Provisional Regulations on Lawyers in China

Provisional Regulations on the Work of Lawyers in China came into force in 1982, describing lawyers as State Legal Workers (Gittings and Whitfort 58). These legal workers worked in state-run legal offices because at this time there were no private law firms. State law firms under Article 16 are still the most prominent, and constituted 59 percent of all law firms in China in 1998. These lawyers are guaranteed a salary and retirement benefits. Although these firms are owned by the state, they are responsible for their own profits and loses and do not receive state funding.

Cooperative law firms under Article 17 began to emerge in 1987 and were officially legitimized in the Experimental Program for Cooperative Law Firms issued by the Ministry of Justice in June 1998 (Gittings and Whitfort 58). These firms are not state-owned, but are formed by groups of lawyers who provide the capital to establish the firm. A benefit of the cooperative law firms is that their liability is limited to their assets. In 1997, cooperative law firms constituted roughly 11 percent of all law firms in China.

Partnership law firms under Article 18 began to appear in 1993 after the Ministry of Justice published a Program for Deepening Reforms in the Work of Lawyers (Gittings and Whitfort 58). These firms are similar to those in Hong Kong and other countries, and the assets of the firms are owned by the partners, who are jointly liable for its debts, even if they are greater than the wor

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th foreign lawyers 6) mediating in disputes involving lawyers 7) other duties stipulated by law. The primary responsibility for supervising lawyers and law firms lies with the Ministry of justice in China (Gittings and Whitfort 59). Powers which in other countries are left to professional bodies are controlled by the Ministry of Justice, such as administering the national examination for becoming a lawyer; deciding the qualifications of becoming a lawyer; issuing practice certificates to lawyers; renewing practice certificates; issuing and renewing business certificates; disciplining and suspending lawyers; revoking lawyers' practice certificates; and punishing law firms who breach the Lawyer's Law. These decisions are often made by Local People's Governments, which leads to the problem of local protectionism. Lawyers and law firms fear that if they represent clients against the government, they risk losing their license to practice. While in theory the Lawyers Law protects lawyers against interference with their duties and they are protected by the law under Article 3, and their personal rights are immune to violation under Article 32, in practice other laws have been used to harass them if they defend cl

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