Public legal service system reaches to far corners of the country

A judge provides legal advice to a man in Yuanyang village in Jiangjin district of Chongqing. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has established a public legal service system that covers both urban and rural areas, is convenient and efficient, and ensures equal access for all, the Ministry of Justice said on Friday.

So far, there are a total of 754,000 legal service institutions and nearly 4 million professional legal service personnel nationwide, according to the ministry.

Additionally, China has established 590,000 public legal service entities, with over 600,000 villages and communities equipped with legal advisors. Public legal service hotlines and the China Legal Service Network have been fully established and are operating. Each year, legal service workers handle over 40 million cases of various types.

Yang Xiangbin, director of the ministry's Bureau of Public Legal Services Administration, said that to meet practical needs, the ministry will promote balanced development between urban and rural areas as well as across different regions.

Given China's vast territory, there is an imbalance in development between the eastern and western regions, which necessitates concrete measures to address the disparity in public legal service resources, he said.

This effort primarily involves establishing a sound mechanism for the cross-regional flow of legal service resources and deepening the paired assistance between law firms in the eastern, central, and western regions to further enhance the accessibility and balance of public legal services, he added.

"We will further encourage and guide the participation of different sectors of the society in providing public interest legal services, nurture a group of professional public interest legal service organizations, and promote diversification among entities providing public legal services," Yang said.

Efforts will also be intensified in the supervision and management of public legal services, forming a regulatory system involving multiple parties, including administrative departments, industry associations, and institutions, he added.