China's Ministry of Justice has called on judicial administrative departments to help domestic legal service providers improve their services so as to back China's full-scale cooperation and competition in the international arena next year, Monday's China Daily reported.
Chinese law firms need to adjust their ways of doing business so as to better meet the market demand and compete with their overseas counterparts, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen was quoted as saying at a recent national conference.
He also encouraged lawyers to provide consultations to Chinese enterprises with overseas clients.
"China's accession to the World Trade Organization will have a strong impact on our concept and system of judicial administration," Zhang was quoted as saying.
China has committed itself to removing geographic and quantitative restrictions on the branches of overseas law firms onthe mainland within one year.
Zhang also expect judicial administrative departments in China to help train more legal professionals with proficiency in economics, science and technology, foreign languages and WTO rules.
At the same conference, Liu Yang, deputy minister of justice, called for the early adoption of new laws on judicial administration, including the revision of the 1996 Lawyers Law andthe drafting of detailed rules for the enforcement of the 1994 Prison Law.
Also on top of her ministry's agenda are the drafting of laws on public notarization, re-education through labor, legal aid, laws regulating expert testimony, mediation and the popularization of legal knowledge, the China Daily report quoted Liu as saying.
(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2001)
