Lawyers' participation in political and administrative work further strengthened: officials

Data released by the Ministry of Justice showed that by the end of last year, 12,017 lawyers served as National People's Congress (NPC) deputies, Party representatives, and members of the national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), further strengthening the lawyers' participation in politics and deliberation, officials of the ministry announced on Friday.

On the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Ministry of Justice held a forum focusing on lawyers' work on Friday. Nearly 100 people including standing directors and supervisors of the National Lawyers Association, representatives of the law industry, deputies to the NPC, and CPPCC members, attended the forum.

During the forum, minister He Rong said the Ministry of Justice will take solid measures in strengthening the political leadership of the lawyer team, strengthening the protection and supervision of practice rights, and developing foreign-related legal services.

At present, the legal service needs of the people are characterized by the times, diversity, and complexity, which puts forward higher requirements and expectations for lawyers.

"Only by empathizing and treating the common people's affairs as their own can disputes be properly resolved," Yang Xiyong, a lawyer and a representative of the 20th Party Congress from Yantai, East China's Shandong Province, who has been rooted in the grassroots community for many years, told the Global Times on Friday.

Migrant workers are one of the groups that Yang has had the most contact with and served. In recent years, he has participated in more than 450 public welfare legal service activities for migrant workers, cumulatively coordinating and disbursing over 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) in wages for more than 3,000 migrant workers.

To fully leverage the professional advantages and functional roles of lawyers, since 2022, the All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) has been organizing lawyers to participate in the drafting and revising of laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, and normative documents such as Company Law, Yellow River Protection Law, and the draft amendment of the Marine Environmental Protection Law, and at the same time further improved public service lawyers and legal advisors' professional research and work exchange platforms, striving to make more lawyers become effective assistants and qualified consultants for Party and government organs to govern and administer in accordance with the law.

Since 2023, the association has been organizing lawyers to participate in the drafting and revising of 13 laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, and normative documents, and relevant opinions and suggestions have been given attention by relevant departments, officials said during the forum.

In 2022, under the coordination of the Ministry of Justice, a group of law firms with sound internal management practices established branches in 46 counties lacking lawyers in six provinces and regions of China: Xizang Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province in Southwest China, Qinghai and Gansu provinces in Northwest China, Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China and Shanxi Province in North China.

Dedicated lawyers who are passionate about public welfare and possess a spirit of commitment are actively engaged in local practice, effectively addressing the issue of counties without legal representation across the country.

In addition, Niu Linna, a lawyer representative of the Party, noted that to effectively unite and consolidate a broader team of lawyers, it is necessary to strengthen patriotic education.

"A lawyer who doesn't even love his own country can't talk about providing legal services to the people, can't play a role in promoting the comprehensive rule of law, and certainly cannot become a good lawyer satisfactory to the Party and the people," Niu said, adding that especially in the current increasingly complex international and domestic situation, Chinese lawyers should take patriotism as their duty and contribute to the development of the rule of law.