I. Case background
As an important branch of the service industry, the legal service industry has gradually become an important auxiliary force for promoting industrial recycling and upgrading, as well as a potential economic growth point by providing knowledge-based and professional litigation and non-litigation services to enterprises and industries. Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, as a strong manufacturing city and a major foreign trade city, accelerates the development of modern legal service industry, which is of great significance for the city to expand the scale of the service industry, improve the industrial chain, connect the operation efficiency of the innovation chain, build a first-class legal business environment, promote a higher level of openness, and enhance core competitiveness.
However, judging from the current situation, the city’s legal service supply capacity still does not match the level of economic and social development. First, there is a gap in the scale of the industry. Compared with some provincial capitals and central cities with higher economic and social development quality, the number of lawyers, the number of law firms, and the total business income in Suzhou are relatively backward. The number of institutions and employees in the judicial appraisal and notary industries are also lower than those in provincial capital cities such as Nanjing. Second, the business structure is unreasonable. The proportion of traditional litigation business in the lawyer industry is high, the proportion of new and high-end non-litigation business is low, and the homogenization competition is fierce. The Suzhou Arbitration Commission accepts few international commercial dispute cases, and the number of financial and insurance cases and the amount of disputes are relatively low. There are few high-qualified judicial appraisal institutions, which is far behind Shanghai and Nanjing. The business structure of the notary industry handling intellectual property protection, financial risk prevention and control, Internet transactions, etc. needs to be further optimized. Third, the level of industrial agglomeration is relatively low. Compared with Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu and other pioneering cities, the construction of Suzhou Legal Service Industrial Park started relatively late, professional brand institutions are relatively scarce, the development trend of the industrial chain is not obvious, and the homogeneous competition of institutional business is relatively prominent. The development of the Legal Service Industrial Park urgently needs in-depth planning. Fourth, there is a shortage of high-level talents. The number of high-level lawyers who are proficient in international trade dispute resolution, cross-border investment and financing, listing and mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy reorganization, intellectual property rights and other businesses is lower than that of Nanjing and Hangzhou. Compared with Nanjing, Wuxi, and Changzhou, the Secretariat of Suzhou Arbitration Commission has fewer personnel, and the number of cases and fewer people seriously affect the quality and efficiency of case handling Problems such as insufficient development of the notary team, unreasonable personnel structure, and scarcity of compound talents are relatively prominent.
In February 2023, focusing on the deployment requirements of the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government on "building the hard core of the rule of law business environment", under the guidance of the municipal working committee and the "two new" working committee, the Municipal Judicial Bureau guided the establishment of the "Legal Service Industrial Cluster Party Committee", adhered to the leadership of party building, promoted the deep integration of modern legal service industry and industrial clusters, and empowered the high-quality development of the economy and society with high-level legal services.
II. Specific practices
(1) Tighten the "linkage chain" of the industry and aggregate superior resources.Through the implementation of the work scheduling mechanism, the industry rotation mechanism, and the problem-solving mechanism, the city’s legal service industries will work together to promote the high-quality development of the whole field of legal services. Relying on the Municipal Legal Service Industry Alliance, the cluster party committee continuously integrates high-quality resources such as lawyers, notarization, judicial identification, arbitration, and grassroots legal services by conducting special exchanges, joint visits and investigations, and guiding twinning and co-construction. By deepening the reform of lawyer approval and promoting the implementation of 18 supporting policies for legal services in the free trade area, it will accelerate the introduction of institutions and the expansion of teams. To cultivate "big and strong" leading law firms with "over 100 people" and "over 100 million yuan" to lead the echelon development of legal service institutions in the city, and to guide law firms and judicial identification institutions to develop in a professional direction by both digging up stock and increasing increments. Host the "Forensic Identification + Lawyer Business" integration special exchange meeting, guide notaries and law firms to sign a package of co-construction agreements, strengthen regular exchanges and cooperation between industries, and promote the agglomeration and development of the legal service industry; guide the Municipal Legal Service Industry Alliance, the Municipal Certified Public Accountants Association, and the Municipal Asset Appraisal Association to jointly hold the "Promoting Industry Integration and Serving Industrial Clusters" cooperation and co-construction symposium, and jointly sign the "Focusing on the Integrated Development of Service Industrial Clusters" co-construction cooperation agreement, effectively integrate resources, promote complementary advantages, and serve the integrated development of industrial clusters.
