Anhui to upgrade legal aid services

The judicial department of East China's Anhui province recently unveiled its plan for high-quality development of its legal aid services.

According to the plan, the department will deepen involvement of legal aid in the process of criminal procedure reform and build a mechanism for lawyers to participate in the provision of pro bono legal services.

It will explore a legal aid negative list and gradually extend the coverage of legal aid services to the low-income population.

It will increase the involvement of non-government lawyers in legal aid cases so that they will eventually take on at least 70 percent of such cases across the province.

It will promote the integration of technologies with legal aid services to make the services more intelligent.

Management of legal aid institutions will be reformed and the institutions' role shifted from handling specific cases to overseeing use of funds and quality of case handling, according to the plan.

Legal aid will also be made more available at the grassroots with more targeted services for disadvantaged groups like impoverished families, migrant workers and people with disabilities to be provided.