Foreign law firms, other foreign organizations or individuals may not engage in legal services in China in the name of consulting companies or other names. Article 7 A foreign law firm applying to establish a representative office or send a representative in China shall meet the following conditions:
(1) The foreign law firm has legally practiced in its own country and has not been punished for violating lawyers' professional ethics and practice discipline;
(2) The representative of the representative office shall be a practicing lawyer and a member of the Bar Association in the country where he has obtained the qualification to practice, have been practicing outside China for more than 2 years, and have not been subjected to criminal punishment or have been punished for violating the professional ethics and practice discipline of lawyers; Among them, the chief representative has been practicing outside China for not less than 3 years and is a partner of the foreign law firm or a person with the same position;
(3) There is a practical need to set up a representative office in China to provide legal services. Article 8 When applying for establishing a representative office in China, a foreign law firm shall submit the following documents to the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the proposed representative office is located:
(1) An application for establishing a representative office and sending representatives signed by the principal responsible person of the foreign law firm. The name of the representative office to be established is "Representative Office of XXX Law Firm (Chinese translation of law firm) in XXX (city name of China)";
(2) documents certifying the legal establishment of the foreign law firm in its home country;
(3) the partnership agreement or articles of association of the foreign law firm and the list of responsible persons and partners;
(4) the letter of authorization of the foreign law firm to the proposed representative of the representative office, and the confirmation that the proposed chief representative is a partner of the law firm or a person with the same position;
(5) The lawyer qualification of the proposed representative of the representative office and the certification documents that the proposed chief representative has been practicing abroad for not less than 3 years and other proposed representatives have been practicing abroad for not less than 2 years;
(6) A certificate issued by the Bar Association of the country where the foreign law firm is located that the proposed representative of the representative office is a member of the Bar Association of that country;
(7) A certificate issued by the lawyer management agency of the country where the foreign law firm is located that the law firm and its proposed representative have not been subjected to criminal punishment and have not been punished for violating lawyers' professional ethics and practice discipline.
The documents and materials listed in the preceding paragraph shall be notarized by the applicant's domestic notary office or notary office, certified by the authorities authorized by diplomatic authorities or diplomatic authorities, and certified by the Chinese embassy (consulate) in that country.
Documents and materials submitted by foreign law firms shall be in triplicate, and foreign materials shall be accompanied by Chinese translations. Article 9 The judicial administrative departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall complete the examination within 3 months from the date of receiving the application documents and materials, and submit the examination opinions together with the documents and materials to the judicial administrative department of the State Council for examination. The judicial administrative department of the State Council shall make a decision within 6 months, issue a practice license to the approved representative office and issue a practice certificate to its representative; If the license is not granted, the reasons shall be informed in writing. Article 10 A representative office and its representatives shall hold a practice license and a practice certificate, and go through the registration formalities with the judicial administrative department of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the representative office is located before they can carry out the legal service activities stipulated in these Regulations. Representative offices and their representatives shall be registered once a year.
The judicial administrative departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall go through the registration formalities within 2 days from the date of receiving the application for registration. Article 11 A representative office shall go through relevant tax, banking and foreign exchange procedures in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations. Article 12 If a foreign law firm needs to change the name of its representative office or reduce the number of its representatives, it shall submit an application signed by its principal responsible person and relevant documents and materials to the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the representative office is located in advance, and the application shall be approved by the judicial administrative department of the State Council, and the practice certificate of the person who no longer serves as a representative shall be withdrawn.
Where a representative office is merged, divided or newly added, the licensing procedures shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations on the procedures for establishing representative offices.