(2) Extend the "docking chain" of French enterprises and enrich service products.Give full play to the advantages of the joint construction platform of industrial cluster party committees, focus on the diverse legal service needs of enterprises in the industrial chain, and take the Suzhou Public Legal Service Center as the hub and the 10 public legal service centers as the radiation points to actively build a "industrial chain + legal service" linkage network, integrate lawyers, notarization, mediation and other public legal service resources, and provide "menu" legal services for enterprises in the industrial chain. The cluster party committee took the lead in carrying out the "industrial chain + legal services" special project research, visited the biomedical industrial park to understand the legal service needs of such start-ups in the protection of trade secrets and the resolution of conflicts and disputes and provide problem resolution channels; focusing on the characteristics of market entities prone to conflicts and disputes, encouraging and guiding all localities to explore the formation of innovative litigation and mediation work brands such as Kunshan City "Financial Dispute Mediation Studio", Xiangcheng District "Farun and" Crab ", Wujiang District" Worry-free Internet Market "; support and promote the development of the notarized withdrawal of execution funds, effectively improve the standardized management level of execution cases, and actively solve the" worries "of enterprise development.
(3) Expand the business "cooperation chain" and improve the service efficiency.Promote the Municipal Notary Association to solve the problem of repeated notarization and circular certification, and realize simple notarization immediately, general notarization on the 5th day, and high-frequency notarization "agency for investigation" such as wills and inheritance; sign a memorandum of cooperation on blockchain storage projects with Suzhou Internet Court to promote the deep integration of blockchain technology and Internet justice, expand the application scenarios of "blockchain + notarization", and promote the service of the notary industry to a new level; support the Suzhou Arbitration Commission to focus on the service "scientific and technological innovation + advanced manufacturing", visit Technologically Advanced Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, provide special person docking and tracking services according to needs, and efficiently promote arbitration procedures; cooperate with the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau to carry out special project activities on the legal needs research services of scientific and technological talent enterprises, and map out the common laws of science and technology enterprises Need to help science and technology enterprises sort out and identify business risks, formulate legal support plans, and help scientific and technological talents operate enterprises in reasonable and legal compliance.
(4) Build a talent "nurturing chain" to support sustainable development.Adhere to the introduction and cultivation of collaborative efforts, as soon as possible to make up for the shortage of talents, high-end talents, and compound talents in Suzhou legal services. Actively communicate and cooperate with the judicial authorities and relevant industry association authorities to identify and screen local talents with rich practical experience in high-end business sectors such as capital markets and foreign affairs, and provide guidance for Suzhou listed companies to choose legal service partners and prevent and resolve foreign-related civil and commercial disputes; support the promotion of the Municipal Bar Association and the University of International Business and Economics, Su Dawangjian Law School, National University of Singapore Suzhou Research Institute and other institutions to build a professional talent training base, accelerate the training of a group of high-quality foreign-related lawyers, and enhance the ability level of Suzhou lawyers to handle international legal business; Relying on the platform of enterprise innovation subjects and scientific and technological innovation carriers, recommend professional lawyers, notaries, etc. to participate in the research and judgment of law-related affairs in scientific research and the transformation of technological achievements, and explore new mechanisms for the integration of industry services and technological innovation, legal service talents and innovative talents, and technical talents to combine Cultivate high-quality personnel to optimize the supply of high-quality legal services.
III. Work effectiveness
(1) Structural shortcomings are gradually addressed.The scale and specialization of legal services in the city have shown an accelerated trend. Since 2023, there have been 3 new law firms with 100 people, 6 new large and medium-sized law firms in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and 5 new law firms with intellectual property agency qualifications. The scale of lawyers in the city has grown to more than 8,300. Since the implementation of 18 measures to promote the development of the legal service industry in Suzhou Industrial Park, the number of lawyers and business income have increased by 35% and 61% respectively. For the first time, the city’s forensic identification business has achieved full coverage of four categories: forensic, physical evidence, audio-visual materials and environmental damage. Suzhou Huabi Judicial Identification Institute has added electronic data identification qualifications to fill the long-term gap in the identification of audio-visual materials in the city. There are 1 new identification institutions for trace physical evidence and document and physical evidence. The number of judicial identification institutions in the city has increased to
(2) The development of industrial agglomeration has been accelerated.The Legal Service Center of Suzhou Free Trade Zone was officially opened on April 11, 2023, and has attracted nearly 40 legal service institutions to settle in. The center takes the establishment of a foreign-related legal construction base as a breakthrough point, and has introduced foreign-related economic and professional legal institutions including Suzhou International Commercial Court, Singapore International Arbitration Center Suzhou Working Committee, Singapore International Mediation Center Suzhou Working Committee, Nanjing Maritime Court Circuit Trial Point, etc., and initially established a comprehensive, full coverage, full process, and full life cycle legal service system framework, injecting "soft power of the rule of law" into deepening opening up and promoting high-quality and leap-forward economic development. At the same time, guide all localities to build a legal service industry development agglomeration area based on actual conditions, and guide Kunshan to build a unique legal service industry agglomeration area around the integration of Shanghai and the Soviet Union, Wujiang combined with the Yangtze River Delta integration demonstration area, and Xiangcheng around the Hongqiao International Open Hub. The construction of Changshu City, Gusu District, and High-tech Zone agglomeration areas has been fully launched.
