Notice of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government on printing and distributing the measures for the administration of lawyers’ service charges in Jiangsu Province.
Su Jia GUI [2016] No.9
The relevant departments of the provincial government, the municipal and county (city, district) Price Bureau (Development and Reform Commission, Development and Reform Bureau) and the Judicial Bureau:
In order to regulate the charging behavior of lawyers’ services, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of clients and law firms, and promote the healthy development of lawyers’ services, we have formulated the Measures for the Administration of Lawyers’ Services Charges in Jiangsu Province in accordance with the provisions of People’s Republic of China (PRC) Price Law, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law and Jiangsu Price Regulations, which are hereby printed and distributed to you. Please conscientiously implement them in light of local conditions.
Jiangsu province bureau of commodity price
Jiangsu Provincial Department of Justice
October 10, 2016
Measures of Jiangsu Province on the Administration of Lawyers’ Service Fees
Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with People’s Republic of China (PRC) Price Law, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Lawyer Law, Jiangsu Price Regulations and other relevant laws and regulations in order to regulate the charging behavior of lawyer services, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of clients and law firms, and promote the healthy development of lawyer services.
Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the charging behavior of law firms registered in the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Justice to provide legal services to clients in accordance with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law.
Article 3 Lawyers’ service fees shall follow the principles of openness, fairness, voluntary compensation, honesty and credibility.
Law firms should strengthen internal management and provide convenient and high-quality legal services for clients.
Article 4 Lawyers’ service charges, as operating service charges, shall be subject to government-guided prices and market-regulated prices.
Article 5 The fees charged by law firms for providing the following legal services according to law shall be subject to government-guided prices:
(1) Being the defender of criminal suspects and defendants in criminal cases, and the agent of private prosecutors and victims in criminal cases;
(2) Acting as an agent for citizens in civil or administrative proceedings demanding payment of labor remuneration, compensation for work-related injuries, alimony, alimony, pensions and relief funds, and social insurance benefits or minimum living allowance;
(three) as an agent for group litigation cases involving public interests such as safety accidents, environmental pollution, land acquisition and demolition compensation (compensation);
(4) Acting as an agent in cases where citizens request state compensation.
Article 6 The charging standards for lawyer services subject to government-guided prices shall be formulated by the provincial price department in conjunction with the provincial judicial administrative department.
Article 7 The fees for lawyers’ services subject to the government-guided price shall be set according to the factors such as the time, complexity and risk of handling lawyer services, and the principle of being conducive to the sustainable development of the lawyer industry and taking into account the social affordability.
Article 8 The fees charged by law firms for providing other legal services other than those specified in Article 5 shall be subject to market-regulated prices. The charging items and standards for lawyer services with market-regulated prices shall be formulated by the law firm itself and reported to the lawyers association of the city with districts (the provincial branch of the provincial lawyers association reported by the province directly) for the record.
The following main factors shall be considered when a law firm negotiates with its clients to determine the amount of lawyers’ service fees:
(a) the working time spent;
(two) the difficulty of legal affairs;
(3) The client’s bearing capacity and the local social and economic development;
(four) the risks and responsibilities that law firms and lawyers may bear;
(five) the lawyer’s credit and work level;
(six) the degree of social influence of legal affairs;
(seven) the number of lawyers required to handle legal affairs.
Article 9 According to different service contents, lawyers’ service fees can be charged by piecework, proportion of bid amount, timing and risk agency.
Piece rate is generally applicable to legal affairs that do not involve property relations.
Charge according to the proportion of the bid amount is applicable to legal affairs involving property relations.
Time charge can be applied to all legal affairs.
Risk agency fees are applicable to legal affairs involving property relations. The implementation of government-guided fees for lawyer services is prohibited from implementing risk agency.
Article 10 Piece-by-piece charging refers to the charging method of charging lawyers’ service fees according to the specified amount or within the specified scope, range and limit, taking each entrusted legal affairs as the basic unit.
Article 11 Charging according to the proportion of the bid amount refers to the charging method of charging the lawyer’s service fee according to a certain proportion of the bid amount involved in this legal service.
Article 12 Hourly charging refers to the pricing method in which a law firm charges the client a lawyer’s service fee according to the effective working hours it spends providing legal services within the prescribed standard range and the determined hourly charging standard. If the fee is charged by time, the law firm must issue a work list to the client after the case is closed.
The charging rules for hourly charges shall be formulated separately by the Provincial Lawyers Association and reported to the Provincial Price Bureau and the Provincial Department of Justice for the record.
Article 13 Risk agency fees refer to the form of fees that the client may not pay the lawyer’s agency fees in advance or only pay part of the lawyer’s fees and travel expenses according to the agreement between the law firm and the client, and the client will pay the lawyer’s service fees to the law firm according to the contract after the legal affairs to be entrusted reach the agreed objectives (including legal documents, or property and interests obtained through mediation or settlement, or court execution, etc.).
The code of conduct for risk agency fees shall be formulated separately by the Provincial Lawyers Association and reported to the Provincial Price Bureau and the Provincial Department of Justice for the record.
Article 14 The legal fees, arbitration fees, appraisal fees, notarization fees, translation fees, cross-border communication fees, expert argumentation fees and other fees paid by law firms on behalf of their clients in the process of providing legal services are not lawyers’ service fees, and shall be paid separately by the clients.
