Implementation Plan for Serving the Construction of Pudong into a Pioneer Area for Socialist Modernization and Consolidating Pudong's Status as a Core Capacity-Carrying Area for Shanghai International Legal Service Hub

This plan is formulated to thoroughly implement the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Supporting High-level Reform and Openness of Pudong New Area and Creating a Pioneer Area of Socialist Modernization Construction, support the aligning of Pudong with the international highest standards and best levels, build the Core Capacity-Carrying Area for Shanghai International Legal Service Hub, construct a global hub for legal service resource allocation, provide services in ensuring the construction of "Five Centers" in Shanghai and strengthening the "Four Functions", and assist in accelerating the completion of a socialist modernized international metropolis with global influence.

I. General Requirements

We shall, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and thoroughly fulfill Xi Jinping's ideology of the rule of law, continue to deepen the reform and innovation of the legal service industry, promote institutional openness in the field of legal services, with specialization, scale, internationalization, branding, and digitization as directions, enhance the functional roles in such areas as lawyers, arbitrators, notaries, judicial appraisers, commercial mediators, promote the extension of legal services to the high-end of the value chain, and turn it into a pole of growth, a source of dynamism, and a new track for the high-quality development of the Pudong economy.

By 2025, we will initially establish the Core Capacity-Carrying Area for Shanghai International Legal Service Hub, where the economic volume of legal service sector accounts for over 1% of Pudong's GDP, over 30 large and medium-sized legal service institutions with over 50 practicing professionals are possessed, and the number of legal service practitioners such as lawyers, notaries, and judicial appraisers will reach more than 10,000. By 2035, we will form a legal service ecosystem characterized by a high degree of service agglomeration, a high degree of complete business format, and a high degree of market openness to further enhance the influence and voice of Pudong legal services in global cooperation and competition and realize the vision of "Location in Pudong, Connection to all the World".

II. Task Measures

1. Actively serve and support national major development strategies

（1）Provide high-quality legal services around such major national strategies as the "Belt and Road Initiative" and the construction of the "Five Centers". We shall fully unleash the functional effects of the legal service industry as a productive service industry, and provide Pudong with a strong guarantee of the rule of law and legal service support for building a leading socialist modernization zone. We shall encourage legal service institutions and practitioners to actively participate in legal services in major areas such as the economy, trade, finance, shipping, and technological innovation, provide professional legal services for various activities such as significant projects, project approval, bidding, investment, corporate compliance, and dispute resolution, to prevent and resolve various risks. We shall improve legal services related to foreign intellectual property rights, uplift the level of legal services in patent, trademark, and copyright protection, and resolution of international intellectual property disputes. We shall support legal service institutions in an active participation in international affairs, the formulation of international rules and standards, and negotiations on major international matters, provide high-quality legal services to foreign embassies and consulates, overseas Chinese-funded enterprises, and citizens, and safeguard the major strategic interests of the country.

（2）Provide legal service support for the high-quality development of the economy in Pudong. We shall improve the "industry chain + legal service" model, provide policy consultation, legal risk assessment, legal support to negotiations, and legal document preparation for such key industries as integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence. We shall guide legal service institutions to match the layout of key industries, integrate with industrial systems, and adapt to industrial development, and promote the integration and development of modern legal services with key industries in Pudong. We shall fully leverage the role of legal service institutions as "resource banks" and "intellectual banks" in the process of investment attraction, placement and stabilization, supply services to facilitate investment promotion in the pioneer area, and provide business entities with legal services throughout the life cycle from establishment to growth, and from development to expansion.

2. Create a legal service agglomeration area with multiple distribution points

（1）Leverage the agglomeration effect of high-end leading institutions in the Lujiazui area to create a "core functional zone". We shall accelerate the development of high-end, foreign -related, and large-scale legal service institutions, encourage the establishment of functional and scarce high-quality legal service institutions, achieve the integration and symbiosis of various institutional functions, and promote the full-chain development of legal service business models. We shall uplift the concentration and visibility of high-level legal services in Lujiazui, leverage the coupling effect between legal services and other professional services, empower the high-quality development of the real economy, finance, and trade, and create a golden business card of internationalized highland of rule of law.