(3) "Industrial Chain + Legal Services" has achieved remarkable results.Completed special research on key industries such as biomedicine and big data industries, organized legal service institutions to sign more than 100 co-construction agreements with relevant industry associations and industrial chain enterprises, and successfully built a number of influential industrial chain + legal service workstations. The big data + industrial chain legal alliance and the vehicle to everything "industrial chain + legal service" alliance were selected as provincial and municipal alliance demonstration sites respectively; the cluster party committee’s "joint efforts to tackle key problems and improve the quality and efficiency of legal appraisal of audio-visual materials" "judicial benefits enterprises, high-quality development of escort market entities" Two cases were selected as high-quality development practice cases of party building services of Suzhou organs; Suzhou Arbitration Commission’s "Arbitration Fair and Efficient Resolution of Foreign-related Contract Disputes" was awarded as a typical case of arbitration escort private economic development in the province; the Municipal Law Association’s "Integration and Innovation" "Solid chain strong chain, escort the high-quality development of industrial chain enterprises" was rated as an excellent case of industry associations in industrial clusters and emerging service industry subdivisions by Suzhou Civil Affairs Bureau. "Customs one chain connection" bonded goods notarization assisted destruction and disposal project was awarded the third batch of innovative practice cases in China (Jiangsu) Free Trade Pilot Zone.
IV. Inspiration and reflection
(1) Strengthening the capacity building of grass-roots party organization secretaries is the foundation for realizing the effective coverage of "three new" party building.The political function of the party organization is to set the direction, the organizational function is to gather strength, and the implementation of these requirements to the legal service industry is to ensure that "the heart is thinking and the energy is working together" by strengthening the party’s political construction. The legal service industry team has a higher level of education, a younger age, generally active thinking, showing openness, tolerance, diverse value orientation and a certain degree of independence. Therefore, it is particularly important whether the grassroots party organization secretary can take the lead in strengthening political ability, take the lead in studying the party building business, take the lead in implementing responsibilities, and take the lead in daring to fight. Since 2023, the Municipal Bureau of Justice has held training courses for the secretaries of grass-roots party organizations in the Suzhou lawyer industry, organized the directors of law firms newly appointed in the past five years to participate in special party courses, and organized the grass-roots party organization secretaries of the city’s lawyer industry to participate in the training courses for the secretaries of party organizations in the industry jointly organized by the Organization Department of the Central Party School and the Ministry of Justice. Through normal training, the ideological foundation of the legal service team has been consolidated, the ability of the branch secretaries to perform their duties and the awareness of serving the overall situation has been enhanced, and a good foundation has been laid for the Party Committee of the Legal Service Industry Cluster to promote various
(2) Adhering to the problem orientation is the key to forming a joint force in party building work.Only by standing at the height and vision of building the overall pattern of party building in the industry, identifying the most urgent needs and most urgent concerns at the grassroots level, and refining practical countermeasures and suggestions can we provide a practical path for further improving the performance of party building in the legal service industry. In 2023, the Municipal Judicial Bureau will comprehensively and systematically plan to promote the high-quality development of the legal service industry. The "Three-Year Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of the Legal Service Industry in Suzhou 2023-2025" was formulated to plan the development direction and development goals of the legal service industry from a long-term perspective; the "Supporting Policies on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Legal Service Industry in Suzhou (Trial) " was issued in conjunction with the "Several Policies on Supporting the High-quality Development of the Emerging Service Industry (Trial) " of the municipal government, and the "real money" support measures were used to inject impetus into the high-quality development of the legal service industry. The industry development goals, measures and tasks were classified and clarified, and the high-quality development of the whole field of legal services was effectively promoted.
(3) Take the "Secretary Project" as a breakthrough point to enhance the enthusiasm of grassroots organizations to actively integrate into the overall development situation.The party group of the Municipal Judicial Bureau has established a clear orientation of "grasping the grassroots and branches", guiding the municipal lawyer industry party committee to actively organize and implement the annual party building "secretary project", and guiding the grassroots party organizations of the legal service industry to focus on the development of the industry in combination with their own work pain points, and strive to promote innovation with practical results, and have received good results. Among the application projects, there are deepening projects that continue to be carried out on the basis of winning the first prize of the provincial lawyer industry, exploration projects that provide legal services for foreign-funded industrial parks, promotion projects that empower enterprises to operate in compliance with party building, and promotion projects that promote grid rule of law management. Projects that effectively explore new paths, new carriers, and new methods for the integrated development of party building business through project operation have formed a good situation of promoting the construction of party building, strengthening the business with party affairs, and promoting the practice style with party affairs.