«В прошлом году, представители наших партнеров участвовали в работе международной конференции юристов, организованной Палатой «Kazakhstan Bar Association», где обсуждались вопросы оказания юридической помощи в рамках единых правил, стандартов и этических норм. Сегодня, «Chengdu Bar Association» представила расширенную информацию о своей деятельности для нашего цифрового журнала «Kazakhstan Law Review», - прокомментировал Жумагельды Елюбаев, председатель Палаты KazBar. Он уверен, что членам нашей Палаты и широкому кругу юридической общественности Казахстана будет интересно ознакомиться с деятельностью китайских коллег.
Предлагаем вам полный текст сообщения от «Chengdu Bar Association»:
Advancing the Development of the Belt and Road with Legal Services
Introduction to the Chengdu Bar Association
Chengdu is located in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, and is at the junction of the Belt and Road and the Yangtze River Economic Strategic Region. With a 2,300-year history, Chengdu has been hailed as a “Land of Abundance” since its beginning. Today, there are over 21 million permanent residents in Chengdu. In 2021, Chengdu’s GDP approached RMB 2 trillion. Chengdu is rapidly developing into a national gateway city with high international exposure and unique comparative advantages.
In recent years, high-speed development of the regional economy driven by the Belt and Road Initiative has ushered in rapid growth of demand for legal services in Chengdu. On September 6, 2019, the Kazakhstan Bar Association and the Chengdu Bar Association signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to promot e the development of the Belt and Road.
Legal Profession Statistics
According to data from October 2022, there are 1,002 law firms and 18,048 lawyers registered with the Chengdu Bar Association. The number of lawyers in Chengdu accounts for more than 60% of all the lawyers in Sichuan Province. In terms of numbers of lawyers, Chengdu is ranked fifth among cities in China and first among non-coastal Chinese cities. For every 10,000 residents in Chengdu, there are 8.1 lawyers. For comparison, there are only three lawyers per 10,000 people in all of China; and Sichuan is below the national average with only 2.8 per 10,000 people. There are 19 large law firms in Chengdu with over 100 lawyers each, and 98 nationally-recognized firms that have branches in Chengdu.Organizational Structure
Established in 1993, the Chengdu Bar Association is a self-regulatory professional organization with a mission to serve its members, the legal profession, and the public and to administrate and monitor the conduct of law firms and their lawyers. The management of affairs of the Chengdu Bar Association is vested in the Council, which is subject to inspection by the Board of Supervisors. The members of the Council and the Board of Supervisors are elected by the General Representative Assembly. Under the Council, there are 19 committees and 23 sections. The Chengdu Bar Association has 22 branches covering all the districts and counties in Chengdu.
Functions
The functions of the Chengdu Bar Association are set out in its Articles of Association. In summary, they are as follows:(1) To improve management of the legal profession and the regulation of legal practice;
(2) To support and protect the lawful legal practice, rights, and interests of lawyers;
(3) To evaluate, extract, communicate, and promote good legal practice;
(4) To develop professional standards, norms, and disciplinary rules;
(5) To organize education and training on professional development, ethics and discipline, and to evaluate lawyers' legal practice activities;
(6) To administer training activities for trainee lawyers who apply, and to evaluate and assess the qualifications of trainee lawyers for admission;
(7) To implement and enforce reward and punishment to lawyers and law firms;
(8) To inquire into or investigate complaints against lawyers, and mediate disputes arising out of lawyers' legal practice;
(9) And other functions prescribed by laws, regulations, and administrative rules.
Pro Bono
Members of the Chengdu Bar Association actively participate in pro bono. Our lawyers frequently visit communities, schools, and businesses to give talks, speeches, and sessions to explain legal issues that the public may encounter in everyday life, as well as provide legal services and help resolve and settle disputes. Pro bono by our lawyers fully demonstrates our commitment and dedication to our social responsibilities. In 2021, Chengdu lawyers handled 14,192 legal aid cases and provided 2,073 legal consulting services, benefiting more than 80,000 individuals.
Belt and Road
“Rule of law is the best business environment.” President Xi Jinping has placed great importance on the role of the rule of law in building an environment for business and put forward a clear request for the establishment of international commercial dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions under the Belt and Road Initiative.
In 2018, the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Justice and the Chengdu BarAssociation cooperated with the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and the Beijing Retio Legal and Commercial Service Center for BRI, establishing the “China International Economic And Trade Arbitration Commission Sichuan Sub-Commission” (Chengdu International Arbitration Center), the “International Commercial Mediation Center(Southwest) for the Belt and Road Initiative,” and “The Law Ascertainment Center (Southwest) for the Belt and Road Initiative.” Collectively known as the“Three Centers,” aiming to make international commercial arbitration, international commercial mediation, and foreign law investigation their core functions, covering Belt and Road legal service consultation, customization of special foreign-related legal services, foreign-related legal service training, and others.
Since beginning operation in October 2019, the Three Centers have established a commercial mediation mechanism with 24 courts in Chengdu, signed cooperation agreements on commercial dispute mediation, and set up a professional team of 1,698 arbitrators, 899 mediators, and 94 legal ascertainment consultants. Under the New York Convention, arbitration awards by Chengdu International Arbitration Center can be effectively enforced in 171 countries and regions. The Three Centers have established international commercial mediation cooperation mechanisms with partners in 63 countries and 172 cities, provided foreign law ascertainment services covering major countries around the world, and established legal databases of foreign laws and cases covering 135 countries and regions.
So far, the Three Centers have accepted 54 arbitration cases with disputed amount s of 1.449 billion RMB , accepted 6,120 mediation cases of various types with a total disputed amount of 6.249 billion RMB , handled 747 foreign law ascertainment cases , and provided various foreign-related legal services and consultations for more than 1,500 entities . The Three Centers , with its basis in the southwest , presence in China , and influence in the countries and regions along the Belt and Road , have become a diversified and one-stop dispute resolution mechanism for international and domestic commercial disputes.
