The Ministry of Justice ("MOJ") has recently distributed the Decision on Amending the Administrative Measures for Law Firms (the "Decision"), with effect from January 15, 2019.
The Decision introduces modifications to the original Articles 3, 4 and 16. Among others, the Decision revises Article 4 to read: "a law firm with more than three party members shall, in accordance with provisions of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, establish the grassroots party organization upon approval of the party organization at the next higher level, and change its members on schedule. However, if a law firm employs less than three party members, it shall perform the party related work through establishing a party organization jointly with others or via an instructor in charge of party building dispatched by the party organization at the next higher level, and shall set up its own grassroots party organization in time when conditions permit". Meanwhile, the Decision adds a new item, as Item 11, after Item 10 of Paragraph 1, Article 16, as a result, the original Item 11 is sequentially renumbered as Item 12.