With the introduction of the “Measures on Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment of Law Firms” (The People’s Republic of China Ministry of Justice Order No. 121) (律師事務所年度檢查考核辦法) in April and the implementation in June, the deadline for annual inspection of law firms was extended until today (July 15). According to the information received by the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, there are still six Beijing human rights lawyers who fail to pass the annual inspection, including Jiang Tianyong (江天勇), Wen Haibo (溫海波), Zhang Lihui (張立輝), Tong Chaoping (童朝平), Yang Huiwen (楊慧文), Li Jinsong (李勁松).
Even for those who have passed the annual inspection, they either have to face a lot of difficulties coming from the authorities, or must accept the supplementary conditions before approval. Li Xiongbing (黎雄兵), Li Heping (李和平), Li Jinglin (李靜林) are some of those who only managed to pass the annual inspection a few days before the deadline or even on the last day. In addition, Chang Boyang (常伯陽) from Henan province, though allowed to continue practicing, has his legal practice license stamped “failed” by the judicial administrative authorities. The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group strongly condemns the authorities for abusing the Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment System to target on human rights lawyers by snatching their legal practice qualification and stripping their right to practice.
In recent years, many Chinese human rights lawyers encountered a lot of difficulties during the process of annual inspection. Under the threat of suspension of operation for rectification by the Ministry of Justice, it’s not surprising to see that some law firms would persuade the human right lawyers to change to other law firms in order to avoid any difficulties for passing the annual inspection.
Since 2008, the Ministry of Justice has released three sets of “Measures on Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment” (Note 1) and they are updated annually, setting out more restrictions on lawyers’ practice. The authority set out the “Measures on Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment” on the pretext of the “Standardization of law firm practice and Supervision on management activities” as a way to suppress human rights lawyers who take up sensitive cases.
The Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment System has long been criticized as a problem within the legal profession. In June this year, two lawyers, Mu Jiyuan (牟繼源) and Li Jinxin (李金星), wrote to the State Council proposing to examine and withdraw the two new Regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Justice, namely the “Measures on Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment of Law Firms” and “Measures for Punishing the Illegal Acts of Lawyers and Law Firms” (Note 2). Two well-known Beijing lawyers, Tang Jitian (唐吉田) and Liu Wei (劉巍), could not pass the annual inspection since 2009. They were falsely accused by the Beijing Justice Bureau of “disruption of court order and interference of judicial proceedings”. Their practicing certificates were permanently revoked in May this year. This shows how these regulations are eroding the viability of human rights lawyers and deteriorating the lawyers’ practicing situation.
The human rights lawyers were snatched of their legal practice qualification and hence their right to practice was deprived. This directly suppresses the human right activists from fighting for their benefits through legal means. The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group expresses deep concern on the fact that mainland human rights lawyers are being threatened by the authorities by means of this annual inspection. We demand the authorities to restore these lawyers’ practicing license and we call on lawyers across the countries and other profession concerned to express concerns over the issue.
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
July 15, 2010
Note 1
From the “Measures for Managing Law Firms” (Ministry of Justice Order No. 111) and the “Measures for Managing Lawyers’ Practice” (Ministry of Justice Order No. 112) promulgated in July 2008, to the “Measures for Managing Lawyers’ and Law Firms’ License” (Ministry of Justice Order No. 119) in September 2009, through to the newly promulgated “Measures on Annual Inspection and Annual Assessment of Law Firms” (Ministry of Justice Order No. 121) in this April.
Note 2
Lawyers’ Recommendation on the revocation of the two orders of the Ministry of Justice
http://www.mzyfz.com/news/times/v/20100622/142204.shtml

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