Author: Cao Yuanjun

Comprehensively deepening reform, pursuing high-level opening-up, jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative and a community with a shared future for mankind, and promoting the construction of an open world economy—while actively adapting to the unprecedented global changes unfolding over the past century—are all fundamental strategic priorities for us as we strive to achieve another economic takeoff.

Shenyang is a key central city of national significance, playing a leading role in the development of the Northeast China’s old industrial base region. “The rule of law is the best business environment,” and “a legal environment is the most effective way to attract talent and capital—and is most conducive to development.” Establishing the Northeast Asia Regional Legal Service Center in Shenyang requires “comprehensive planning with greater emphasis on systematicity, wholeness, and synergy,” and building an internationally-oriented regional rule-of-law zone is an effective measure for promoting regional economic development.

I. The Necessity of Establishing a Northeast Asia Legal Service Center

The rule of law is both an intrinsic requirement of the market economy and the fundamental guarantee for its healthy operation. Legal services are an integral and indispensable part of social governance, and their functionality serves as an important indicator for assessing the development level of urban areas worldwide. In the process of modernizing urban governance systems and governance capabilities, building legal-service clusters is an inevitable step in urban development.

Liaoning boasts coastlines along both the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, is located at the heart of Northeast Asia, and serves as China’s only dual land-and-sea gateway to Northeast Asia. It is also a key provincial hub in the Belt and Road Initiative. The Liaoning-Manchuria-Europe, Liaoning-Mongolia-Europe, and Liaoning-Sea-Europe routes—along with other major international corridors—connect the south to the north and link east to west.

As one of China’s earliest coastal provinces to open up to the outside world, Liaoning Province has in recent years been continuously enhancing its internal driving forces for further opening up and development, thereby placing a series of demands on legal services. The “Implementation Plan for Liaoning Province’s Promotion of the Rule-of-Law China Construction (2021–2025)” proposes: “Deepen reform and innovation in legal service sectors such as lawyers, notarization, forensic expertise, and arbitration; cultivate a group of foreign-related legal service institutions that are large-scale, strong in capability, well-branded, and offer high-level services; and build a high-quality team of foreign-related legal service professionals who are politically steadfast, professionally proficient, well-versed in international rules, and possess both international insight and a global perspective. Actively foster foreign-related commercial mediation organizations and strive to establish Liaoning as a center for resolving commercial disputes in Northeast Asia. Optimize and expand foreign-related notarial legal services, explore the implementation of cross-border online and offline notarization services, and set up information exchange platforms for foreign-related legal service institutions and foreign-invested enterprises.”

Shenyang is a pivotal city in Northeast China. From multiple perspectives—including politics, culture, and international exchanges—it plays a leading, radiating, and hubbing role nationwide, fully embodying the essential characteristics of a national central city as a key platform and strategic fulcrum for the nation’s development strategy, and as the fundamental foundation for carrying out the country’s political objectives and strategic tasks. To achieve the revitalization of Northeast China and promote economic prosperity in Northeast Asia, it is imperative to strengthen Shenyang’s capacity to provide legal services with a broader regional impact. Indeed, establishing a Northeast Asia Regional Legal Service Center in Shenyang and developing it into a national regional rule-of-law functional zone represent crucial strategic choices for building a world-class hub for legal services. This initiative will effectively integrate the city’s existing resources and advantages, comprehensively elevate the level of rule-of-law development, optimize the business environment, and drive the development of the entire region.

II. Feasibility of Establishing a Northeast Asia Legal Service Center

Since 2021, Liaoning Province has incorporated Liaoning-specific elements—such as the establishment of a hub for Northeast Asian economic and trade cooperation—into the national “14th Five-Year Plan” and the implementation plan for the Belt and Road Initiative. It has also set up a working mechanism to promote the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), formally joined the Federation of Local Governments in Northeast Asia, and issued policy documents such as the “Liaoning Province Guidelines for Foreign Investment.” By deeply integrating into the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, Liaoning has provided a series of policy safeguards for the Northeast Asian Regional Legal Service Center project.

On January 26, 2022, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments jointly issued guidelines on high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). On February 4, China and Russia released the “Joint Statement on International Relations in the New Era and Global Sustainable Development,” thereby providing a political environment that supports the coordinated establishment of a regional legal service center for Northeast Asian countries with Russia. As for Shenyang City, establishing a regional legal service center for Northeast Asian countries offers the following advantages:

(1) Strong geopolitical advantages

The Northeast Asian economic region is still in its early stages, yet it harbors enormous development potential. Located at the geographic heart of Northeast Asia, China’s northeastern region serves as a frontline outpost and primary battleground for China’s participation in regional cooperation in Northeast Asia. Shenyang, with its advantages as an economic, financial, technological, and trade hub in Northeast China, occupies an especially prominent position in Northeast Asian regional cooperation. Participating in Northeast Asian regional cooperation is an indispensable platform for realizing the revitalization of China’s old industrial bases in the northeast.

(2) Significant advantages in legal resources

As of now, Liaoning Province has 1,289 law firms and 18,105 lawyers; Heilongjiang Province has 860 law firms and 6,940 lawyers; and Jilin Province has 624 law firms and 7,473 lawyers. The number of lawyers in Liaoning exceeds the combined total for Jilin and Heilongjiang. Among these, Shenyang City boasts 433 law firms and 6,510 practicing lawyers, ranking among the top cities both nationally and provincially. A growing number of versatile legal professionals—those who are proficient in law, economics, technology, and foreign languages—are actively engaged in various sectors of society, including the economy, politics, culture, and the daily lives of citizens.

(3) The level of economic development remains stable and is trending upward.

In 2021, Shenyang City achieved a regional GDP of 724.97 billion yuan, surpassing the 720 billion yuan mark in economic size. The city’s economy maintained a steady yet progressive trend, with stable recovery in production and supply, steadily accelerating demand-driven recovery, robust safeguards for basic livelihoods, and continuously improving quality and efficiency of development.

III. Framework Structure of the Northeast Asia Legal Service Center

(1) Target Positioning

The Northeast Asia Legal Service Center should be positioned with the goal of “being rooted in Liaoning, radiating across Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia, influencing the entire country, and reaching out to Northeast Asia.” With judicial and judicial administration service agencies, as well as legal services including lawyers, notarization, arbitration, and forensic expertise, at its core, it should be developed into a pioneering zone for research and practice of the rule-of-law philosophy in the new era.

1. Integrate diverse development models. Systematically analyze the industrial structure, regional planning, and factor endowments of Northeast China, and promote the integrated development of diversified business formats such as intermediary services, business exhibitions, and modern finance. Bring together, in a single hub, legal services covering the entire value chain and all key elements—as well as rule-of-law education, rule-of-law culture, and international exchanges on rule of law—thus creating a highly concentrated zone for legal resources that is professional, market-oriented, and internationally competitive, involving government, business, academia, research institutions, and enterprises.

2. Build a shared digital foundation. Transform the “Internet + Law” big data platform into a comprehensive hub for future online legal services, a central gathering place for rule-of-law discourse, an entry point for rule-of-law products, an experiential venue for rule-of-law development, and a crossroads for the rule-of-law market. Through this platform, we will provide users with all-round, multi-level internet-based legal services, including the latest and most comprehensive laws and regulations, the most authoritative and high-end legal information, expert advice and think-tank decision-making references, the most credible and timely internet-based legal big data reports, and the most convenient and practical solutions related to the rule of law.

3. Provide high-level services. By leveraging the platform, we will bring together foreign-related legal professionals in Shenyang City, offering companies, enterprises, and the general public the best and highest-quality foreign-related legal services. At the same time, grounded in serving the Belt and Road Initiative and Shenyang’s development and construction, we will establish a collaborative exchange platform for lawyers and lawyer organizations from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. We will organize international conferences, study tours, training programs, and other initiatives to provide high-quality and efficient legal support for international economic exchanges among countries and regions jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, thereby promoting the refinement of economic and trade rules within the Belt and Road region in Shenyang and advancing practical efforts in foreign-related rule of law.

