Yunnan expedites construction of modern public legal service system

Southwest China's Yunnan province has made steady progress in fulfilling its goal of building a modern public legal service system which is convenient, efficient, equal, inclusive and accessible to both urban and rural residents in 2022.

So far, the province has established 15,923 public legal service centers and stations at city, county, township and village levels. Together, they have handled over 100,000 cases for the public. Its legal service hotline, 12348, has received about 285,000 calls since its launch one and a half years ago.

Yunnan has also been actively implementing the duty counsel system and pursing availability of lawyers for all criminal cases. Since 2018, about 118,000 criminal cases across the province, or 53 percent of the total, have seen representation by lawyers upon notification. 

Meanwhile, legal aid is now available to nearly 20 million people in Yunnan. Legal aid agencies across the province have handled more than 190,000 cases of various types, helping over 240,000 people avoid or recover about 2 billion yuan ($309 million) in economic losses.

According to its judicial department, Yunnan now has a legal service force of over 30,000 people.