In criminal proceedings, it is necessary for defense lawyers to consult court files in order to perform their defense functions. According to the provisions of Article 38 of the Criminal Procedure Law, defense lawyers can consult, extract and copy the case files of criminal cases from the date when the people's procuratorate examines and prosecutes the case.
For criminal cases that have been concluded, if the lawyer is entrusted by the parties to the case, of course, he also has the right to consult the court file, but the general lawyer can only consult the positive volume of the court file, and the lawyer has the obligation to keep the contents of the file confidential and cannot hand over the contents that should be kept confidential to the client.
Criminal procedure law
Article 38 From the date of examination and prosecution by the People's Procuratorate, defense lawyers may consult, extract and copy the case files. Other defenders may also consult, extract and copy the above materials with the permission of the people's court or the people's procuratorate.