Lawyer is a special group in society, and his particularity lies in his being a non-civil servant legal worker. Lawyers are not civil servants and have no state power. However, lawyers, like national civil servants with judicial power, shoulder the mission of safeguarding national laws and ensuring their correct implementation. Therefore, in developed countries, lawyers have a very high social status. The profession of lawyer is highly respected. For example, in most States in the United States, lawyers and prosecutors have completely equal litigation status. Lawyers can not only meet the detained parties independently at any stage without the approval of the prosecutor, but also reach an agreement with the prosecutor on whether the parties plead guilty or not and whether the crime is serious. This is unthinkable in China. China's traditional political culture is characterized by power worship and official standard. This makes it difficult for people to agree that non-official lawyers can achieve the same social status as "officials", especially some "official" judicial staff, and it is even more difficult to treat and respect lawyers equally. The promulgation of "Lawyers Law" indicates that the lawyer system in China has entered the track of legalization. With the development of China's economic construction, lawyers are playing an increasingly important role in maintaining social market economic order and legal system construction. So, what is the status of lawyers in China? First of all, talk about the political status of lawyers. It can be said that the political status of lawyers in China is relatively low. We can make a comparison like this. In western countries, such as the United States, lawyers are very active in the political field. In all previous American presidents and representatives, more than 1/2 of presidents are lawyers, and lawyers account for 2/3 of senators, 1/2 of representatives, 1/2 of governors and 65,438+. This shows that lawyers are highly valued and respected in American politics. In China, lawyers seldom participate in national political activities. Among the deputies to people's congresses at all levels, the proportion of lawyers is very small, and there are even fewer lawyers in CPPCC. There are few lawyers among the administrative officials. Secondly, talk about the social status of lawyers. In western countries, lawyers play an important role in social life. A lawyer can be a judge or a prosecutor. All the important positions in English courts are held by barristers, and judges are also selected from barristers. In the United States, only lawyers with rich work experience and outstanding performance can become judges. According to the Canadian Lawyers Act, every member of the Bar Association admitted as a solicitor by the Supreme Court is all court officials in the autonomous territory of Canada. In China, lawyers are called social intermediary organizations and regarded as social intermediary service personnel. Because China has experienced thousands of years of feudal history, the idea of "rule by man" is deeply rooted in people's hearts, so its significance as a lawyer system to maintain and improve the construction of democracy and the rule of law can not be paid attention to by the whole society to some extent. First of all, it is manifested in the discrimination of the judicial organs. Theoretically speaking, although the ultimate goal pursued by prosecutors, law and teachers is the same-"judicial justice", the sense of official standard of judicial personnel tends to disdain lawyers, and it is common for you to compete and judge. Lawyers should appear in court on time, but prosecutors can be late. Lawyers are often interrupted by judges when they express their defense opinions, so they cannot fully exercise their defense rights. In the understanding of many ordinary people, the lawyer's trial defense is invalid. Secondly, it is reflected in the prejudice of relevant departments. Lawyers' service field is oriented to the society, and it is inevitable to deal with relevant departments during their practice. For example, it is a legal right for lawyers to investigate and collect evidence from relevant units or individuals, and it is also an indispensable and important means to undertake legal affairs. However, some administrative departments often refuse to investigate, saying that only prosecutors and legal personnel can investigate. In this case, lawyers have to find acquaintances through various social relationships. Even if some departments allow lawyers to verify, they should charge this fee and that fee. Third, talk about the status of lawyers in criminal proceedings. Although the Criminal Procedure Law and the Lawyers Law have been revised, most lawyers believe that the provisions on lawyers' practice in these two laws reflect that lawyers' litigation status is not as good as before. The revised Criminal Procedure Law advances the time of lawyers' intervention to the investigation stage, and expands the scope of lawyers' participation in litigation. However, the position of lawyers in the investigation stage is not stipulated by law, which brings a lot of troubles to lawyers' early intervention and is worthy of legislative discussion. The author believes that lawyers should be given the status of defenders in the investigation stage. First, most international laws and international conventions give lawyers the status of defense lawyers in the investigation stage. For example, the Japanese Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: "The defendant or criminal suspect can hire a defender at any time." The German Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: "The defendant (criminal suspect) can choose a defender at any stage of the proceedings." 1990 The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders stipulates: "Everyone has the right to ask them to choose a lawyer to help protect and establish their rights and defend them at all stages of criminal proceedings." Our government participated in this meeting and signed this convention document. China should actively learn from the advanced experience of international legislation and carry out democratic and scientific reform of the judicial system. Secondly, in the investigation stage, illegal means such as extorting confessions by torture, inducement and deception are common, and the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects are not protected. Determining the lawyer's defender status in the investigation stage can effectively lodge complaints and accusations against violations of procedures, supervise and restrict illegal acts in the investigation process, and ensure the legality and fairness of criminal proceedings. In the stage of examination, prosecution and trial, Article 36 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that lawyers have the right to investigate and collect evidence. However, the law requires lawyers to obtain evidence very strictly: "A defense lawyer may, with his consent, collect materials related to this case from witnesses or other relevant units and individuals ..."; With the permission of the people's court or the people's procuratorate, and with the consent of the victim or his close relatives or witnesses provided by the victim, the defense lawyer may collect materials related to the case from them. From this, it can be seen that lawyers must obtain the consent of witnesses when collecting evidence from victims and relatives, and they need to obtain the dual consent of others and judicial organs. Without their consent or permission, the lawyer's right to investigate will become empty talk. The author believes that this clause invisibly makes lawyers' normal right to investigate and collect evidence unable to be guaranteed, and of course they can't confront the prosecution fairly, so they can only passively cross-examine and defend, and their defense strength can be imagined. In reality, lawyers are worried about the investigation and evidence collection in criminal proceedings, because the criminal law stipulates the crime of perjury of defenders. In case the facts told by witnesses to lawyers are inconsistent with those told to judicial personnel, lawyers may be suspected of perjury, and lawyers are often accused of perjury and cover-up in the process of obtaining evidence. As a result, the number of cases in which lawyers participate in criminal proceedings has obviously decreased. Article 20 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers clearly stipulates: "Lawyers shall enjoy civil and criminal immunity for honest oral or written arguments …" In this regard, we hope that the investigation and evidence collection system of lawyers can be further improved. With the development of social legal environment, it is believed that the status of lawyers in China will continue to improve, and the lawyer industry will fully realize its social functions and promote the healthy development of China's social economy. There is still a lot of legal knowledge about lawyer litigation, and only professional lawyers can fully understand it.