From September 17 to December 3, 2022, a team of nine theoretical and practical experts from Southeast University Law School, Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee, Jiangsu Provincial People's Procuratorate, Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court, Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, Jiangsu Boshioda Law Firm, Beijing Hengdu (Nanjing) Law Firm, and Dacheng (Nanjing) Law Firm, led by Professor Meng Hongzhi from Southeast University Law School, taught the course of Legal Professional Ethics to 98 students of the Master's degree program of the Class of 2022 and other master's degree programs of Southeast University. A team of nine theoretical and practical experts from Jiangsu Provincial High Court, Nanjing High Court, Jiangsu Bodha Law Firm, Beijing Hengdu Law Firm and Dacheng Law Firm taught the course Legal Ethics to 98 students from the 2022 class of master's students and master's students from other colleges of Southeast University. Due to the epidemic, the course was conducted in a combination of online and offline lectures. The experts were knowledgeable and experienced in rule of law practice, and the classroom atmosphere was lively, with enthusiastic exchanges and responses from the students.
The relationship between morality and rule of law: an overview of legal professional ethics
On September 17, 2022, Professor Meng Hongzhi, who is in charge of the course Ethics in the Legal Profession, gave the first lesson to the students, explaining the overall arrangement of the course and recommending relevant books. In terms of content, Prof. Meng first introduced the core concepts and specific contents of the course from the concept of professional ethics and legal ethics. Then, Professor Meng explained the theoretical path of legal administration - what is the rule of law, what is the government by law, and the relationship between ethics and law. Professor Meng taught in a step-by-step manner, explaining to the students Xi Jinping's thoughts on the rule of law, answering why China should follow the path of rule of law, and the basic theories and fundamentals behind the construction of a rule of law government.
Code of conduct for civil servants: the theory and institutional practice of administration according to law
On September 24, after the students had a general understanding of the framework of the legal professional ethics course, Professor Meng Hongzhi talked about the code of conduct for civil servants, distinguishing the code into hard norms represented by special civil service laws such as the Civil Service Law and the Police Law and soft norms of self-restraint with the Code of Conduct for Civil Servants as the core, outlining for the students the bottom line that cannot be crossed in the civil service profession and the The Code of Conduct for Civil Servants Professor Meng also introduced the basic framework of 6+X of China's administrative legal system and taught the theory and practice of each administrative entity law with a large number of cases.
Professional Standards for Intellectual Property Work
On October 8, Professor Hu Chaoyang gave a lecture on the professional standards of intellectual property work to the students. Before the beginning of the class, Prof. Hu asked the students the following questions: When a lawyer accepts a client's assignment, how does he or she evaluate the lawyer previously assigned by the client? How to understand that a good lawyer may not be a good person, and a good person may not be a good lawyer? In the class, Professor Hu found out the deviation of the students' understanding of lawyers' professional ethics through their answers, and then explained the basis of lawyers' professional ethics from a deeper level. As an expert in the field of intellectual property law, Professor Hu talked about different types of IP legal services such as information review, consulting, training, risk control and FTO search, and explained to the students the professional norms that IP workers should follow when facing different businesses.
Professional Ethics and Practice for Prosecutors
On October 15, Professor Yin Ji, who was awarded the title of National Outstanding Public Prosecutor, gave a lecture on the topic of Professional Ethics of Prosecutors. At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Yin mentioned the high incidence of judicial discipline in recent years and emphasized that a qualified judicial officer should meet both professional knowledge and moral quality requirements. Then, Prof. Yin introduced the current selection criteria for civil servants and systematically explained the political characteristics, legal nature, constitutional status and main tasks of the People's Procuratorate, giving students a deeper understanding of the procuratorate. Subsequently, Professor Yin gave a detailed lecture on the professional ethics and professional responsibilities of procurators, summarizing the six professional ethics that procurators must abide by. Finally, Professor Yin used the disciplinary facts of some procurators as negative examples and warned the students to make sure to adhere to the professional ethics of legal practitioners in the future.
Professional Ethics and Practice of Judges
On November 20, Judge Shi Pen, a member of the Judicial Committee of Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court, gave a lecture on professional ethics and practice of judges from the perspective of a senior judge. First of all, Judge Shi explained the Four Steps of Judging Administrative Cases which he had summarized in his long-term administrative case adjudication activities. Then, Judge Shi explained the professional ethics of judges, which is constructed by the Judges Law, the Basic Code of Professional Ethics for Judges, and the Code of Conduct for Judges, and explained the important articles in it. Finally, Judge Shi also emphasized the code of conduct as an administrative judge, i.e. to strengthen the study and accumulation of administrative regulations and normative documents; to strengthen the study and research of civil and commercial legal norms; and to strengthen the study and exploration of the adjudication methods of administrative cases.