(2) Basic Framework

Build an internationalized public rule-of-law platform. Driven by the synergistic collaboration of government, academia, and research institutions, we will foster the large-scale agglomeration of high-end legal service providers and leading legal service enterprises, thereby constructing a comprehensive, end-to-end, and specialized legal services industry ecosystem comprising a “platform-driven layer, core industry layer, related functional layer, finance-support layer, and derivative supporting layer.”

1. Platform-driven layer: Led by the establishment of judicial and judicial administration service institutions, this layer integrates legal education and legal research resources to build an international platform for public rule-of-law innovation, fostering self-sustaining momentum for integrated and innovative legal services and attracting and concentrating high-end resources.

2. Core Industry Layer: Focus on the four key industries—notarization, law practice, arbitration, and forensic expertise—targeting niche sub-sectors, attracting top global enterprises and internationally renowned legal service providers, accelerating the aggregation of high-quality resources, and continuously enhancing our regional influence.

3. Associated Functional Layers: Complement the functional capabilities of related industries such as accounting, taxation, and auditing; integrate next-generation information technologies including big data, cloud computing, and blockchain; foster innovative development of new smart legal service models such as online legal services; and build and establish a full-industry-chain ecosystem.

4. Financial Support Layer: Guided by the need to meet the requirements of various enterprises in commercial activities, this layer provides supporting services such as finance, accounting, and IPO guidance, thereby building a functional and comprehensive financial service system. It helps enterprises secure capital, list on capital markets, and obtain various legal supports for their cross-regional and cross-border commercial activities under the Belt and Road Initiative.

5. Supporting Derivative Services: Guided by the need to meet the business requirements of various legal service providers, we will accelerate the development of complementary services such as convention and exhibition facilities and hotels, thereby establishing a comprehensive, high-end, and high-quality productive service system.

IV. Construction and Operation of the Northeast Asia Legal Service Center

The establishment and operation of the Northeast Asia Legal Service Center must adhere to the principles of Party committee leadership, government guidance, responsibility by the competent authorities, management by industry entities, cooperation among relevant departments, and support from all sectors of society, thereby establishing a scientific management system.

Strengthen organizational leadership. Led by the principal leaders of the local Party committees and municipal governments, relevant local government departments will be responsible for top-level design, formulating plans and schemes, conducting legal and feasibility studies, and ensuring unified implementation. A Management Committee for the Shenyang Legal Services Zone in Northeast Asia will be established to assume overall macro-management of legal services in the Northeast Asia region.

Implement administrative oversight. Judicial administrative authorities should play their role as the competent departments for legal services, working together with the finance, commerce, and other relevant departments to study and formulate policies supporting the development of regional legal service centers. They should provide comprehensive, hands-on support for the establishment and operation of the Northeast Asia Legal Service Center, coordinate the resolution of issues encountered during the center’s construction and operation, and exercise lawful supervision over the regional legal services market.

Emphasize industry collaboration. Industry associations such as the Bar Association should strengthen the establishment of horizontal networking mechanisms and build a legal service system that covers the legal profession, notarization services, forensic expertise, legal aid, and arbitration. At the same time, it is important to enhance coordination and integration with service sectors such as accounting, auditing, valuation, information, and media, thereby creating a comprehensive service ecosystem.

Actively foster digital innovation and development of legal service institutions within the region, elevate the quality of legal services, and organically integrate scale expansion with specialization and excellence, thereby growing stronger and more robust in high-quality development.

Attract professional talent. Adopt a variety of approaches to broadly recruit professionals from diverse fields, thereby building a well-rounded team of legal service professionals. At the same time, leverage the demonstration effect to more extensively encourage talent from other industries to return to their home regions.

Based on the revitalization of existing assets in the local region, we will fully leverage existing resources to achieve an organic integration with the innovative development of the modern legal services industry. Drawing on the practices of neighboring provinces and cities, we will establish specialized legal services industry clusters in designated areas.

Conduct specialized research. Establish a dedicated research institution to conduct in-depth studies on the current situation, tasks, and patterns of regional legal services. Organize practitioners to acquire relevant knowledge and enhance their professional competence through centralized training, specialized forums, and other similar formats.