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Article 1. These Rules are hereby formulated in accordance with the relevant laws, regulations, and provisions on lawyers' service charge for the purpose of regulating the charging acts of law firms. Article 2. The charging items, charging standards and charging ways of a law firm shall be implemented in accordance with the Interim Measures for the Administration of Lawyers Services Charge and the relevant provisions on lawyers service charge as formulated by the competent price departments and administrative departments of justice of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Article 3. The principle of legality, openness, fairness, and consistency through negotiation shall be followed by law firms for their charging of lawyers service fees. Article 4. Where a law firm charges fees through negotiation or by hour, it shall do it according to the scope as prescribed in Articles 4 and 7 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Lawyers Service Charge. Article 5. The lawyers service charge shall be collected uniformly by law firms. No lawyer may charge any fee from the clients in private. Article 6. Law firms shall publicize the charging items, charging standards and charging ways for lawyer's services by such ways as posting or printing service guide, etc., and accept the supervision of the clients. Article 7. After accepting the entrustment, a law firm shall sign charging contract with the clients or specify charging clause in the entrustment contract. A charging contract shall include the following contents: charging items, ways and standards, amount or proportion of charges, ways of payment or settlement, and methods of dispute resolution, etc.. Article 8. A law firm shall charge lawyers service fees in accordance with the ways of charging and amount or proportion of charges as stipulated in the charging clauses of the charging contract or the entrustment contract. Article 9. A law firm shall charge lawyers service fees directly from the clients. Where the charges are paid by the undertaking lawyer as the agent upon the request of the clients or due to other reasons, the undertaking lawyer shall provide the power of attorney, which is signed by the clients and specifies the amount of charges to be paid to the law firm. Article 10. A law firm shall issue legal bills to the clients in time when collecting lawyers service charges from them. Article 11. Law firms shall make unified management on the entrustment contract, charging contract, charging bills, seals and the relevant introductory letters, etc.. Article 12. According to the provisions of Article 8 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Lawyers Service Charge, where the clients need to pay additional fees for handling a case, the law firm shall notify the clients in advance. The specific items and ways of payment shall be determined by the two parties through negotiation. Article 13. Where a law firm pays such fees for the clients as the fees for identification, appraisal, or translation, and fees charged by the people's courts according to law, and other fees for handling a case, it shall settle them with the clients upon the strength of the effective certificates. Article 14. Where a law firm charges fees in advance for business trip as needed for a lawyer to handle a case in a different place, it shall provide budgetary estimate for such fees to the clients, for which the two parties shall reach an agreement through negotiation, with their names signed on for confirmation. Where during the process of handling a case, it is really necessary to adjust the budgetary estimate for fees due to the change of circumstances, the law firm shall negotiate with the clients again, and implement it after the two parties have signed their names on it for confirmation. An undertaking lawyer shall not privately charge fees for business trip from the clients for handling a case at a different place. Article 15. Law firms shall make supervision over the pre-collection of the fees for business trip of the undertaking lawyers for their handling of a case in a different place. After completing the matters entrusted, an undertaking lawyer shall submit the effective certificates of bills for use of fees and for the expenditure to the law firm, and accept the audit of the law firm. Where after auditing, the law firm believes that the items and standards of expenditure are not appropriate, it shall reduce the expenditure after checking. The fees reduced through checking shall be borne by the undertaking lawyer. Article 16. Where after completing the entrusted matters, a law firm shall settle the fees paid in advance with the clients for business trip of lawyers for their handling of a case at different places in time. It shall submit the effective certificates of bill for uses of fees and for expenditure to the clients when making the settlement, which shall be checked and confirmed by the clients. Article 17. Law firms may, upon the approval of the relevant departments, establish a special account for depositing the contract money, enforcement money, and deposit for performance of a contract, and other funds they keep for the clients. Law firms shall manage strictly the special account, and prevent the risk. The payment of funds in the special account must be checked and guarded strictly to ensure that the special funds be used for special purposes. No one may embezzle the funds in the special accounts for other purposes. Article 18. If the clients do have difficulty in economy, the law firms may reduce the amount of lawyers service charge or postpone the payment thereof. But the undertaking lawyer may not decide by himself/herself to reduce the amount of lawyers service charge or postpone its payment. Article 19. No law firms may canvass business by taking illegal ways of charging, nor may they give any discount to the clients by any means or items or pay introductory fees to the agent. Article 20. Where a law firm has any dispute with the clients due to charging fees, they shall solve it through negotiation. If they cannot reach an agreement through negotiation, they may ask the local lawyers association to handle it through mediation, or file a suit to the people's court. Article 21. A law firm shall accept the supervision and inspection by the local competent price department or administrative department of justice for its charging acts. Article 22. Where law firms and their lawyers violate these Rules, the administrative department of justice and the lawyers associations shall impose an administrative punishment or vocational punishment on them according to the relevant provisions. Article 23. These Rules shall be implemented as of May 1, 2004. |
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