Lawyer Law

In the U.S. we take for granted the attorney-client privilege, measures to prevents conflicts of interest, access to evidence, and unmonitored visits between defendants and their advocates. In China, however, the situation was quite different, at least until today. Criminal defense attorneys can now obtain access to evidence in criminal cases, avoid government monitoring of visits between themselves and their clients, and avoid prosecution for in-court statements, so long as those statements do not involve matters of national security. Most importantly, however, attorneys are now allowed to meet with their clients after police interrogation and before defending them in court. To be sure, there is still no "magic moment" when the accused can say "I want a lawyer" and cut off the interrogation, but at least defendants can consult with their attorneys before their case is tried, in contrast to the 1997 Law on Lawyers and the Criminal Procedure Law.

The amendment also contains a few provisions that will impact the market for legal services, in particular a new allowance for sole practitioner law firms. For further details, Fried Frank has a good summary (PDF) of the draft as it existed last month.