The Committee on Social and Legal Affairs of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee held a consultation meeting on Nov 21 to discuss strengthening legal professional education in the new era and promoting its deeper integration with the legal industry. 

The event brought together CPPCC National Committee members, experts, scholars,  and representatives from related government departments and people's organizations to exchange views, provide suggestions and build consensus.

CPPCC National Committee vice-chairmen Zhou Qiang and He Baoxiang attended the meeting.

The meeting acknowledged the achievements of China's legal education system since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and emphasized the fundamental and pioneering role of legal education and talent development in advancing law-based governance in all fields.

It is imperative to uphold the leadership of the CPC throughout all aspects of legal talent cultivation, develop a legal discipline system with Chinese characteristics with a problem-oriented approach and innovative spirit, and establish a comprehensive and normalized collaborative mechanism for talent cultivation that integrates learning and application, the meeting noted. 

The CPPCC should maximize its role as a specialized consultative body to contribute expertise and resources to the building of a high-caliber legal talent pool, according to the meeting.

Hu Weilie, a member of the Leading Party Members Group of the Ministry of Justice and vice-minister of justice, provided an overview of efforts to cultivate legal talent in the new era. Zhang Wenxian, a member of the Leading Party Members Group and head of the Academic Committee of the China Law Society, and officials from the Ministry of Education shared insights during consultations.

Other participants offered suggestions on topics such as improving the collaboration mechanism between law schools and organizations of legal affairs on talent cultivation, establishing a collaborative mechanism between the lawyers' society and universities of political science and law, enhancing cultivation of high-quality foreign-related legal professionals, and strengthening the development of arbitration workforce.