Article 15 If a law firm needs to receive the travel expenses for handling cases in advance, it shall reach an agreement with the client through consultation and make a written agreement. If it is really necessary to change the fees, the law firm must obtain the written consent of the client in advance.
Sixteenth lawyers’ service fees, fees paid on behalf of clients and travel expenses for handling cases shall be uniformly collected by law firms. Lawyers are not allowed to charge their clients any fees without permission.
In addition to the three fees listed in the preceding paragraph, law firms and lawyers may not charge other fees from clients in any name.
Article 17 When a law firm collects lawyer service fees from clients, it shall issue legal bills stipulated by the tax authorities to clients.
When settling the relevant expenses stipulated in Article 14 and Article 15, the law firm shall provide the client with a list of fees paid on behalf of the client and travel expenses for handling cases and valid vouchers. The client may not pay for the part that cannot provide valid vouchers.
Article 18 When accepting entrustment, a law firm shall sign a lawyer service fee contract with the client or specify the fee clause in the entrustment contract.
The charging contract or charging terms shall include charging items, charging standards, charging methods, charging amount or proportion, payment and settlement methods, dispute settlement methods, etc.
Article 19 After signing a contract with a client, a law firm may not unilaterally change the charging items or increase the charging amount. If it is really necessary to change, the law firm must obtain the written consent of the client in advance. The name of the item to be paid on behalf of the client shall be specified in the charging contract. If it is not specified, the client may not pay.
Article 20 A law firm shall accept the assignment to undertake legal aid cases. No fees shall be charged to the recipient for handling legal aid cases.
For citizens who do not meet the conditions for legal aid, but do have financial difficulties, the law firm may reduce or waive the lawyer’s service fee.
Twenty-first law firms set up branches in different places, should implement the provisions of the location of the branch fees.
Branches may, according to the local economic development and consumption level, re-define the contents of lawyer services and the charging standards for market-adjusted prices.
Article 22 When a law firm provides legal services across provinces, it may implement the charging regulations of the place where the law firm is located or the place where the legal services are provided. The specific content shall be determined by the law firm through consultation with the client and in the charging contract.
Twenty-third law firms should strictly implement the provisions on the management of lawyer service charges formulated by the competent price department in conjunction with the judicial administrative department, and strictly implement the standards for lawyer service charges that are guided by the government.
Law firms should strictly implement the provisions of the clearly marked price system, publicize information such as lawyer service fees, fees standards, supervision and reporting telephone numbers in a prominent position of law firms, and widely accept social supervision.
Twenty-fourth lawyers’ associations shall abide by the laws and regulations on prices and accept the guidance of the competent pricing department and the judicial administrative department; Guide law firms to consciously regulate their own charging behavior, and strictly implement the national and provincial lawyer service charging policies.
Twenty-fifth citizens, legal persons and other organizations believe that law firms or lawyers have violated the law, and they can report and complain to the competent price department, the judicial administrative department or the lawyers association through letters, telephone calls, visits and the Internet.
Twenty-sixth price departments at all levels should strengthen the supervision of lawyers’ service charges. If a law firm commits one of the following price violations, it shall be severely punished by the competent price department in accordance with the Price Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Anti-monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations and the Price Regulations of Jiangsu Province.
(1) Failure to publicize the charging items and charging standards of lawyers’ services as required;
(two) price collusion and price monopoly;
(3) Charging beyond the floating range of government-guided prices;
(four) to take the form of breaking down the charging items, repeating the charging, and expanding the scope of the charging, etc., to raise the charging standard of lawyer services with government-guided prices in disguise;
(five) price fraud and other unfair price behavior;
(6) Other price violations.
Twenty-seventh judicial administrative departments at all levels should strengthen the supervision and inspection of law firms and lawyers’ legal service activities.
If a law firm or lawyer commits one of the following illegal acts, the judicial administrative department shall impose administrative punishment or industrial punishment in accordance with the Lawyers Law and the Measures for Punishment of Illegal Acts of Lawyers and Law Firms, or the Lawyers Association shall impose administrative punishment in accordance with the Rules for Punishment of Violations of all china lawyers association Members:
(1) Violating the law firm’s unified acceptance of entrustment, signing a written entrustment contract or charging contract;
(2) collecting fees without permission and accepting property or other benefits from the client;
(3) Failing to issue a legal bill for the lawyer’s service charge to the client, and failing to submit a valid voucher for the fees and travel expenses for handling cases to the client;
(four) other acts that violate the practice discipline and professional ethics of lawyers.
Twenty-eighth law firms and lawyers’ information about price integrity shall be supervised by the competent price department and the judicial administrative department according to their respective responsibilities.
Twenty-ninth approach by the Provincial Price Bureau in conjunction with the Provincial Department of justice is responsible for the interpretation of.
Thirtieth these Measures shall be implemented as of January 1, 2017 and shall be valid for 5 years. Notice of the Provincial Department of Justice of the Provincial Price Bureau on Printing and Distributing the Measures for the Administration of Lawyers’ Service Fees and the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Measures for the Administration of Lawyers’ Service Fees in Jiangsu Province (Su Jiafei [2007] No.5) and other provisions inconsistent with these Measures shall be abolished at the same time.