Chinese Law on Lawyers Amended: Progress Made and to Be Made
Chinese lawmakers accomplished much in 2007. Chief among their achievements include the promulgation of the Property Law, Anti-monopoly Law, Labour Contract Law, and amendments to the Law on Lawyers. In particular, they adopted significant changes to the Law on Lawyers, ushering in a brand new era in the legal profession in China.
Date:
February 2008
Promulgated: 10 February 2008
Keywords (click to search): [legal profession] [ammendment] [rule of law]
By Jing "Brad" Luo*
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (SCNPC) adopted amendments to the Law on Lawyers (the Amendments) on October 28 2007 after three rounds of reading.1 Since the promulgation of the original Law on Lawyers in 1996, it has gone through two phases of amendments in 2001 and 2007 respectively. The latest Amendments, as adopted, represent another step forward2 in China's efforts to effect comprehensive regulations on the legal profession despite some outstanding issues in the law. Consistent with predictions of many commentators, the SCNPC adopted revisions in the Lawyer's Law to afford more protection for the attorney-client relationship, to raise legal ethic standards, to clarify lawyer professional liability, and to allow solo practice. However, the Amendments also introduced additional changes not previously addressed. This update aims to flesh out these changes and to point out a couple of...
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