Lawyers in Chongqing provide pro bono legal services for poverty eradication

In recent years, under the leadership of the provincial judicial department, lawyers in Chongqing, a southwestern mountainous megacity, have been devoting themselves to the critical battle against poverty, teaming up to provide impoverished areas with various legal services.

Targeted services

During a pro bono legal service campaign launched by the city's lawyers association, lawyers visited two impoverished towns, offering free legal consultations to local villagers. 

The association also reached cooperative agreements with the towns on pro bono legal services, under which the association would designate one legal counsel for each of the impoverished villages within the jurisdictions of the towns.

It would also set up poverty alleviation work teams which were responsible for addressing all kinds of legal issues for villagers through mediation and law publicity.

One-on-one support

In an action plan for directing lawyers' effort to poverty alleviation, the association requires every law firm of more than 100 members to provide one-on-one support for an impoverished village within a national-level impoverished county or a registered poor rural family.

Since establishing such a relationship with a village under the poor county of Youyang, the Chongqing branch of Deheng, a Beijing-based law firm, has made great efforts to help boost the village's industries, consumption, employment, educational level and people's welfare. As a result, Youyang shrugged off the title of impoverished county in February.

In another case, lawyers from the county of Fengdu provided one-on-one support for 16 registered poor families in a village, developing tailored solutions and across-the-board poverty relief plans for them which address issues ranging from agricultural production and job migration to education and medical services.

Apart from boosting poverty relief efforts in rural areas, lawyers in Chongqing also draw on their legal expertise to protect the legal rights of migrant workers in the city.