Measures for the administration of lawyers' business files

Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to strengthen the scientific management of lawyers' professional files and unify the management system of lawyers' professional files, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the Archives Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and relevant regulations, and combined with the actual work of lawyers. Article 2 A lawyer's business file is a true record of lawyer's business activities, an important national professional file, and has important reference and utilization value. Keeping and sorting out lawyers' business files is an important work of law firms (legal advisory offices). Article 3 A law firm (legal advisory office) shall be equipped with full-time or part-time file managers, and where conditions permit, file institutions shall be gradually established to be responsible for centralized and unified management of lawyers' business files. Article 4 The duties of the archival institutions and archivists of law firms (legal advisory offices) are:

First, collect, sort out, keep and count the archives and related materials of this institute (institute) to ensure the integrity and safety of the archives;

Two, actively carry out the use of archives, to provide services for lawyers to carry out business;

Three, guide, supervise and inspect the filing of lawyers' business documents and materials;

Four, file identification, and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state to the archives at the same level;

Five, accept the professional guidance, supervision and inspection of the judicial administrative organs and local archives administration departments, and report the archives work regularly;

Six, complete other tasks related to archives work assigned by the leadership. Chapter II Receipt and Management of Archives Article 5 When receiving archives, archivists shall check the quality of archives according to the requirements of the Measures for Filing Lawyers' Professional Archives, go through filing procedures according to regulations, and affix the seal of "filing" on the upper left corner of the cover of archives. Article 6 The received files shall be numbered according to the category (litigation, non-litigation, foreign-related), storage period and annual order, and the top secret files shall be numbered separately. Ten years is a broken number. Article 7 The files of several case numbers in the same case due to trial level change or other reasons shall be kept together, and the principle of combined storage is that the back volume formed in chronological order shall be kept together with the front volume. Eighth file managers should be familiar with the situation of hidden files, take the initiative to understand the needs of business departments and related personnel for file utilization, and actively do a good job in the provision and utilization of files. Article 9 Archivists must compile the archives catalogue and necessary retrieval cards. Chapter III Borrowing and Utilization of Archives Article 10 A law firm (legal advisory office) shall establish a lawyer's business file borrowing system and a file borrowing register. Borrowing files must go through certain approval and registration procedures, and the borrowing period must be limited. If it cannot be returned on schedule due to special circumstances, it shall go through the formalities of extension. Article 11 The undertaker of the case in the first instance may consult the archived documents of the case in the first instance and go through the borrowing procedures due to the needs of his work. However, unless it is expressly stipulated that it must be approved by the leadership. Article 12 If the lawyer management department of the judicial administrative organ at the same level or at a higher level needs to borrow the lawyer's business files due to work, it shall issue a formal letter of volume adjustment and go through the borrowing registration formalities. Thirteenth people's courts, people's procuratorates and relevant state organs, due to the needs of their work, should produce a formal search letter and go through the inspection procedures with the consent of the director of the law firm. If it is necessary to lend it because of special circumstances, it shall be approved by the judicial administrative organ at the same level. When lending, check it clearly, handle the official receipt and return it within a time limit. The lent files shall not be lent to other units or individuals for use.

Other units or individuals are generally not allowed to borrow or consult lawyers' business files. Due to special circumstances need to consult, by the law firm (legal advisory office) reported to the judicial administrative organ at the same level for approval. Article 14 All lawyer's business files involving state secrets or personal privacy, as well as files requiring confidentiality by the parties, are generally not allowed to borrow or consult. Special circumstances must be negotiated and reported to the judicial administrative organ at the same level for approval. Article 15. All files that have been approved for inspection may extract or copy the contents of the files, except confidential files. Article 16 Anyone who consults or lends the lawyer's business files shall return them in time. When returning, if the files are found to be dismantled, the documents are in short supply, altered, added, deleted and defaced, they should immediately report to the unit leader and trace them in time. Seventeenth file managers must strictly abide by the confidentiality system and keep state secrets and party secrets. Shall not violate the system to provide files to anyone and expand the scope of use, and shall not disclose the contents of files to others. Chapter iv time limit for keeping archives article 18 the time limit for keeping lawyer's business archives shall be permanent, long-term and short-term.

All lawyers' business files that need to be consulted and used for a long time are classified as permanent custody.

Any lawyer's business files that need to be consulted, used and kept as evidence for a long time are classified as long-term custody, and the custody period is 20 to 60 years.

All lawyers' business files that need to be consulted and used as evidence in general time are classified as short-term storage, and the storage period is five to fifteen years.

As a long-term or short-term custody of the lawyer's business files, the specific storage period is proposed by the archivist and reported to the director of the law firm (legal adviser's office) for decision. Article 19 The retention period of lawyer's business files shall be counted from the year following the end of legal affairs.