Article 263 of the "Civil Procedure Law" stipulates that if foreigners, stateless persons, foreign enterprises and organizations sue or respond to lawsuits in the People's Court, and need to entrust a lawyer to represent them in litigation, they must entrust the People's Republic of China Lawyers for the People's Republic**** and the State.
Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China"
(Adopted at the 1636th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 18, 2014 )
Article 528: Foreign parties in foreign-related civil litigation may entrust domestic parties to represent them in the litigation. Foreign parties in foreign-related civil litigation may entrust their own nationals to act as litigation agents, or they may entrust their own lawyers to act as attorneys. Officials of foreign embassies and consulates in China may be entrusted by nationals of their own countries to act as litigation agents in their personal capacity, but they do not enjoy diplomatic or consular privileges or immunity from litigation.
Article 529: In foreign-related civil litigation, foreign embassies and consulates in China shall authorize the embassy or consulate of their country when the nationals of the country where the parties to the civil litigation are located are not within the territory of the People's Republic of China. Officials, in their capacity as diplomatic representatives, hire lawyers of the People's Republic of China or citizens of the People's Republic of China to serve as civil litigation representatives for their nationals within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
2. According to the judicial interpretation of my country’s Criminal Procedure Law, foreigners generally cannot be entrusted to serve as defenders. However, if they are the defendant’s guardian or close relative, they may be allowed to serve as defenders in a non-lawyer capacity.
Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 1559th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on November 5, 2012 )
Article 35: When hearing criminal cases, the People's Court shall apply the Criminal Procedure Law in accordance with the law:
When hearing cases, the People's Court shall fully protect the defendant's right to defense in accordance with the law.
In addition to exercising the right to defend himself, the defendant may entrust a defender to defend him. The following persons are not allowed to serve as defenders:
(1) Persons who have been sentenced to prison terms, suspended or paroled;
(2) Persons who have been deprived or restricted of personal freedom in accordance with the law;
(3) Persons with incapacity or limited capacity;
(4) Staff members of people’s courts, people’s procuratorates, public security organs or national security organs, and prisons;
< p>(5) People's assessors;(6) People who have an interest in the outcome of the case;
(7) Foreigners and stateless persons.
If the persons specified in items 4 to 7 of the preceding paragraph are the defendant's guardian or close relative and are entrusted by the defendant to serve as a defender, permission may be granted.