Qingdao has recently made clear that it will take multiple measures to build the Qingdao central legal services district by pursuing clustered development and widening the application of intelligent technology. Highlighting its ocean-related and foreign-related features, the district will be built into a leading hub for legal services in Shandong Province to reach out to other parts of China and the world.

The Qingdao central legal services district will be composed of four areas and one district, namely, the foreign-related legal services area in Shinan District, the SCO-related legal services area in the city of Jiaozhou, the financial legal services area in Laoshan District, the pilot free trade zone-related legal services area in the Qingdao Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the digital legal services platform. In institutional setting, the Qingdao central legal services district has pooled a range of internationalized legal service resources including the Qingdao International Commercial Tribunal, the Qingdao Intellectual Property Tribunal, the judgement section of Qingdao Tribunal of Maritime Affairs in the central legal services district, and accommodated a number of law-related institutions such as the Qingdao Foreign-related Public Legal Service Center, the “SCO Window” cross-border call center, the foreign-related law-based governance research center and the international commercial disputes settlement center.

According to construction scheduling, by 2030, the Qingdao central legal services district will gather more than 15,000 employers engaged in legal services, and help the legal services sector to generate an annual revenue of more than RMB 8 bln.  (Yu Bo/Dai Qian)

The free trade zone-related legal services area in the Qingdao Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone.