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Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice concerning law firms and lawyers

Methods for Handling Complaints Regarding the Professional Activities of Law Firms and Lawyers

 

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 In order to standardize the handling of complaints against law firms and lawyers by the judicial administrative departments of this province, strengthen the supervision and management of the professional activities of law firms and lawyers, and in accordance with the provisions of the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations, and in combination with the actual situation of this province, these methods are formulated.

 

Article 2 These methods apply to the handling of complaints by complainants against the professional conduct of law firms and lawyers in this province by the judicial administrative departments of this province.

As used in these methods, "complainant" refers to a natural person, legal person, or other organization that believes that a law firm or lawyer has engaged in illegal or irregular conduct in the course of their professional activities that has infringed upon their legitimate rights and interests and has filed a complaint with a judicial administrative department or a lawyers' association.

As used in these methods, "respondent" refers to the law firm or lawyer being complained against.

 

Article 3 Judicial administrative departments shall guide complainants to file complaints with the lawyers' association in the location of the respondent lawyer's law firm or professional institution in accordance with the law.

Law firms shall establish a complaint handling system to promptly accept, investigate, and correct illegal and irregular conduct in the professional activities of their lawyers, and to mediate disputes between their lawyers and clients in the course of their practice; if it is considered necessary to impose administrative penalties or industry sanctions on the respondent, they shall promptly report to the county-level judicial administrative department or lawyers' association in their location.

Lawyers' associations shall accept complaints or reports against law firms and lawyers in accordance with laws, regulations, articles of association, and industry standards.

 

Article 4 Judicial administrative departments shall, in carrying out the handling of complaints regarding the professional activities of law firms and lawyers, follow the principles of local administration, hierarchical responsibility, investigation and punishment in accordance with the law, and the combination of punishment and education. Judicial administrative departments shall protect the legitimate rights and interests of complainants and respondents in accordance with the law.

 

Chapter 2 Acceptance of Complaints

Article 5 Complaints against lawyers and law firms shall, in principle, be handled by the county-level judicial administrative department where the respondent practices. Complaints involving major incidents within the jurisdiction, or complaints where a law firm or lawyer is suspected of major violations that may result in the revocation of their practice certificate, shall be handled by the municipal-level judicial administrative department.

 

Article 6 Complainants shall submit written complaint materials to the judicial administrative department. The complaint materials shall state the name of the respondent, the complaint request, and the relevant facts, reasons, evidence, or evidence leads, the complainant's identity document and contact information, etc.

Complainants are responsible for the authenticity of the complaint materials. Those who do not file complaints truthfully, or who fabricate facts and falsely accuse or frame others, shall bear legal responsibility in accordance with the law.

If a complainant entrusts an agent to file a complaint, the agent shall submit the identity documents of the agent and the principal, and a power of attorney. If the agent is a lawyer, a copy of the lawyer's practice certificate and a certificate from the law firm shall also be submitted.

 

Article 7 Provincial, municipal, and county (city, district) judicial administrative departments shall, within ten working days of receiving the complaint materials, conduct a review and handle the matter according to the following situations:

(1) If it falls within the scope of responsibility of this department, the complainant shall be notified in writing whether the complaint is accepted. If it is decided not to accept the complaint, the reasons for not accepting it and the remedies available shall be informed at the same time.

(2) If it falls within the scope of responsibility of a lower-level judicial administrative department, it shall be transferred to the competent department and the complainant shall be informed of the transfer destination.

(3) If it does not fall within the scope of responsibility of the judicial administrative department, the complainant shall be informed that it will not be accepted and the reasons therefor.

The judicial administrative department that accepts the complaint is the complaint handling department.

If the complaint materials are incomplete, the complaint handling department shall notify the complainant in writing within five working days of receiving the complaint materials to make corrections. The correction notice shall specify the matters that need to be corrected and a reasonable correction period.

The time required for the complainant to supplement the complaint materials and the time for the transfer of complaint cases shall not be included in the time limit specified in the preceding paragraph.

 

Article 8 If a complainant is dissatisfied with the investigation and handling decision of a lawyers' association and files a complaint with a judicial administrative department on the same complaint matter, the judicial administrative department shall review and handle the matter in accordance with the law.

 

Article 9 If the professional conduct involved in the complaint occurred in the respondent's original place of practice, it shall be handled by the competent judicial administrative department in the original place of practice, with the assistance of the current competent judicial administrative department.

 

Article 10 Complaints falling under any of the following circumstances shall not be accepted:

(1) The complaint matter does not constitute a violation of the Lawyers Law and lawyer management regulations and rules;

(2) The complaint matter does not fall within the scope of responsibility of this judicial administrative department;

(3) The complaint matter has been accepted or is being handled by a lawyers' association or other judicial administrative department;

(4) Except where the facts reflected in the complaint are clear or the evidence is clear and can be investigated and verified, the complainant fails to supplement the complaint materials in accordance with Article 7 of these methods;

(5) The complaint matter has been handled by the judicial administrative department, and the complainant does not have new facts and evidence sufficient to prove that the original handling was indeed wrong, and the complaint is filed again;

(6) The complaint matter has been or should be resolved through legal channels such as litigation, arbitration, or administrative reconsideration;

(7) Other circumstances that are not to be accepted as provided for by laws, regulations, and rules.

 

Article 11 After the complaint handling department accepts a complaint, it shall fill out the "Complaint Registration Form for the Professional Activities of Law Firms and Lawyers".

 

Chapter 3 Investigation and Handling

Article 12 The complaint handling department shall investigate the accepted complaint matters. The investigation shall be comprehensive, objective, and fair.

The investigation work shall not hinder the respondent's normal practice.

 

Article 13 The complaint handling department may entrust a lower-level judicial administrative department or a lawyer association to conduct the investigation. The investigation time limit is included in the handling time limit of the entrusted judicial administrative department.

 

Article 14 During the investigation, no fewer than two staff members shall be involved. Staff members shall prepare a record when questioning or inspecting. The investigated person shall sign or stamp the record; if the investigated person is unable or refuses to sign or stamp, the investigators shall note the relevant circumstances in the record.

 

Article 15 Investigators with a direct interest in the investigation matter, complainant, or respondent shall recuse themselves.

 

Article 16 The complaint handling department may conduct investigations by the following methods in accordance with the law:

(1) Requesting the respondent to explain the situation and submit relevant materials within a time limit;

(2) Reviewing (retrieving) the respondent's relevant business case files and archival materials;

(3) On-site inspection;

(4) Verifying the situation with relevant units and individuals, and collecting evidence;

(5) Other methods stipulated by laws, regulations, and rules.

 

Article 17 During the investigation, complainants and respondents shall truthfully state the facts and provide relevant materials; they shall not provide false or forged materials or conceal, destroy, or alter relevant evidence.

When the complaint handling department verifies the situation or collects evidence from relevant units or individuals, the relevant units or individuals shall cooperate in accordance with the law.

If the respondent refuses to cooperate with the investigation or transfers, conceals, destroys, or alters relevant evidence or items, the judicial administrative department shall, in accordance with the Lawyer's Law and relevant regulations, give criticism and education or impose administrative penalties according to the severity of the situation. If the respondent is a law firm, its principal and directly responsible person shall also be dealt with according to law.

 

Article 18 If the complaint handling department discovers the following situations during the investigation, it may suspend the handling of the complaint case and inform the complainant and respondent:

(1) The handling of the complaint requires the results of other cases as a basis, but those other cases have not yet been concluded;

(2) Due to force majeure or other objective factors, the respondent is unable to participate in the investigation, or the complainant does not cooperate with the investigation;

(3) Other situations where suspension is required by law.

After the situations stipulated in the preceding paragraph disappear, the complaint handling department shall resume the investigation and handling. If the complainant is aware of the progress, they shall promptly inform the complaint handling department and submit relevant legal documents so that the complaint handling department can resume the investigation and handling.

 

Article 19 If the complainant withdraws the complaint during the investigation and the complaint handling department finds no illegal or irregular conduct by the respondent, the investigation may be terminated, and the complainant and respondent shall be informed.

 

Article 20 During the investigation, the complaint handling department may guide the complainant and respondent to mediate disputes arising from the complaint matter. Mediation time is not included in the complaint handling period.

 

Article 21 If the complaint handling department discovers the situations stipulated in Article 10 during the investigation, it may terminate the complaint handling work and inform the complainant and respondent of the reasons for termination.

 

Article 22 If the complaint handling department discovers during the investigation that the respondent's conduct constitutes an illegal or irregular act and is still in a continuous or ongoing state, it shall order the respondent to immediately cease the illegal or irregular conduct.

 

Article 23 The complaint handling department shall, based on the investigation, make the following decisions based on facts and the law:

(1) If the respondent has engaged in illegal or irregular conduct and should be subject to administrative penalties according to law, the matter shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions on administrative penalties;

(2) If the respondent's illegal or irregular conduct is minor and has not caused any harmful consequences, and administrative penalties may be waived according to law, the respondent shall be given a warning talk, ordered to rectify within a time limit, etc.;

(3) If the respondent is suspected of violating professional ethics, professional discipline, and industry self-discipline norms, and may be subject to industry sanctions, the matter shall be transferred to the lawyer association with a recommendation for industry sanctions;

(4) If the complaint is unsubstantiated or cannot be verified based on the existing evidence, no action shall be taken against the respondent, and a decision to terminate the handling of the complaint or a decision that the complaint is unfounded shall be made;

(5) If the respondent is suspected of a crime, the case shall be transferred to the judicial authorities for investigation of criminal responsibility according to law.

If the respondent is a member of the Communist Party of China and their conduct is suspected of violating party discipline, the matter shall be reported to their party organization according to relevant regulations and transferred to the disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities for handling.

 

Article 24 The complaint handling department shall complete the handling of complaint matters within 60 days from the date of acceptance. If the situation is complex and cannot be completed within the prescribed time limit, with the approval of the head of the unit, the handling period may be appropriately extended, but the extension shall not exceed 30 days, and the reasons for the extension shall be notified in writing to the complainant and respondent.

If the investigation needs to be suspended due to the situations stipulated in Article 18, the suspension time is not included in the handling period.

 

Article 25 The complaint handling department shall, within 10 working days from the date of making the complaint handling decision, notify the complainant and respondent of the handling results in writing. The notification shall address the reasons for the complaint and inform the complainant and respondent of the facts found during the investigation, the conclusions reached, and the handling opinions.

The 10 working days stipulated in the preceding paragraph are included in the handling period stipulated in Article 24 of these Measures.

If the complainant or respondent has objections to the complaint handling decision, they may apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit according to law.

 

Chapter 4 Supervision

Article 26 The Provincial Department of Justice is responsible for supervising and guiding complaint handling work throughout the province.

The municipal-level judicial administrative departments shall strengthen guidance on the complaint handling work of county-level judicial administrative departments. If they find that the complaint investigation and handling behavior is illegal or improper, they shall order correction. County-level judicial administrative departments shall promptly report on the correction situation.

 

Article 27 Judicial administrative departments should strengthen supervision and guidance over the complaint handling work of lawyer associations.

Judicial administrative departments should establish a complaint investigation and handling reporting system with lawyer associations.

 

Article 28 Administrative penalties or industry sanctions imposed on the respondent should be recorded in the respondent's professional integrity file and publicly announced in accordance with the law.

 

Article 29 Judicial administrative staff who abuse their power or neglect their duties in complaint handling work shall be given administrative sanctions according to law; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated according to law.

 

Article 30 The municipal-level judicial administrative departments should report the complaint handling work of the first half of the year and the whole year to the provincial judicial administrative departments before July 10 and January 10 of the following year respectively.

Complaint handling work involving major illegal and irregular acts should be reported to the superior judicial administrative departments in a timely manner.

 

Article 31 Judicial administrative departments should establish and improve the archive management system for complaints handling work of law firms and lawyers' professional activities. After the complaint handling is completed, the results should be entered into the Guangdong Lawyer Management System in a timely manner.

 

Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions

Article 32 The municipal-level judicial administrative departments of Zhongshan and Dongguan, which are not divided into districts, shall handle complaints against law firms and lawyers' professional activities within their jurisdiction in accordance with these measures.

Other administrative departments with county-level judicial administrative management responsibilities shall handle complaints against law firms and lawyers' professional activities in accordance with these measures.

 

Article 33 Natural persons, legal persons, or other organizations who believe that the professional conduct of a lawyer or law firm is suspected of being illegal or irregular, but who have no vested interest in it, may report it to the judicial administrative department. The handling of the report shall be applied in accordance with these measures.

 

Article 34 Legal aid applicants, beneficiaries, or interested parties who believe that law firms and lawyers have engaged in illegal or irregular conduct in legal aid activities and complain to the judicial administrative department requesting handling shall follow the Ministry of Justice's "Measures for Handling Complaints on Legal Aid" (Sifatong [2013] No. 161).

 

Article 35 These measures shall come into force on February 1, 2021, with a validity period of 5 years. The "Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice's Measures for Handling Complaints on Law Firms and Lawyers' Professional Activities (Trial)" which came into force on February 1, 2018, shall be repealed simultaneously.

 

Article 36 These measures shall be interpreted by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice.