On-site scene 

The meeting was presided over by Xuebing Zhang, chairman of the Beijing Legal Aid Foundation.

Xuebing Zhang, Chairman of Beijing Legal Aid Foundation

At the start of the meeting, Hong Liu, director of Hylands expressed his warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to the attendees at the meeting. He said that at the 100th  anniversary of the founding of the Chinse Communist Party, this event could be considered as a gift for the ongoing centenary celebrations and denotes the firm’s interest in public affairs. Hylands had been steadily growing in the past 20 years and now operates 21 branches in major cities across the country. It also has the Hylands intellectual property agency, and more than 1500 practicing lawyers and professionals working in different offices. None of these are possible without the policy support of the party and the country, the rapidly improving legal environment, the support and help from all walks of life, and the selfless efforts of Hylands people. In its future endeavors, Hylands will always adhere to the principle of ‘being a law firm with a sense of social responsibility’ by bearing in mind the faith they hold since the start of the journey. Hylands will continue their active participation in public affairs, giving back to society, and actively assuming the social responsibility of lawyers.

Hong Liu, director of Hylands

Lingchun Gao, Secretary-General of the Beijing Legal Aid Foundation presented a report on the work results of the Hylands Legal Aid for Public Welfare - Beijing Legal Aid Volunteer Service Plan program. She introduced the relevant situation of the ‘Changping District and Chaoyang District Trainee Lawyer Service Plan’. Till now, a total of 43 trainee lawyers have served 2,628 people, and answered 1676 legal questions. This year, a legal aid workstation was set up in Changping District; 12 public welfare legal posters were produced and a total of 125500 pieces were distributed to 317 locations in Beijing. The center also reached a cooperation agreement with the School of Political Science and Law of Capital Normal University on legal talent training.  A WeChat group was also set up to ensure smooth communication and execute a volunteer service plan. At present, Beijing Public Legal Service Center has volunteers from the college that are ready to provide voluntary services. Other projects are also to be launched.

 Lingchun Gao, Secretary General of Beijing Legal Aid Foundation

To express our support for the social welfare undertaking, Hylands once again donated RMB 1 million yuan to the foundation to support Beijing Legal Aid Volunteer Service Project. Yu Xu, a lawyer from Hylands, issued a donation check to Xuebing Zhang, chairman of the Beijing Legal Aid Foundation.

Giving the Donation Check

Yan Ma, member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, issued a donation certificate to Lawyer Hong Liu, director of Hylands.

Certificate of Donation

Hylands has established an integrated party mechanism between the headquarters of the law firm and 19 of its branches. Qun Wang, the second-level inspector of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice and secretary of the Party Committee of the Beijing Lawyer Industry, and Mei Qiu, a partner of Hylands and secretary of the United Party Branch, unveiled the plaque together.

The Unveiling Ceremony

On behalf of Hylands, Yu Xu, director of the management committee, introduced the party building work of the law firm and its participation in public welfare. He made a keynote speech on the topic of ‘party building affairs in the construction of law firms’. Lawyer Yu Xu explained the great role of party building in the construction of a firm from the following four aspects. First, direction of party building represents the direction for the development of the law firm; second, party building influences team building; third, relying on party building strengthen discipline management of the firm; fourth, promote party building helps to do a good job in public welfare activities. He mentioned that Hylands always gives top priority to the party-building work, constantly improves the party-building measures, strives to enhance the unity of the party organization, and let the party lead the development direction of the law firm. The donations to the Legal Aid Volunteer Service Plan program are part of the efforts of the firm to undertake social responsibility of legal persons, indicating that Hylands will never forget their original intention of develop qualitatively to give back to society and the industry.

Yu Xu, Director of the Management Committee of Hylands

Qun Wang said that Hylands has explored and invented the ‘party building + public welfare’ models, which has proven to work well. Party-building has played a key role in the development of the law firm, and the integration of party-building work and the development of the law firm has promoted the construction of the law firm to a new level. He explained four guiding points to be kept in mind while functioning. First, we must unswervingly adhere to the overall leadership of the party, and always agree and support the political stance, political principles, and political paths of the party; second, we must equip ourselves with the party’s theories, and thoroughly implement the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics. We should actively learn the party’s theories, understand them and apply them in life; third, we must work to promote the development of the legal industry, promote the construction of law firms, and enhance the business development ability of law firms; fourth, we must care for the public’s benefits. We should work to promote the rule of law in society and promote people’s interests. We should not only serve the clients well but also should have the public spirit; fifth, we should strengthen the party governance and make it an important part of law firm management.

 Qun Wang, Second-level Inspector of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Lawyers Industry

In her concluding speech Yan Ma expressed her respect and gratitude to all those who supported and participated in the Beijing Legal Aid Volunteer Service Program. She pointed out that the donation ceremony marked a new beginning. The results of the program depended upon the efforts of all relevant departments and units. She urged the volunteers to place the people’s interests first and work to promote the welfare of the public. It is required to diversify ways of providing and quality of voluntary services to let ordinary people truly benefit from the voluntary services. They need to realize that they are considered by the party, the government, and society, and the spirit of rule of law should prevail. It is our duty to continue the high-quality projects and strive to develop new projects. We should gain experience from practices, give publicity to high-quality projects, and unite wisdom and strength to promote the projects. At the same time, we should promote volunteer legal services, promote the volunteer spirit and promote good practices. We can raise funds for the program through the Municipal Legal Aid Foundation to provide financial support for the legal aid program and encourage all sectors of society to actively participate in legal aid work.

 Yan Ma, Member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice

Introduction to Beijing Legal Aid Foundation

Founded in July 1996, it is a social charity organization registered with the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau and qualified for public fundraising. Supervised by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, it is the earliest legal aid foundation established in China. The responsibilities of the foundation include; accepting donations from all walks of life, raising, managing, and using legal aid funds; publicizing the country's legal aid system and promoting judicial justice; providing financial support for the implementation of legal aid and ensuring citizens receive equal legal protection.  

Hylands Legal Aid for Public Welfare - Introduction to Beijing Legal Aid Volunteer Service Program

Hylands Legal Aid for Public Welfare - Beijing Legal Aid Volunteer Service Plan echoes the spirit of Several Measures for Accelerating the Construction of Public Legal Service System in Beijing, adheres to the principle of voluntariness, public welfare, effectiveness, compliance, and aims to promote the rule of law and promote benefits for the masses. We strive to build a volunteer service plan with government support, run by public welfare and charitable organization, led by lawyers as well as other stakeholders from society. The plan is divided into several sub-projects, including the trainee lawyer service plan, campus plan, bring law to community plan, justice and rights protection assistance plan, Hylands Legal Aid for Public Welfare promotion plan, legal talent training plan, volunteer recruitment plan, remote areas support plan and so on.  

Hylands has always followed the leadership of the party, attached great importance to party-building, and is determined to give back to society. In the future, under the leadership of the party branch, the law firm will increase political awareness and understand the theory, ideals, and beliefs of the party; strengthen ideological understanding, business development, and platform construction; continue to improve the internal management of the law firm; strengthen the civilization construction of the law firm; reinforce young lawyers training, and work to give back to the society and serve the people. The firm will stick to the party’s leadership in the development and lawyer training, improve service quality and strengthen management and promote the healthy development of the legal industry.