Law school students encouraged to join legal aid services

BEIJING -- Chinese judicial and education authorities have issued a set of policies to encourage law school faculty members and students to join legal aid services.

The new policies are aimed at increasing the complementarity of voluntary legal aid services and legal education, and improving legal aid services for the public, according to a document issued by the social work department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice.

College and university students of law, sociology, psychology and other related majors, or with skills such as sign language, are welcome to register to volunteer at legal aid services, according to the document, which was made public on Monday.

To incentivize participation, university administrations are encouraged to incorporate legal aid services into their law school training and internship programs so that students can earn credit by volunteering.

At legal aid services, faculty members and students with practicing licenses will be assigned legal aid cases, while non-licensed law school students will be permitted to assist lawyers in the handling of cases. Student volunteers not majoring in law will be able to team up with law school students.

Universities will also be supported to create courses related to legal aid, according to the document.

More than 400 legal aid services have been established in higher education institutions nationwide, with 62,000 volunteers actively engaging in these services. They have helped expand the supply of legal aid and protect the legitimate rights and interests of groups in difficulty.