Legal basis: Article 24 of the Procedural Provisions for Handling Legal Aid Cases states that legal aid institutions shall give an immediate reply to citizens' applications for legal advisory services; Complex and difficult, you can make an appointment for the applicant to handle it at a suitable time. In the process of answering legal advice, if it is considered that the applicant may meet the conditions of legal aid for agency or criminal defense, it shall be informed that he can apply according to law.
Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), if a criminal suspect or defendant fails to entrust a defender due to financial difficulties or other reasons, he or his near relatives may apply to a legal aid institution. To meet the conditions of legal aid, legal aid institutions shall appoint lawyers to defend them. If the criminal suspect or defendant is a mental patient who is blind, deaf, dumb or has not completely lost the ability to identify or control his own behavior, and has not entrusted a defender, the people's court, the people's procuratorate and the public security organ shall notify the legal aid institution to appoint a lawyer to defend him. If a criminal suspect or defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment or death without entrusting a defender, the people's court, the people's procuratorate and the public security organ shall notify the legal aid institution to appoint a lawyer to defend him.