The Provincial Procuratorate and the Provincial Department of Justice jointly held a symposium to strengthen cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers.

On February 26, the People's Procuratorate of Yunnan Province and the Department of Justice of Yunnan Province held a symposium titled “Strengthening Collaboration Between Prosecutors and Lawyers to Promote Judicial Fairness” at the Zhongji Law Firm in Yunnan. Wang Guanghui, Party Secretary and Procurator-General of the Provincial People's Procuratorate, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Zhao Zuping, a member of the Party Committee of the Provincial Department of Justice, Deputy Director of the Department, and Party Secretary of the provincial lawyers’ industry, chaired the meeting. Huang Weihua, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Executive Deputy Procurator-General of the Provincial People's Procuratorate, Wan Li, President of the Provincial Lawyers Association, and representatives of lawyers also attended the meeting.

At the meeting, Huang Weihua briefed the attendees on the progress made by procuratorial organs across the province over the past two years in their collaborative efforts with lawyers. Wan Li introduced the recent developments and achievements of our province’s legal profession, and put forward suggestions and recommendations on building a new type of relationship between prosecutors and lawyers, strengthening the protection of lawyers’ practice rights, and establishing platforms for collaborative exchanges between prosecutors and lawyers. The 10 lawyer representatives attending the meeting fully affirmed the efforts made by procuratorial organs, judicial administrative authorities, and the Bar Association in promoting cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers and ensuring lawyers’ practice rights in accordance with the law. Drawing on their own professional experiences, they engaged in candid discussions on how to fully leverage the role of lawyers, actively participate in the “Four Major Prosecutorial Areas,” implement systems and mechanisms for safeguarding lawyers’ practice rights, explore deeper exchanges between prosecutors and lawyers, foster a new, positive, and mutually beneficial relationship between prosecutorial organs and the legal profession, and fully harness the supervisory advantages inherent in the legal profession.

At the meeting, Wang Guanghui actively addressed the lawyers’ concerns and put forward requirements for building a new-era collaborative relationship between prosecutors and lawyers. He pointed out that this visit to law firms to seek advice firsthand is a concrete manifestation of thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, as well as of carrying out the spirit of the symposium jointly organized by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the All China Lawyers Association—“Thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, strengthen cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers, promote the construction of a community of legal professionals, and advance judicial fairness.” The provincial procuratorial organs should further transform their judicial concepts and fully recognize the importance of enhancing interaction and collaboration between prosecutors and lawyers.

First, we must continue to perform prosecutorial work effectively and safeguard lawyers’ rights to practice. We should fully leverage the legal supervision functions of the procuratorial organs to ensure that lawyers’ rights to practice are protected.

Second, we must squarely face the problems existing in procuratorial work. In particular, regarding the implementation of the lenient treatment system for guilty pleas and acceptance of punishment, how can we effectively listen to lawyers’ opinions and engage in thorough consultations?

Third, we must leverage the role of lawyers to further enhance the effectiveness of judicial and prosecutorial functions. In particular, by harnessing the expertise of lawyers, we should strengthen the “four major prosecution” functions of the procuratorates and deepen and broaden cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers.

Fourth, the prosecution and legal authorities should join hands to jointly enhance the modernization of governance capacity and governance standards in ethnic minority areas along the frontier. For instance, they could engage in deepened cooperation in areas such as lawyer representation for appeals and petitions, as well as criminal compliance reviews for key industries and key enterprises.

Fifth, we must deepen cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers and enhance communication between them. By employing methods such as joint training sessions and simulated courtrooms and prosecutor-lawyer debate competitions proposed by attending lawyers, we can build a community of legal professionals.

Next, the provincial procuratorial organs will join hands with judicial administrative authorities and bar associations, guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law, to open up a new chapter in prosecutorial and legal work and make greater contributions to the rule-of-law development in our province.

Shang Xiaoyun, Party Secretary and Director of the Provincial Department of Justice, attaches great importance to and shows deep concern about making this meeting a success. At the meeting, entrusted by Director Shang, Zhao Zuping, on behalf of the Provincial Department of Justice and the province’s entire legal profession, expressed heartfelt gratitude to Procurator-General Wang Guanghui and to procuratorial organs at all levels throughout the province for their long-term attention and support of the province’s legal work.

He stated that, to further deepen cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers, the provincial judicial administration system should do the following:

First, we must actively innovate approaches and methods to promote in-depth cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers, enhance mutual understanding, deepen mutual trust, and advance the building of a legal professional community comprising prosecutors and lawyers.

Second, we must broaden and deepen cooperation between prosecutors and lawyers. We should select outstanding lawyers to participate in the implementation of the plea-bargaining system with leniency, the selection of full-time prosecutors, and the resolution of legal and litigation-related complaints and disputes. We must fully leverage the role of lawyers in the “Four Major Prosecutorial Areas” and continuously deepen prosecutorial-lawyer collaboration.

Third, we must establish a mechanism for mutual supervision and evaluation between prosecutors and lawyers, regulate interactions between lawyers and judicial personnel, and foster a judicial environment that is both “close” and “clean.”

Fourth, we should actively summarize and share good experiences, effective practices, and exemplary cases in prosecution-lawyer cooperation, fostering a positive atmosphere for such collaboration and jointly promoting the healthy development of prosecution-lawyer relations.

Office of the Provincial People's Procuratorate, the Tenth Prosecution Department, and others 10 The heads of various departments and the heads of relevant divisions of the Provincial Department of Justice attended the meeting. Representatives from the Provincial Notary Association, the Provincial Judicial Expertise Association, the Provincial Legal Aid Foundation, and the Provincial People’s Mediation Association were invited to attend the meeting as observers.