China's Ministry of Justice last month issued a notice stipulating new standards that tighten its grip on the legal sector. Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Anhui and Shaanxi provinces will pilot the scheme, which classifies lawyers into nine specialist areas, ranging from criminal law to intellectual property law.., with plans for a ¬professional standard based to a great extent on each lawyer’s “political performance”. Lawyers would have to meet four criteria to be listed, the top one being political correctness, followed by record of “integrity”, length of experience and professional skills. The political performance assessment includes supporting the Communist Party’s leadership and “socialist rule by law”, abiding by the constitution and law, and observing the legal profession’s ethics and discipline.
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