On August 25, 2026, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) opened the second reading of the draft amendment to the Lawyers Law (律师法修正草案) at the 24th session of the 14th NPCSC, according to the NPC legislation page. The revised text adds an explicit clause to "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of parties" (维护当事人合法权益) and elevates the active development of foreign-related legal services (涉外法律服务) into a statutory objective for the profession.
The draft, prepared by the Ministry of Justice and placed on both the State Council and NPCSC 2026 legislative work plans, revises the Lawyers Law last overhauled in 2017 (in force since January 1, 2018). It pushes the bar toward cross-border practice capacity, hardens practice-rights and conduct norms, and engages the expiry of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) lawyer pilot on October 4, 2026. This is the second reading, not final adoption: a further reading, a Presidential Order (主席令), and a fixed effective date must follow before the amendment takes hold.
What did the second reading change in the draft?
The headline textual addition is the "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of parties" clause, inserted during the second-reading deliberation and absent from the first-reading text. It tightens the duty floor that already binds practitioners under the 2017 Law, which codifies professional secrecy in Article 38 and conflicts of interest in Article 39. The revised draft also writes the active development of foreign-related legal services into the statute, signalling that mainland capacity for cross-border mandates is now a legislative priority rather than a policy aspiration. Provisions on legal aid and on lawyer practice-rights guarantees were highlighted in the same reading.
Who must track the amendment, and why now?
Three groups carry direct exposure. Foreign-related practice partners at mainland Chinese firms will see the cross-border services clause reshape practice licensing and firm-level duties. Hong Kong and Macao GBA-qualified lawyers face a hard deadline: the Ministry of Justice pilot that lets them practise in the nine mainland GBA cities as "GBA lawyers" expires on October 4, 2026, and the amendment is the vehicle expected to carry that right past the pilot. China offices of international firms, already bound by the State Council's Foreign Law Firms' Representative Offices Regulation (last revised December 6, 2024), must track any tightening of the foreign-office perimeter, which bars representative offices from handling Chinese-law matters and requires annual registration with the provincial judicial administrative authority.
What happens to GBA Hong Kong and Macao lawyers when the pilot expires?
Without the amendment, the GBA lawyer pilot lapses on October 4, 2026, removing the only current statutory basis for those cross-border practice rights. The second-reading text is expected to codify the GBA path into a standing provision, converting a time-limited pilot into permanent law. Until promulgation, however, the pilot regime remains the sole legal basis, so firms with GBA-qualified lawyers on file should plan for continuity against the adoption timeline rather than assume it.
What is the path to adoption and entry into force?
The PRC legislative process runs research and drafting, public consultation, inter-ministerial review, NPCSC committee review, adoption, signing, publication in the State Council Bulletin, and then entry into force after a defined vacatio legis. The Lawyers Law amendment has cleared first reading (June 23, 2026) and public consultation (through July 25, 2026), and is now in second reading (August 25 to 28, 2026). Final adoption is expected in the second half of 2026, after which a Presidential Order sets the effective date. Until then the 2017 Law stays in force.
| Stage | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| First reading (NPCSC) | June 23, 2026 | Complete |
| Public consultation | through July 25, 2026 | Complete |
| Second reading (NPCSC 24th session) | August 25 to 28, 2026 | In progress |
| Expected adoption | H2 2026 | Pending |
| Promulgation (Presidential Order) | after adoption | Pending |
| Entry into force | after promulgation | Pending |
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces this kind of committee-stage text change the moment the NPC publishes it on its legislation page.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
For compliance and regulatory-affairs leads, the near-term checklist is tight. Confirm whether your firm holds a foreign-related practice desk or GBA-qualified lawyers exposed to the October 4, 2026 pilot expiry. Map the second-reading clauses, the clause on parties' rights and the foreign-related services objective, against your internal conduct and conflicts framework. Brief the foreign-related practice, professional-responsibility and AML teams together, since the Lawyers Law amendment lands alongside the revised Anti-Money Laundering Law duties that already bind law firms from February 16, 2026. Obsidian tracks this file through to promulgation.
