Lawyer's witness: refers to the lawyer's non-litigation business activities in which a law firm accepts the entrustment or application of the parties and appoints a lawyer with lawyer qualification or legal professional qualification and lawyer's practice certificate to carefully examine and prove the authenticity of relevant legal acts or legal facts in the name of the law firm and witness lawyer.
Purpose and function
First, witness the authenticity of legal acts or legal facts;
Two, witness the legality of legal acts or legal facts.
From the legal attribute, in our country, lawyer's witness is still a kind of "private evidence", which must be verified according to law before it can be used as the basis for ascertaining the facts. Unlike the probative force of notarization, notarial certificates can generally be used directly as evidence.
rule of law
First, the lawyer's witness must first strictly examine the subject qualification of the parties;
When investigating and appraising the subject identity of the parties to a contract, the witness lawyer shall take the initiative to find out the true identity of the parties. It is far from enough to determine the subject qualification only by the materials provided by the parties themselves, but also to find out the true identity, right capacity and behavior capacity of natural persons or legal persons; The agency qualification and authority of the agent; The credit standing, performance ability and performance feasibility of the parties. For enterprises, it is necessary to investigate their industrial and commercial registration, tax registration, foreign trade license, franchise, product standards, patents and trademarks, etc. , and make necessary investigation and verification to the relevant departments.
Second, lawyers should be diligent and conscientious, and strictly examine the authenticity of witness matters;
Judging from the purpose of lawyer's witness, witness is not only the witness of behavior. For example, lawyers only witness the authenticity of the contract signature and seal, not the contents of the contract between the two parties. In this way, the exclusive attribute of a lawyer as a legal service profession cannot be reflected, and the lawyer's testimony will lose its due legal significance! The reason why lawyers testify is different from ordinary citizens is mainly reflected in the obligation of witness lawyers to review the legality of witness matters.
Third, the legal documents witnessed by lawyers should not only meet the statutory substantive requirements; It must also meet the statutory formal requirements;
For example, when witnessing a contract, it is necessary to find out the authenticity of the materials submitted by the parties and make sure that the meaning is true and clear, and there is no fraud, coercion, taking advantage of others' danger and major misunderstanding.
Fourth, lawyers should adhere to the principle of avoidance and should not testify for relatives and friends as lawyers;
Fifth, lawyers should adhere to the principles of voluntariness, fairness, directness and objectivity;
Sixth, lawyers are not allowed to witness statutory compulsory notarization;
Seventh, the lawyer's witness business procedures should be complete, and the proof content should meet the requirements.
Eighth, the lawyer's testimony must adhere to the principle of seeing with one's own eyes when legal facts or legal acts occur. Lawyers can't witness what has happened or will happen, which is the limitation of lawyer witness different from notarization in time and space.