Is the end of Legalism really here?

No sooner had the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) passed Article 13 of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law (Amendment) than a lawyer posted on the Internet that, according to Article 13 of the law, "legal workers" had come to an end. However, the professional nature of lawyers also made some lawyers immediately retort that the implementation of this law could not prevent the existence of "legal workers". As a result, the two sides have been arguing. Since there is such a lively good thing between lawyers, of course I will attend. If I want to find out who is right and who is wrong in this debate, I must find out the following points. First, who is the "legal worker"? What does its existence bring to lawyers? What is a "lawyer"? "Legal workers" are also called grassroots legal service workers! There is only one difference between the legal service scope of grass-roots lawyers and criminal defense lawyers, that is, grass-roots lawyers cannot engage in defense work in criminal proceedings. Because the business scope between grassroots legal service workers and lawyers is basically the same, and the qualifications of grassroots legal service workers are extremely easy to obtain, and the management of grassroots legal service institutions by judicial administrative departments and the tax collection of grassroots legal services by the state are more relaxed than the lawyer policy, the service cost of grassroots legal service workers is much lower than that of lawyers. Due to the lax management of grassroots legal service workers by the judicial administrative department, many grassroots legal workers solicit business in the name of lawyers, making grassroots legal workers the biggest survival competitors of lawyers. Therefore, from the promulgation of the Lawyers Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) to the implementation of the Administrative Licensing Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the revision of the Lawyers Law, many lawyers are working hard, and they will never stop until the grassroots legal service workers are eliminated. The grassroots legal service, a legal service freak from China and originating from Zijin County, Guangdong Province, is "I laugh at the world with my own knife". Not only has it not been destroyed, but it has intensified in the city, posing a serious threat to the survival of new lawyers. Therefore, once the amendment to the Lawyers Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) was passed, some lawyers immediately noticed Article 13 and regarded Article 13 as the last sword to slay grassroots legal service workers. Second, what is stipulated in Article 13 of the Lawyers Law? Article 13 of the Lawyers Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates: "A person who has not obtained a lawyer's practice certificate shall not engage in legal services in the name of a lawyer; Unless otherwise provided by law, they shall not engage in litigation agency or defense business. " Although the expression of this article is a little confusing, the first half of this article is easy to understand, that is to say, a person who has not obtained a lawyer's practice certificate may not engage in legal services in the name of a lawyer. For the latter part, many lawyers say it is difficult to understand who is not allowed to engage in litigation agency or defense business. However, if people have a deeper understanding of the rules for the use of Chinese punctuation marks, they can still see that the latter part of this sentence means that "a person who has not obtained a lawyer's license shall not engage in litigation agency or defense business unless otherwise provided by law". Having said that, some people may ask, is "otherwise provided by law" in Article 13 a narrow interpretation or a broad interpretation? If interpreted broadly, administrative law, local regulations and departmental rules can be considered as laws except those enacted by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee. In this way, the departmental regulations of China Minsheng Investment and the Ministry of Justice on grassroots legal services are not legal provisions? Unless otherwise provided by law, grassroots legal service workers shall engage in litigation agency business. It is even suggested that the Civil Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that relatives of the parties, persons recommended by their units and citizens allowed by the people's courts may participate in civil litigation as agents. Isn't that the law? Actually, don't worry about this. According to the rules of legal interpretation, only a narrow interpretation can be made, but not a broad interpretation. Therefore, the "law" mentioned in this article should be regarded as a narrow law. In this way, we can know that the provisions of the departmental rules of the Ministry of Justice cannot be understood as otherwise stipulated by law, so the practice of "legal workers" should be bound by this article. That is to say, through the analysis of Article 13, we can draw the conclusion that a person without a lawyer's practice license cannot say that he is a lawyer, let alone engage in any legal services in the name of a lawyer; Then there is a person without a lawyer's license. Even if the law stipulates that you can engage in legal services, you are not allowed to engage in litigation agency and defense business in legal services unless it is stipulated by law. Third, is the People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law the law governing the legal service market? The Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers is only an industry law to regulate the profession of lawyers, not the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Legal Services or the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Legal Services Management (or Practice License). It is precisely because of the special adjustment object of this law that it is doomed that this law cannot make too detailed provisions on the access and management of China's legal service market. Only by standardizing lawyers and lawyers can we promote the legalization of legal service market management in China. From this point of view, we will realize that the establishment of Article 13 of People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law is actually to regulate the legal service market by regulating the lawyer industry, so as to limit impersonation of lawyers and illegal litigation agency and defense. Therefore, I personally think that the revised People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law has made a gratifying part in promoting the monopoly of legal service lawyers. Fourth, should the grassroots legal service system follow the truth? In fact, anyone who knows a little about the national conditions of legal services in China will think that it is necessary to keep the grassroots legal service system within a certain range. First of all, since the establishment and implementation of the grassroots legal service system, grassroots legal service workers have fully affirmed its positive role in promoting the construction of socialist democracy and legal system at the grassroots level in China, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of grassroots people, and alleviating the difficulty for grassroots people to hire lawyers. Secondly, we should also see that the grass-roots legal service system is a temporary supplementary system after all. Its initial social foundation (the difficulty for people to get lawyers) has widely disappeared with the reform and opening up (except, of course, parts of the western region). The number of lawyers and the large-scale development of law firms have fundamentally alleviated the difficulty of hiring lawyers, so it is out of date to maintain this supplementary system of legal services for a long time. However, we can't deny that there are more than 200 counties in China without lawyers, and many counties have only one or two lawyers. The demand for legal services in these places is still acute. In addition, even in cities, most low-income people can't afford lawyers, but this group needs legal services most. Therefore, I personally think that the grass-roots legal service system of China people and the Ministry of Justice will continue to exist in the short term, because the existence of this system has certain positive significance in some fields. Fifth, is the Civil Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) an umbrella for legal workers? The provisions on civil agency in the Civil Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) do not conflict with the Lawyers Law of People's Republic of China (PRC). Because the civil agency of citizens with the permission of the court is an act stipulated by law in civil litigation, and whether this kind of civil agency behavior can happen depends on the permission of the people's court, so I think that the court's permission of this kind of agency behavior does not mean that the court supports this kind of paid agency. If this kind of citizen agency is paid, it is absolutely impossible for the people's court to allow it, which is inconsistent with the original intention of establishing the citizen agency system. The purpose of establishing citizen agency system is to facilitate citizens' litigation and reduce their litigation costs. Therefore, "People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Procedure Law" will not be the umbrella for "legal workers" and other citizens to provide paid legal services after the implementation of "People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law (Amendment)". Knowing the above five questions, I come to the conclusion that "legal workers" will not die out for the time being, let alone come to an end. Instead, the state took the opportunity of the revision of the Lawyers Law to quietly deprive "legal workers" of their civil agency business and narrow their business scope in the legal service business, thus essentially positioning the grassroots legal service as a lower-level legal service business and returning the grassroots legal service to its true face. In order to truly standardize China's legal service market, fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of legal service demanders, and manage the legal service market in an orderly manner, it will not play much role just by amending the People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law.