Legal aid cases in Jiangsu rise by nearly a quarter in H1

Legal aid agencies across East China's Jiangsu province handled 56,428 cases in the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 24.9 percent, according to data recently released by the province's legal aid center.

The increase is the outcome of the province's continued effort to improve the availability of the service since 2020.

Last year, Jiangsu further lowered the threshold for applying for legal aid, with 11 cities tying their criteria for claiming economic difficulty to local minimum wages. It also extended exemption from economic condition review to anyone seeking remuneration for labor. Special groups including the elderly of ripe old age, living alone, with disabilities or having losing their only child, children in distress, people with serious illness or disabilities and those who work on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 are also exempt. In addition, owners of small and micro enterprises and self-employed people are eligible for legal aid if they are stuck in poverty due to the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, the launch of a pilot negative list has brought 2,000 more legal aid cases since 2020 while progress in extending availability of lawyers in criminal cases and the duty counsel system led to an increase of over 20,000 legal aid cases last year.

All told, legal aid agencies across Jiangsu concluded about 111,000 cases and offered advice to 216,000 people in 2020, helping people avoid and recover 1.09 billion yuan ($168 million) in economic losses.