The theory and practice of administrative law enforcement
On October 29, Mr. Zhu Jianxin, a member of the Judicial Committee of Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, gave a lecture on Judicial Empirical Analysis of Administrative Law Enforcement to the students. Mr. Zhu pointed out that the number of administrative law enforcement cases is increasing, the field is concentrated and the volume is large at the grassroots level, and the violations of law in administrative law enforcement mainly include violation of legal authority, wrong application of law, violation of legal procedures, lack of reasonable concern, insufficient compensation, improper review function and other violations. Finally, Zhu Jianxin put forward four suggestions on administrative law enforcement: leading by rule of law, strict standards, resolving conflicts, and linkage effectiveness.
Professional Ethics and Practice of Legislative Work
On November 5, under the auspices of Prof. Meng Hongzhi, Director Wang Lashang, Chairman of the Legal Committee of Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, discussed with the students some important issues in the legislative process of the Jiangsu Administrative Procedures Regulations. Director Wang Lashang firstly introduced the important and difficult points of legislation in the process of codification of Jiangsu Administrative Procedures Regulations, and pointed out that Jiangsu Administrative Procedures Regulations is the first local administrative procedures regulations in China, which was also fully affirmed by Professor Jiang Mingan in the Legal Daily on September 9, 2022, as promoting the construction of administrative legal system, which is groundbreaking and has made a very good exploration. After that, Director Wang explained in detail the significance of the Regulations, the basic idea of the Regulations, and the main contents of the Regulations. Finally, Prof. Meng Hongzhi also emphasized in the conclusion of the lecture that the Administrative Procedures Regulations of Jiangsu Province is an administrative procedures regulation with Chinese characteristics, and encouraged students to study it actively.
Code of Conduct for Lawyers: Rules on the relationship between lawyers and adjudicating authorities
On Nov. 12, Mr. Zhou Lianyong, executive director, partner and senior lawyer of Jiangsu Boshioda Law Firm, gave an offline lecture to the students. In the class, Mr. Zhou asked the students three questions: What are the duties and missions of contemporary lawyers? How does a law firm function and manage at present? What are the expectations, worries and specific preparations if you choose to be a lawyer? By communicating with the students, Mr. Zhou Lianyong gave them a clearer self-understanding, advised them to determine their future study direction according to their career choice, and provided them with advice and suggestions on career planning. In addition, Mr. Zhou also explained the duty of confidentiality and honesty and trustworthiness of lawyers, and reminded the students of some issues they need to pay attention to in their career as lawyers, such as having a sense of time and teamwork, and mastering communication skills with supervisors and colleagues.
Code of Conduct for Lawyers: Rules of Relationship between Lawyers and Prosecutors
On November 19, Mr. Xi Chao, the director of Beijing Hengdu (Nanjing) Law Firm, opened a lecture on Rules of Relationship between Lawyers and Prosecutors with a land dispute case as the starting point. In the lecture, Mr. XI Chao mainly talked about the relationship between lawyers and prosecutors in terms of the connection between lawyers and prosecutors, the differences and the types of ethical relationship. Then, Mr. Xi talked about the criminal supervision function of the prosecutor's office, pointed out the phenomenon that the number of criminal cases has dropped significantly in the past two years, and explained the reasons for it. After that, Mr. XI Chao made use of the two acquittal cases represented by Beijing Hengdu (Nanjing) Law Firm to let the students experience the difficulty of acquittal litigation and the greatness of the lawyer profession. Finally, Mr. XI Chao said that although the criminal defense in China is difficult, it is becoming more and more formal, professional and rule of law, and encouraged the students to engage in the criminal defense career.
Code of Conduct for Lawyers: Rules for the Relationship between Lawyers and Clients
On November 26, Dacheng Law Firm senior partner Li Chen taught a class on lawyer practice skills to the students in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere with the topic of Gossip expression. At the beginning of the course, Mr. Li Chen emphasized the absolute need of expression for lawyers, which is not only the expression of one's legal career mindset, but also an excellent way to expand business. Then, Mr. Li Chen explained in detail about expression, and suggested that expression should have four qualities: confidence, clarity, professionalism and affinity. In addition to oral expression, written expression is also an indispensable part of communication between lawyers and clients. Therefore, Mr. Chen Li introduced the writing skills of consulting documents from four aspects: understanding the needs, determining the audience, completing research and creating an outline, and reminded the students to pay attention to the structure and language style.
The last lesson: review and outlook
On December 3, the course leader, Professor Meng Hongzhi, gave the final lesson of Legal Professional Ethics to the students. First of all, Prof. Meng Hongzhi emphasized the importance of legal ethics for legal talents, and that the course Legal Ethics is an ideological and political course that must be offered in law education in higher education, and what the students gained in the class was not only knowledge, but also the cultivation of legal ethics and thinking about their future career planning. Then, Prof. Meng Hongzhi assigned an assignment to the students, that is, to read through the report of the 20th National Congress. Whether from the perspective of learning the history of the Party or learning the ethics of the legal profession, the report of the 20th National Congress is worthy of full understanding and consideration by the students. Finally, Professor Meng gave advice to the students to be virtuous and cherish happiness, told them that happiness comes from struggle, and wished them sunshine, happiness and joy forever.