Principal offender: Article 239 Whoever kidnaps another person for the purpose of extorting property, or kidnaps another person as a hostage, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or confiscated of property; Whoever causes the death of the kidnapped person or kills the kidnapped person shall be sentenced to death and his property shall be confiscated.
Accessory: If it can be recognized as an accessory, the punishment can be mitigated, that is, the sentence is less than 10 years.
At present, there are many cases of overcharging lawyer fees. Let me show you the rules of the law firm's charging procedure, and be careful not to be overcharged.
Article 1 In order to regulate the charging behavior of law firms, these Rules are formulated in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and regulations on the management of lawyers' fees.
Article 2 The items, standards and methods of fees charged by law firms shall be implemented in accordance with the Interim Measures for the Administration of Lawyers' Service Fees formulated by the competent price departments and judicial administrative organs of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and the relevant provisions on lawyers' service fees.
Article 3 A law firm shall follow the principles of legality, openness, fairness and unanimity through consultation when charging lawyers' service fees.
Article 4 Where a law firm charges by agreement or by time, it shall do so within the scope stipulated in Articles 4 and 7 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Lawyers' Service Fees.
Article 5 Lawyers' service fees shall be uniformly collected by law firms.
Without permission, a lawyer may not charge any fees to the client.
Article 6 A law firm shall publish the charging items, charging standards and charging methods of lawyer services by posting and printing service guides, and accept the supervision of clients.
Article 7 After accepting the entrustment, a law firm shall sign a charging contract with the client or specify the charging terms in the entrustment contract.
The charging contract shall include the following contents: charging items, charging methods and standards, charging amount (proportion), payment and settlement methods, dispute settlement methods, etc.
Article 8 A law firm shall charge lawyers' service fees according to the charging method and amount (proportion) agreed in the charging contract or entrustment contract.
Article 9 A law firm shall directly charge the client the lawyer's service fee. At the request of the client or for other reasons, if the attorney pays the fees on his behalf, the attorney shall provide the law firm with a power of attorney signed by the client and indicating the amount of payment.
Article 10 When a law firm collects lawyer service fees from its clients, it shall issue legal bills to the clients in a timely manner.
Article 11 A law firm shall uniformly manage entrustment contracts, charging contracts, charging bills, seals and relevant letters of introduction.
Article 12 According to Article 8 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Fees for Lawyers' Services, the law firm shall inform the client in advance of the fees to be paid separately, and the specific items and payment methods shall be determined by both parties through consultation.
Article 13 If a law firm pays appraisal fees, evaluation fees, translation fees, fees charged by the people's court according to law and other handling fees on behalf of its clients, it shall settle accounts with its clients with valid vouchers.
Article 14 When a law firm receives the travel expenses required for lawyers to handle cases in different places in advance, it shall provide the client with an estimate of the expenses and sign it after both parties reach an agreement through consultation. In the process of handling the case, if it is really necessary to adjust the cost estimate due to changes in circumstances, the law firm shall negotiate with the client again and implement it after being signed by both parties.
The lawyer in charge shall not collect the travel expenses for handling cases in different places from the client without permission.
Article 15 A law firm shall supervise the use of travel expenses received in advance by undertaking lawyers in handling cases in different places.
After completing the entrusted matters, the lawyer shall submit a list of fees and valid vouchers to the law firm and accept the audit of the law firm.
If the law firm finds that the expenditure items and standards are improper after examination, it shall be reduced. The reduced cost shall be borne by the contractor.
Article 16 After handling the entrusted matters, a law firm shall settle the travel expenses paid by lawyers in different places with the clients in time. At the time of settlement, the expense list and valid expense vouchers shall be submitted to the client for review and confirmation.
Article 17 A law firm may, with the approval of the relevant departments, set up a special account for storing contract funds, execution funds, performance bonds and other funds kept on behalf of clients.
Law firms should strictly manage special accounts to prevent risks. The payment of special account funds must be strictly examined and earmarked. It is strictly forbidden to use the funds in the special account for other purposes.
Article 18 A law firm may reduce or postpone the lawyer's service fee for clients who have real financial difficulties. The undertaking lawyer shall not decide to reduce or postpone the payment of lawyer service fees to the client at his own discretion.
Article 19 A law firm shall not solicit business by improper charges, or give kickbacks to clients or pay referral fees to intermediaries in any way or name.
Article 20 Disputes over fees between law firms and clients shall be settled through consultation. If negotiation fails, it may be submitted to the local lawyers association for mediation, or it may bring a lawsuit to the people's court.
Twenty-first law firms should accept the supervision and inspection of local price departments and judicial administrative organs.
Twenty-second law firms and their lawyers in violation of these rules, by the judicial administrative organs, lawyers association in accordance with the relevant provisions, given administrative punishment or industry sanctions.
Article 23 These Rules shall come into force as of May 6, 2004.
The Rules of Procedure for Charging Fees of Law Firms, which were considered and adopted at the ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Justice on March 6, 2004, are hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of May 6, 2004.
Minister Zhang
March 2004 19