Recently, Mr. Li, a resident of Nanjing, capital city of east China’s Jiangsu Province, got into dispute with a neighbor over the raising of pigeons. During their quarrel, the neighbor said something that Mr. Li had only ever heard from TV series before: “I don’t want to talk with you about this. I will leave the matter to my lawyer.”

It is becoming increasingly common for people to hire private lawyers in large cities like Beijing and Nanjing. With the improvement of the living standards of Chinese people, hiring private lawyers to settle problems has become a practical demand in their daily lives.

In addition to handling legal conflicts, private lawyers, or family law advisors, provide their litigants with other services not related to lawsuits, such as serving as agents to make, check and sign economic contracts, carry out credit investigations, draw up wills or pre-marriage property notarization contracts.

According to legal experts, people are now more open and willing to discuss any problems they might have with outsiders, especially as lawyers always keep the information secret and can offer timely advice in seeking legal solutions to the problems.

Besides, private lawyers provide quick and convenient service. They offer flexibility in working time and are willing to travel, and people can contact them via the telephone or make appointments at any times.

Currently, the fees charged by private lawyers are comparatively low. The annual expense to hire a lawyer is between 200-2,000 yuan in large cities like Beijing, Nanjing and in central China’s Hebei Province.

(CIIC 02/22/2001)