Measures for the Administration of Lawyer Service Fees
Fa Gai Zi [2006] No. 611
The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Justice issued the "Measures for the Administration of Lawyer Service Fees" Notice
The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate; relevant departments of the State Council; development and reform commissions, price bureaus, and justice departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government:
In order to implement the " In the spirit of the Notice of the Central Committee on Forwarding the Preliminary Opinions of the Central Leading Group for the Reform of the Judicial System on the Reform of the Judicial System and Working Mechanisms (Zhongfa [2004] No. 21), it regulates the charging behavior of lawyers and safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of clients and law firms, especially Formulate the "Measures for the Administration of Lawyer Service Fees". It is now issued to you, please comply with it.
Attachment: Measures for the Administration of Lawyer Service Fees
National Development and Reform Commission
Ministry of Legal Affairs
April 13, 2006< /p>
Measures for the Administration of Lawyer Service Fees
Article 1: In order to regulate the charging of lawyer services, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of clients and lawyers, and promote the healthy development of the lawyer service industry, in accordance with the "Price Law", The Lawyers Law and other relevant laws and regulations formulate these Measures.
Article 2: These Measures apply to the charging behavior of law firms established in accordance with the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China and lawyers licensed to practice law to provide legal services to clients.
Article 3: Lawyer service charges shall follow the principles of openness, fairness, voluntary compensation and good faith.
Law firms should facilitate and benefit the people, strengthen internal management, reduce service costs, and provide clients with convenient and high-quality legal services.
Article 4: Lawyer service fees shall be subject to government-guided prices and market-regulated prices.
Article 5 Law firms shall provide the following legal services in accordance with the law at government-guided prices:
(1) Agency for civil litigation cases;
(2) Agency Administrative litigation cases;
(3) Acting as an agent in state compensation cases;
(4) Providing legal advice to suspects in criminal cases, acting as an agent for complaints and accusations, applying for bail pending trial, and serving as a defendant A person's defender, private prosecutor or victim's litigation agent;
(5) Acting as an agent in appeals of various litigation cases.
The fees for other legal services provided by law firms shall be subject to market-adjusted prices.
Article 6 The benchmark price and floating range of government-guided prices shall be formulated by the price administrative departments of the people's governments of each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government in conjunction with the judicial administrative departments at the same level.
Article 7 When formulating charging standards for lawyer services, the government should listen to opinions from all aspects of society and hold hearings when necessary.
Article 8 The government should fully consider the local economic development level, social affordability and the long-term development of the lawyer industry, and determine fees by compensating the average social cost of lawyer services, plus reasonable profits and statutory taxes and fees. standard.
Article 9: Lawyer service fees subject to market-adjusted prices shall be determined through negotiation between the law firm and the client.
When a law firm negotiates lawyer service fees with a client, the following main factors should be considered:
The working time spent;
(2) The cost of legal affairs Difficulty;
(3) The client’s affordability;
(4) The risks and responsibilities that the lawyer may bear;
(5) The lawyer’s social reputation and work level.
Article 10 Lawyer service fees can be charged according to different service contents, such as piece-rate fees, proportional fees based on the subject amount, hourly fees, etc.
Piece rate is generally applicable to legal matters that do not involve property relationships;
Charges based on the proportion of the winning bid amount are applicable to legal matters that involve property relationships;
Time Fees apply to all legal matters.
Article 11 If a law firm handles civil cases involving property relations, and the client still requests contingency agency after being informed of the government’s guidance price, contingency agency fees may be implemented, except in the following circumstances:
(1) Marriage and inheritance cases;
(2) Requests for social insurance benefits or minimum living security benefits;
(3) Requests for payment of alimony and child support , alimony, pensions, relief funds and work-related injury compensation;
(4) Requesting payment of labor remuneration, etc.
Article 12 prohibits the implementation of contingency fees in criminal litigation cases, administrative litigation cases, state compensation cases and group litigation cases.
Article 13: For contingency agency fees, the law firm shall sign a contingency agency fee contract with the client to stipulate the risk responsibilities, charging methods, charging amounts or proportions that both parties shall bear.
The maximum contingency agency fee shall not be higher than 30% of the target amount agreed in the fee contract.
Article 14 Law firms shall strictly implement the management measures and charging standards for lawyer service fees formulated by the pricing department in conjunction with the judicial administrative department at the same level.
Article 15 Law firms shall publish information such as lawyer service management methods and charging standards, and accept social supervision.
Article 16 When a law firm accepts an entrustment, it shall sign a lawyer service fee contract with the client, or specify the charging terms in the entrustment contract.
The charging contract or charging terms should include: charging items, charging standards, charging methods, charging amounts, payment and settlement methods, dispute resolution methods, etc.
Article 17 After signing a contract with the client, a law firm shall not change the charging items or increase the charging amount without authorization. If changes are really necessary, the law firm must obtain the client's written consent in advance.
Article 18 When a law firm collects lawyer service fees from clients, it shall issue legal bills.
Article 19: Attorney fees, arbitration fees, appraisal fees, notarization fees, case file search fees, etc. paid by a law firm on behalf of the client in the process of providing legal services are not lawyer service fees and shall be paid by the client. The person will pay separately.
Article 20 If a law firm needs to collect travel expenses in advance due to handling cases in other places, it shall provide the client with an estimate of the expenses and sign them after consensus is reached by both parties. If it is really necessary to change the cost estimate, the law firm must obtain the client's written consent in advance.
Article 21 When settling the expenses related to Articles 18 and 19, a law firm shall provide the client with a list of charges and travel expenses for handling cases in other places and valid vouchers. Customers may not pay the portion that cannot provide valid vouchers.
Article 22: Lawyer service fees, fees paid on behalf of the client and travel expenses for handling cases in other places shall be collected uniformly by the law firm. Lawyers may not charge any fees to their clients without permission.
Except for the three fees listed in the preceding paragraph, law firms and lawyers may not charge other fees from clients in any name.
Article 23 Law firms shall accept entrustment to handle legal aid cases. No fees may be charged to recipients for handling legal aid cases.
For citizens who are in real financial difficulties but do not meet the scope of legal aid, law firms may reduce or reduce lawyer service fees at their discretion.
Article 24: Branch offices established by law firms in other places shall comply with the charging regulations of the location where the branch is located.
Article 25 If a law firm provides legal services in a different place, it may comply with the regulations of the law firm's location or provide legal services. The specific measures shall be determined by the law firm and the client through negotiation.
Article 26: Pricing authorities at all levels should strengthen supervision and inspection of law firm fees.
If a law firm or lawyer commits any of the following price violations, the government price department shall impose administrative penalties in accordance with the "Price Law" and the "Administrative Punishment Regulations for Price Violations":
(1) Failure to publish lawyer service management methods and charging standards in accordance with regulations;
(2) Implementing government guidance prices in advance or delay;
(3) Exceeding government guidance The range or range of price charges;
(4) The charge standard is increased in disguised form by decomposing charge items, repeating charges, expanding the scope, etc.;
(5) The charge is significantly lower than the cost unfair competition;
(6) Other price violations.
Article 27: Judicial administrative departments at all levels shall strengthen supervision and inspection of law firms and lawyers’ legal service activities.
If a law firm or a lawyer commits any of the following illegal acts, the judicial administrative department shall impose administrative penalties in accordance with the "Lawyers Law" and the "Measures for Punishing Illegal Acts of Lawyers and Law Firms":
< p>(1) Violating the law firm’s unified acceptance of entrustment and signing a written entrustment contract or fee contract;(2) Violating the law firm’s unified collection of lawyer service fees and fees paid on behalf of the client and travel expenses for handling cases in other places;
(3) Failure to provide the client with a budget for travel expenses for handling cases in other places in advance, issue legal bills for lawyer service fees, and submit valid vouchers for payment on behalf of the client and travel expenses for handling cases in other places;
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(4) Violation of the law firm’s regulations on the unified custody and use of special notes, financial notes and business files for lawyer services;
(5) Other violations of lawyer practice disciplines and professional ethics .
Article 28 If citizens, legal persons and other organizations believe that a law firm or lawyer has committed price violations, they may report to the pricing department, judicial administration department or lawyers association through letters, phone calls, visits, etc. Reports and Complaints.
Article 29 If the local people's government price department or judicial administrative department exceeds its pricing authority and formulates and adjusts lawyer service charging standards without authorization, it shall be ordered to make corrections by the price department at the higher level or the people's government at the same level; If it is serious, the relevant departments will be requested to punish the responsible persons.
Article 30: Any dispute arising from lawyer service fees shall be resolved through negotiation between the law firm and the client. If negotiation fails, you can apply for mediation to the bar association, judicial administration department, and pricing department where the law firm is located, or you can apply for arbitration or file a lawsuit with the People's Court.
Article 31: Mediation methods for disputes over lawyer service charges shall be formulated separately.
Article 32 The price administrative departments of the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, together with the judicial administrative departments at the same level, formulate specific implementation measures for the management of lawyer service fees in accordance with these Measures, and submit them to the National Development and Reform Commission, Judicial Department filing.
Article 33 The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Justice are responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.
Article 34 These Measures shall be implemented from June 5 + February 6 + 0, 2006. "State Planning Commission and Ministry of Justice's Notice on Issuance