Hunan enhances foreign-related legal services to support high-level opening-up

In recent years, Hunan province in Central China has advanced the rule of law to support its high-level opening-up, aligning with the rapid development of the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and the goal of building Changsha into a global research and development hub. The Justice Department of Hunan Province has enhanced legal services for local enterprises expanding overseas and for attracting foreign investment by improving mechanisms, cultivating talent, and building innovative platforms.

Improving working mechanisms

In May 2024, the Justice Department issued a work plan on enhancing foreign-related legal services, outlining 22 measures across five key areas. The plan focuses on integrating resources to form a dedicated task force for foreign-related legal services and exploring the establishment of a working mechanism featuring internal coordination, external collaboration, and supply-demand alignment.

For external collaboration, the Justice Department has established a regular communication mechanism with commerce and trade promotion departments, and coordinated with the Department of Finance to increase support for legal service institutions in the pilot FTZ. It has also convened symposiums with local enterprises to learn about their legal needs and dispatched nearly 100 legal professionals to the Changsha China-Africa Economic and Trade Industrial Park to provide on-site solutions.

Promoting diversified innovation

The Justice Department has integrated legal service resources, including lawyers, notarization, arbitration, and commercial mediation, to offer targeted support for Hunan's global business expansion. Since 2024, the province's foreign-related lawyers and notaries have served over 630 local export-oriented enterprises, released relevant cases and more than 40 Africa-related legal service products, and compiled widely-used guidelines for international trade risk prevention and foreign-related contract review.

Sixty-one notary offices in Hunan provide integrated services combining foreign-related notarization with apostille certification or consular legalization, 13 of which are qualified for overseas remote video notarization. From 2023 to 2025, the province handled over 200,000 foreign-related notary cases and cases involving China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan region.

In addition, the province's "Thousand Arbitrators for Thousand Enterprises" program connected 786 arbitrators with over 1,100 enterprises in 2025 alone, conducting 835 legal risk assessments. The province has also promoted the promulgation of regulations on diversified dispute prevention and resolution and trialed a diversified dispute resolution model that integrates mediation, arbitration, and litigation within the three sub-zones of the Hunan Pilot FTZ (Changsha, Yueyang, and Chenzhou).

Accelerating talent cultivation

In June 2024, Changsha hosted the launch and inaugural session of the All China Lawyers Association's Foreign-Related Legal Service Lecture Series with over 300 participants in attendance, focusing on topics such as China-Africa economic and trade exchanges, international commercial dispute resolution, and the expansion of foreign-related business in inland regions. The provincial Justice Department has also partnered with universities including Hunan University to hold training sessions on foreign-related arbitration.

Training plans for foreign-related lawyers and arbitrators have been formulated. A collaborative training base was established at Xiangtan University, and provincial-level talent pools were created. Over 70 legal professionals from Hunan have participated in international training programs, and more than 100 lawyers have been selected for advanced training domestically and abroad. Currently, 18 individuals are included in the national pool for leading foreign-related legal professionals, and 26 are in the Ministry of Justice's Thousand Foreign-Related Lawyers Talent Pool.

Strengthening platform construction

Hunan leads Central China in the number of law firms set up overseas, with several local firms setting up five branches in regions such as Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. To better support foreign investments, the province has also facilitated the establishment of seven law firms and two joint-venture law firms with Hong Kong and Macao partners.

To position Hunan as the preferred destination for Africa-related commercial arbitration, the province's Justice Department supported the establishment of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission China-Africa Trial Center in Changsha. It also guided the setup of the Changsha International Arbitration Court and the China-Africa Commercial Arbitration Court, appointing 27 arbitrators from over 10 African countries and regions, including South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Since last year, the Justice Department of Hunan has been actively advancing the development of the Hunan (Changsha) Foreign-related Central Legal District and the Hunan (Huaihua) International Land Port Legal District. These initiatives aim to accelerate the aggregation of legal resources and establish an internationally-oriented comprehensive legal service platform with distinctive Hunan characteristics.