police officers, medical workers, urban management staff and government employees who are working on the front line of the battle against COVID-19.

In the capital city of Nanjing, a cross-agency advisory group has made at least 200 legal proposals to the municipal government. In addition, it has released a compilation of laws and regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control.

Lawyers have also devoted their legal expertise to enterprises' work and production resumption. The province's lawyers' association promptly organized lawyers to develop a guideline on corporate legal compliance during the epidemic. It also joined hands with the province' s overseas friendship association to launch a TV program to provide legal support for enterprises funded by overseas Chinese.

Legal services in different cities have different priorities with lawyers in Suzhou focusing on helping enterprises manage their labor relations, lawyers in Wuxi looking into enterprises' fulfillment of contracts, lawyers in Nanjing targeting start-ups founded by entrepreneurs from Taiwan, and lawyers in Suqian concentrating on resumption of production by 89 local new-type construction material manufacturers.

Apart from enterprises, lawyers also publicize legal information and mediate disputes in communities and neighborhoods. The province's lawyers' association has consecutively issued 30 editions of Q&As on laws and policies related to epidemic prevention in its official WeChat account.