Qualifications of Support Personnel [Court Hearing Stage]

Whether trainee lawyers or lawyers can participate in court trials as trial assistants and defense lawyers is no different in the field of criminal and civil litigation. Since the "Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that each defendant can only entrust one or two defenders, therefore, when the defendant already has two defenders, some courts allow the defender to bring a paralegal as an auxiliary person to participate in the trial. Some courts do not allow it. The Two High Schools and Three Departments issued the "Regulations on Legally Protecting the Rights of Lawyers to Practice" , which clearly stipulates that lawyers can apply to bring assistants to attend court hearings as needed, but paralegal assistants can only engage in relevant auxiliary work and cannot express defense or representation opinions. It can be seen that the paralegals here should be assistants who do not occupy the defender's quota. They can be lawyers or trainee lawyers, that is, one or two lawyers entrusted by the parties. Each person can apply to bring an assistant to participate in the trial.

The "Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China" clearly stipulates that a lawyer is a practitioner who has completed one year of internship and obtained a lawyer's practicing certificate in accordance with the law. It can be seen that trainee lawyers are not lawyers because they have not obtained a practicing certificate. According to the provisions of the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China , they cannot engage in litigation agency or defense business, nor can they express defense or representation in courts or arbitration tribunals in the name of a lawyer. Opinion.

In practice, according to relevant regulations and the needs of lawyers, the people's court should allow lawyers to apply to bring assistants to participate in court hearings and perform auxiliary work. However, it should be noted that trainee lawyers must appear in court together with practicing lawyers and cannot participate in litigation activities alone, and should indicate their identity as trainee lawyers.