Shanghai Plans to Build Pudong New Area into an International Legal Service Center

On July 26, 2023, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and the People’s Government of Pudong New Area jointly released the Implementation Plan of Supporting Pudong New Area to Build International Legal Service Center as the Leading Area of Socialist Modernization (Draft) (the “Plan”) for public comment until August 25, 2023. The document laid out 16 tasks and measures in six aspects.

By 2025, the scale advantage of the legal service sector in Pudong New Area will become more prominent, more high-end talents will be attracted, and a modern legal service center will be roughly built. According to the Plan, the economic output of the legal service sector will account for more than 1 percent of the GDP in the area, there will be more than 30 large and medium-sized legal service institutions with more than 50 legal professionals in the area, and the number of well-known domestic and foreign legal service institutions that have established branches in Pudong will rank the top in the country. There also will be more than 10,000 legal service professionals in the area, and the number of talents included in the foreign-related talent pool of the Ministry of Justice will continue to rise.