In a bid to curb judicial corruption and raise the standards of the court system, the Supreme People's Court has recently issued the amended Code of Conduct for Judges and the Code of Ethics for Judges. The new regulations, which impose stricter rules and more specific provisions on the ethical and practical standards of judges, are expected by many lawyers to improve the quality and marketplace of litigation legal practices.

"The new codes address the increasingly evident problems in the judicial system and the growing public concerns about justice. It will also have positive impacts on the litigation practices of law firms," said Zhan Hao, executive partner of Grandall Legal Group in Beijing. 

"Over the years, many lawyers have chosen to focus on non-contentious legal work due to the fear of unfair and unlawful competition by certain lawyers who have close relationship with judges and who bribe judges to win cases.  The new codes will help restore the fair competition into the litigation legal services market and help law firms develop strong litigation practices based on competency and technical skills," Zhan said.

Under the new codes, judges are barred from accepting dinner innovations or gifts from parties involved in the lawsuits they are handling, from attending seminars and forums organised by institutes, law firms or agents involved in lawsuits they are judging, from working for-profit entities and serving as legal counsel of enterprises or organisations during their judge tenures. To ensure the effective implementation of the new codes, provisions on supervision and punishment of judges violating the codes have also been set forth.

Recent years have been seen a number of corruption scandals in the judicial system with the case of Huang Songyou, former vice prediction of the Supreme People's Court who was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes, being one of the most despicable.

"The stricter rules are set to improve the public image of the judges and courts. In return, it will also enhance the reputation of litigation lawyers, which, as a profession, have faced criticisms for some lawyers' misconducts such as bribing judges," said Zhan. "Lawyers' clients, who need to resolve disputes through legal proceedings, will be the ultimate beneficiaries as they will have a better chance of getting a fair trial under the new codes." ALB