（2）Establish a landmark platform for international dispute resolution institutions and create a "specialized functional zone" in the Pudong Expo area. We shall facilitate the construction of the Asia-Pacific International Arbitration Center Mansion in Pudong, focus on attracting international legal service organizations to settle down, support well-known overseas arbitration and dispute resolution institutions to set up business institutions, and carry out foreign-related arbitration business on civil and commercial disputes in the fields of international commercial affairs, maritime affairs, investment, etc., and form an ecosystem of international commercial dispute resolution legal services with highly concentrated resources and sound service functions to help build a globally-oriented Asia-Pacific arbitration center.

（3）Explore emerging legal service practices and establish a "stress test zone" in the Lin-gang Special Area. We shall establish a foreign-related commercial dispute resolution mechanism compatible with the institutional open system and develop maritime and maritime commercial legal services to provide professional legal support for the construction of an international shipping center.

（4）Support Pudong in creating an internationally concentrated legal service showcase area with aggregation of whole-chain legal institutions, seamless connection of legal functions, intensive sharing of legal space, and with the ability of providing legal services at most one location. We shall attract domestic and foreign legal tech institutions and professional service organizations for aggregation and build an international legal service cluster with a focus on legal technology, foster the development trend of the legal tech industry.

3. Promote a higher level of institutional openness

(1) Strengthen institutional supply and launch more pioneering and leading reform measures, based on the legislative authorization in Pudong. We shall study and benchmark the high-standard international economic and trade rules such as CPTPP and DEPA, make research and exploration in the areas such as lawyer practice, notary development, commercial mediation, foreign-related arbitration, corporate compliance, and legal aid, strive for greater autonomy in reform, enhance the intensity of risk stress testing, promote the introduction of a batch of regulations and management measures in Pudong New Area, gradually establish legal service rules that are in line with internationally accepted rules, and build an institutional and open rule of law guarantee system in the field of legal services.

(2) Steadily advance the opening-up of the legal service industry. We shall establish a mechanism for the introduction of overseas legal service talents, shall, based on the relevant national and local regulations on assessment and practice licenses, attract legal service professionals with overseas lawyer qualifications and strong practical capabilities to practice law in Pudong. We shall deepen the system of joint operation between Chinese and foreign law firms and promote the establishment of physical partnership joint ventures between mainland and Hong Kong/Macau law firms in Pudong.

（3）Actively explore innovative arbitration system rules. We shall, based on the relevant authorizations, explore the independent agreement of foreign-related commercial dispute parties registered in Pudong to apply specific arbitration rules within the scope of Pudong, and have specific arbitrators arbitrate the relevant disputes. We shall encourage parties to include arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism in civil and commercial contracts, and sign contracts and resolve disputes in Pudong.

4. Cultivate world-class international legal service institutions and legal service talents

（1）Attract and cultivate a group of domestic first-class and internationally competitive legal service institutions, and form a diversified and rich legal service system of large-scale institutions, professional institutions, and distinctive institutions. We shall make explorations in accordance with the law to allow other professionals such as eligible certified public accountants, tax accountants, registered cost engineers, patent agents, to become partners of law firms. We shall facilitate the construction of the Shanghai Oriental Foreign Law Discerning Center, organize legal service institutions to actively participate in the creation of national demonstration institutions for foreign-related legal services, and upgrade the level of foreign-related legal services. We shall support law firms in establishing branches, engaging in overseas mergers and acquisitions, and forming joint partnerships to establish practice institutions in major economies, countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", participating in international market competition. We shall support arbitration institutions in establishing overseas branches or offices to enhance cross-border arbitration service capabilities and international market competitiveness.

（2）Build a highland for legal service talent aggregation. We shall support the establishment of legal service talent training institutions in Pudong, organize high-end business training for foreign-related legal services, intellectual property rights, and other legal fields, and cultivate a group of specialized, internationalized, and versatile high-quality legal professionals. We shall implement policies in Pudong to promote the development of legal service industry talents, with a focus on attracting and cultivating foreign-related legal service professionals, to make Pudong the preferred workplace for outstanding legal service talents at home and abroad. We shall support legal service professionals to study at well-known law schools both domestically and internationally, and serve as full-time legal assistants in relevant departments in Pudong. We shall explore the establishment of training bases in overseas legal service institutions, and regularly organize training for talents in areas of high demand. We shall recommend outstanding legal service personnel to serve in international law firms, arbitration institutions, mediation organizations, and other institutions, enhance participation and contribution of Pudong in international legal services.

