The Ministry of Justice issued a series of regulations yesterday to curb illegal operation by lawyers and law firms.

　　"Lawyers not only represent the interests of their clients but also are a critical power to realize the justice of the law,'' said Zhao Dacheng, director with the department of lawyers and notarization of the ministry.

　　The regulation on the punishment of lawyers and law firms who violate laws, scheduled to take effect on May 1, lists 21 items on illegal activities.

　　Law firms will be deprived of business licenses if they bribe judges and prosecuting attorneys, the regulations said.

　　Lawyers' associations will play a more important role in supervising lawyers and curbing illegal activity with the new regulation. The administration can entrust lawyers' associations to probe illegal operations.

　　The ministry also announced another rule on the procedure for law firms to charge retaining fees, also to take effect on May 1.

　　"Disorder is rife in this field," Zhao said, "there is no regulation on how law firms will charge fees though there are rules on how much they should charge."

　　Lawyers are forbidden to collect fees in private from clients, and law firms should be supervised by the judiciary and pricing administrations.

　　"Without good rules, the law firms won't go further," said He Baojian, Zhejiang Haitong United Law Office. "For all law-abiding lawyers, the new rules will be positive for their business."

　　(Xinhua)