Legal fraternity ready to protect rights, interests, says lawyer

Lawyers are willing to help people in every way to protect their rights and interest to the maximum, Han Deyun, a lawyer from Solton & Partners and a deputy to the National People's Congress from Chongqing, said on Friday.

"The approaches may include more availability to legal aid attorneys and a website that offers public legal services nationwide, including looking for an attorney as well as requesting legal mediation or legal aid," Han said.

So far, lawyers are absent from many cases in the country, he said, citing figures showing that they acted as attorneys in less than 25 percent of more than 20 million lawsuits concluded nationwide in 2016.

Moreover, roughly 75 percent of the country’s more than 300,000 lawyers work in the eastern developed regions, and the number of lawyers available in small and less-developed areas is obviously inadequate and cannot meet the need of the public, he said.

Han said when he first became an NPC deputy 16 years ago, only eight of the NPC deputies were lawyers but the number has risen to 22 this year.

It showed that lawyers are winning trust from the people and lawyers want to better serve the country and the people as the country’s judicial reform continues to deepen, he said.