5. Strengthen reforms in key areas of legal services

（1）Intensify the reform of examination and approval services in the field of legal services. We shall explore to handle the administrative licensing matters involving changes and cancellations of law firms by the judicial administrative department of Pudong New Area entrusted by the municipal judicial administrative department in accordance with the law. We shall, leveraging the "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" platform, further streamline procedures for the convenience of the people, implement a notification commitment system to meet the diverse legal service needs of various entities, formulate legal aid management measures for small and micro enterprises.

（2）Support Pudong notary institutions to explore the reform of operating mechanisms. We shall formulate a plan to promote the innovation and development of notary industry in Pudong, promote the standardized management of notary institutions, encourage the notary industry to actively explore new fields and businesses, participate in the formulation of industry standards in emerging notary fields, and enhance the internal vitality and market operation vitality of notary institutions.

（3）Advance the reform in the field of commercial mediation. We shall benchmark the "Singapore Mediation Convention", encourage the establishment of international commercial mediation organizations in Pudong to formulate commercial mediation rules, negotiation promotion rules, expert review rules and other dispute resolution rules that are compatible with various dispute resolution methods. We shall innovate the form of registration and establishment of commercial mediation organizations, explore the implementation of an individual mediation system, and promote the establishment of a "one-stop" international commercial dispute resolution mechanism for mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

6. Promote the development of both industry organizations and new legal forms

（1）Establish and improve the legal service industry organization in Pudong. We shall establish self-disciplinary organizations in the legal profession to play a role in self-regulation, talent development, rights protection, and international exchanges. Industry organizations and professional institutions are encouraged to benchmark the development level of the international legal service industry, establish evaluation models and assessment systems, create the "Pudong Index" for the legal service industry, and facilitate precise and efficient access of business entities to professional legal services.

（2）Continuously expand the international influence of the "Lujiazui Forum on Rule of Law". We shall focus on global hotspots and cutting-edge issues in the development of the legal service industry, carry out exchanges on the rule of law between China and foreign countries, strengthen friendly cooperation with overseas legal service institutions and industry organizations, and build an open, inclusive, and win-win platform for exchanges and cooperation. Various legal service institutions are encouraged to regularly organize industry summits, thematic forums, brand salons, and other exchange activities on hot topics related to legal services and the rule of law, and to create a brand matrix for legal exchange activities in Pudong.

（3）Develop new forms of legal service derivatives. Legal tech, legal new media, legal think tanks, and other entities are encouraged to play a role in innovation sources, utilizing technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to explore "legal + digital" smart legal service models for various business entities. Legal services shall be fully leveraged to radiate driving effects on the upstream and downstream industrial chains, attract accounting, asset evaluation, intellectual property, tax, and other law-related service enterprises, as well as high-level law research institutions from universities, to aggregate in Pudong and form a high-energy legal service industry cluster.

III. Organizational Guarantee

1. Strengthen organizational leadership

We shall establish a collaborative working mechanism led by the Municipal Bureau of Justice and the government of Pudong New Area, explore the establishment of an international expert advisory committee, agglomerate various legal service institutions and practitioners, further strengthen the overall layout, coordinated planning, and policy support for the construction of the Core Capacity-Carrying Area for Shanghai International Legal Service Hub, and promote the implementation of goals and tasks.

2. Pay attention to risk prevention and control

We shall adhere to coordinated development and security, focus on preventing and handling the relevant risks in foreign-related legal business, pay special attention to the operation of foreign-related legal service institutions, strengthen guidance, tracking, and judgment, ensure both openness and regulation, and promote the orderly development of the legal service industry in accordance with laws and rules.

3. Strengthen publicity and guidance

We shall tell a good story of the Pudong legal service brand, vividly demonstrate the reform and innovation measures in building the Core Capacity-Carrying Area for Shanghai International Legal Service Hub, and create a favorable atmosphere for Pudong to become a global highland for legal services.

This implementation plan shall be effective as of January 1, 2024 and be valid until December 31, 2028.