Guangdong promotes legal services connectivity in GBA

The justice department of South China's Guangdong province, together with Hong Kong's Department of Justice and the Secretariat for Administration and Justice of Macao, has set up a joint meeting mechanism to promote "soft connectivity" of legal services rules in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

"In recent years, the legal departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have leveraged the joint meeting mechanism and gradually formed a joint force for the legal services work in the GBA," said Chen Xudong, director of Guangdong's justice department.

According to Chen, the joint meeting mechanism, with a focus on the building of the rule of law in the GBA, has made constant efforts in building up and improving mechanisms and institutions that connect Hong Kong and Macao and align with international standards for the modern legal service industry development, in a bid to promote the connectivity of the institutions and rules of the legal services and mechanisms in the GBA and the implementation of policies for the legal services opening-up in the three regions.   

To resolve commercial disputes involved the three regions effectively, Guangdong has established 13 foreign-related commercial dispute mediation organizations. A total of 206 senior lawyers, college professors, and experts from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are serving as mediators at these organizations. 

With support from the province's justice department, the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission has put forward recommended standards for internet arbitration that have been well accepted by organizations in Hong Kong and Macao; the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration has established an international arbitration center, and the Zhuhai Court of International Arbitration has established a cross-border arbitration cooperation platform with the arbitration organizations in Macao. 

In addition, with the joint meeting mechanism, the three regions' legal departments have also conducted in-depth exchanges and communication on jointly promoting the integrated development of their lawyers. 

To date, Guangdong has approved 15 partnership law firms, with 108 lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao were assigned to these law firms. A total of 204 Hong Kong and Macao residents have been authorized to practice law on the mainland.