Interpretation of legal aid law

The Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Legal Aid came into effect on June 65438+ 10/0/2022. ___

Legal aid has been carried out in China for more than 40 years. Facing the new tasks and requirements of the new era, there are also problems such as insufficient service supply, uneven distribution of resources, narrow coverage, insufficient guarantee, low quality and imperfect convenience measures. ____

In order to meet the needs of the new era, we must formulate the legal aid law, make targeted legal provisions, further broaden the ways and scope of legal aid, improve the level of protection, strengthen quality management and provide convenient measures. In order to better meet the growing needs of the people and provide legal guarantee for the people to obtain timely, convenient, high-quality and efficient legal aid services in a wider range through more forms. _

When the draft law on legal aid was submitted for initial consideration, there were 6 1, which was revised and improved to 7 1. The main purpose of adding relevant contents is to fully reflect that the legal aid law is the feature of social law, and the legal aid system is an integral part of the national legal service system.

By improving the legal system, we will strive to achieve two goals: let more qualified forces participate in legal aid through more channels and forms, and carry out legal aid work more actively; Let more people who need legal aid enjoy better legal aid services more conveniently.

First, stimulate greater enthusiasm for providing legal aid.

In the past, legal aid was mostly provided by legal aid agencies set up by judicial administrative departments, and lawyers were appointed or personnel were arranged on their own according to the application of the parties concerned to provide legal aid to eligible citizens. The channel is relatively single and the power is relatively limited. In this regard, the Legal Aid Law has further broadened the channels for providing legal aid, mobilized more forces to participate, and roughly defined three channels: the legal aid institutions established by the judicial administrative departments assign lawyers, grassroots legal service workers and legal aid volunteers, or arrange their own staff with lawyer qualifications or legal practice qualifications to provide legal aid; The legal aid work carried out by mass organizations such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League, women's federations and disabled persons' federations shall be implemented with reference to the provisions of this Law; Legal aid volunteers include those engaged in legal education and research in institutions of higher learning and scientific research, law students and other qualified individuals who provide legal aid according to law. Legal aid workers can provide legal aid to the parties in various forms according to the actual situation. These forms include: legal consultation, drafting legal documents, criminal defense and agency, litigation and non-litigation agency in civil cases, administrative cases, state compensation cases, legal aid of lawyers on duty, mediation and arbitration agency for labor disputes and other forms stipulated by laws, regulations and rules. It should be noted that other forms stipulated by laws, regulations and rules mainly provide space for future or local exploration and development of new forms.

Insufficient funds for legal aid, low subsidy standards and insufficient social support are all pain points and difficult problems that affect the enthusiasm of legal aid institutions, legal aid workers and all sectors of society to carry out legal aid. To this end, the Legal Aid Law makes three provisions to face the problem directly: to clarify the financial guarantee of the government. Including: the people's governments at or above the county level should incorporate legal aid work into the national economic and social development plan and the basic public service system; The people's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate the funds related to legal aid into the government budget at the corresponding level and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism. Take incentive measures. Including: encouraging and supporting social forces to provide support for legal aid through donations and other means according to law; Give tax incentives to those who meet the conditions; Organizations and individuals who have made contributions to legal aid shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with the provisions. Clear subsidy standards. Including: legal aid subsidies should be paid to legal aid personnel in a timely manner; The subsidy standard is determined according to the local economic development level, legal aid service type and undertaking cost, and is dynamically adjusted; Legal aid subsidies are exempt from value-added tax and personal income tax.

The second is to ensure that more citizens get legal aid.

The Law on Legal Aid implements the spirit of relevant documents of the Central Committee and expands the scope of legal aid. Mainly from three aspects to ensure that more citizens get legal aid: strive to achieve full coverage of lawyers' defense in criminal cases. Including: if a criminal suspect or defendant in a criminal case fails to entrust a defender due to financial difficulties or other reasons, he himself and his close relatives may apply for legal aid; If the criminal suspect or defendant in a criminal case is a minor, a disabled person, an adult who can't fully recognize his own behavior, a person who may be sentenced to life imprisonment or death penalty, a defendant who applied for legal aid in a death penalty review case, a defendant who tried a case in absentia, and other personnel prescribed by laws and regulations, the court, procuratorate and public security organ shall notify the legal aid institution to appoint a lawyer as a defender for him; In other criminal cases that are tried by ordinary procedures, the people's court may notify legal aid institutions to appoint lawyers as defenders. Request for compensation, payment and payment of labor remuneration, etc. If there is no agent due to financial difficulties, you can apply for legal aid. Including: requesting state compensation, granting social insurance benefits or social assistance, granting pensions, paying alimony, alimony, alimony, confirming labor relations or paying labor remuneration, and requesting compensation for personal injury caused by accidents. To apply for legal aid in accordance with legal circumstances is not restricted by economic difficulties. Including: close relatives of heroic martyrs claim related civil rights and interests because of their courageous behavior, apply for state compensation after retrial and acquittal, claim related rights and interests because of abuse, abandonment or domestic violence, and other circumstances stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, so as to reserve space for future and local expansion of new situations. In addition, those who refuse to accept the effective judgment of the judicial organ, decide to file a complaint or apply for retrial may also apply for legal aid according to law.

The third is to ensure that the parties can obtain legal aid more conveniently.

In order to ensure that the parties can obtain legal aid more conveniently, the legal aid law mainly stipulates relevant convenience measures from three aspects: clarifying the responsibilities of relevant organs and departments to provide convenience. Including: courts, procuratorates, public security organs and relevant departments should promptly inform the parties of their right to apply for legal aid according to law when handling cases or related affairs; Legal aid institutions shall reasonably set up legal aid workstations or contact points to accept legal aid applications nearby; When legal aid institutions provide legal advisory services through service windows, telephones and the Internet, they shall remind the parties of their right to apply for legal aid according to law and inform them of the conditions and procedures for applying for legal aid. Convenient procedures for applying for legal aid. Including: in the way of inquiring about the applicant's financial difficulties, in addition to the legal aid institutions enjoying the information inquiry, the way of the applicant's good faith commitment has been increased; If the application materials submitted by the applicant for legal aid are incomplete, the legal aid institution shall inform the applicant of the materials that need to be supplemented or explained at one time. _ _ _ _ Special circumstances are more convenient. Including: legal aid applicants are minors, the elderly, the disabled and other specific groups with no fixed source of livelihood, social assistance, judicial assistance or special care recipients, migrant workers who apply for payment of labor remuneration or claim compensation for personal injury caused by work-related accidents, and other personnel stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, and are exempt from checking economic difficulties; After receiving an application for legal aid, a legal aid institution may provide legal aid in advance if it finds that it is less than seven days before the statutory limitation or the expiration of the time limit, and it needs to file a lawsuit in time or apply for arbitration or administrative reconsideration, and it needs to apply for property preservation, evidence preservation or enforcement in advance. Legal aid institutions that provide legal aid services for the elderly and the disabled shall provide barrier-free facilities, equipment and services.

The fourth is to ensure the high-quality development of legal aid.

The legal aid law strengthens the safeguard and supervision measures, so that the parties can enjoy higher quality legal aid services and have a better sense of acquisition. The Law on Legal Aid defines the obligations of legal aid institutions and personnel. Including: law firms, grassroots legal service offices, lawyers and grassroots legal service workers have the obligation to provide legal aid according to law, and law firms and grassroots legal service offices should support and guarantee their lawyers and grassroots legal service workers to fulfill their legal aid obligations; Legal aid personnel shall perform their duties according to law, abide by professional ethics and practice discipline, and shall not collect any property from the recipient; After accepting the assignment, legal aid personnel shall not refuse, delay or terminate the provision of legal aid services without justifiable reasons, and shall inform the recipient of the handling of legal aid matters in accordance with the provisions; For people who may be sentenced to life imprisonment or death penalty, and defendants in death penalty review cases who need legal aid, legal aid institutions shall appoint lawyers with more than three years of relevant practice experience as defenders. At the same time, the supervision of legal aid work has been strengthened. Including: the judicial administrative department to guide and supervise the legal aid work, establish a complaint investigation system, accept the complaints of recipients and investigate and deal with them in time, formulate the quality standards of legal aid services, and conduct regular quality evaluation; The judicial administrative departments and legal aid institutions shall establish a legal aid information disclosure system, regularly announce the results of the use of legal aid funds, case handling and quality evaluation to the public, and accept social supervision.

The Law on Legal Aid has also improved the relevant operating mechanism of legal aid. Including: the judicial administrative department should train legal aid personnel in a planned way to improve their professional quality and service ability; Legal aid institutions should comprehensively use measures such as hearing, consulting files, consulting judicial organs, and paying a return visit to recipients to urge legal aid personnel to improve service quality; The lawyers association shall include the performance of legal aid obligations by law firms and lawyers in the annual assessment. In addition, the law also stipulates relevant legal responsibilities.