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Chapter Law Content

Title: Attorney Regulation Act CH
Category: Ministry of Justice(法務部)
Chapter 11 Supplemental Provisions
Article 132
An attorney or a foreign legal affairs attorney may employ a non-citizen to carry out his/her duties as a paralegal or a counsellor. The requirements for a permit of such employment, period of such permit, cancellation of such permit and other administrative matters associated with such employment shall be formulated by the Ministry of Justice in association with the Ministry of Labor.
Article 133
A non-citizen may take the Bar Examination according to the laws of the Republic of China.
Article 134
A non-citizen, when practicing law in the Republic of China, shall abide by all statutes related to legal practice, the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics and the charter of the bar association.
Article 135
A non-citizen who practices law in the Republic of China shall use the country’s language and words when performing his/her duties in the country’s government authorities.
Article 136
The Ministry of Justice should set up an inquiry system for attorneys and resolutions on disciplinary actions towards attorneys on the website for public inquiry. Resolutions on disciplinary actions towards attorneys disclosed in the inquiry system mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall indicate whether the disciplinary decision in question has been concluded.
The personal data of an attorney that may be made public in the inquiry system set forth in Paragraph 1 hereof is as follows:
1. Name;
2. Gender;
3. Year of birth;
4. Reference number and photo of the attorney’s certificate;
5. Name, email, address and telephone number of the firm;
6. The local bar association to which the attorney belongs to; and
7. Disbarment, suspension of legal practice and other disciplinary actions within five years.
Article 137
The provisions of Article 3 shall not apply to those who have obtained the qualifications for attorneys before the amendment to and implementation of this Act on November 16, 1992.
After the date of the amendment to and implementation of this Act on November 16, 1992, those who have obtained an attorney license after passing the Bar Examination but have not completed Pre-Service Training for Attorneys, except for those who are exempted from Pre-Service Training for Attorneys in accordance with the proviso of Paragraph 2 of Article 7 of this Act as amended and implemented on April 23, 1997, shall complete the Pre-Service Training for Attorneys in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019 before they may apply for admission to a bar association.
Article 138
Attorneys who have joined two or more local bar associations before the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019 shall select one local bar association as the one to which they belong in accordance with Paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 24 hereof within two months after such amendment and implementation. The local bar association shall report such selection to the Taiwan Bar Association; which shall forward the report of such selection to the relevant local bar associations.
In case of any attorney who fails to select the local bar association to which he/she belongs in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the Taiwan Bar Association shall make the section on his/her behalf and notify the attorney and the relevant local bar associations within two months after such selection.
After the local bar association is selected according to the rules of the preceding two paragraphs, the relationship between the attorney and other local bar associations will be changed to special membership, and his/her seniority of membership shall continue to increase, except that the attorney has applied for withdrawal from such bar associations by himself/herself.
All local bar associations shall, within one month after the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019, notify their members of the selection of the local bar association to which they belong in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the effects of such selection, and the procedures for handling any non-selection in accordance with the foregoing two paragraphs.
Each local bar association shall suspend any amendment to its charter before having confirmed whether their members are general members or special members in accordance with the foregoing four paragraphs; the local bar associations the term of whose directors, supervisors or member representatives has expired shall suspend any re-election thereof. The term of office thereof shall be extended until the completion of such re-election.
Before the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019, the attorneys of local bar associations who have been elected member representatives and have been converted to special members of such bar associations may exercise their rights of voting, election or dismissal, or be counted in the attendance without being subject to the restrictions in Paragraph 4 of Article 11 hereof.
Article 139
Attorneys who are engaged to deal with legal affairs pending in courts, prosecutor’s offices, and judicial police authorities outside the regions of the local bar association that they have joined and in the regions where there are no local bar associations before the relevant rules for national or cross-regional legal practice in the charter of the National Bar Association become effective shall apply to such local bar association in the region for cross-regional legal practice. However, this shall not apply to in-house attorneys who are exclusively employed by charitable legal persons and have been appointed to handle pro bono cases without remuneration.
Attorneys who apply for cross-regional legal practice in accordance with the foregoing paragraph before the rules regarding matters related to national or cross-regional legal practice in the charter of the National Bar Association become effective should pay monthly fees to the local bar association according to the amount of service fees specified below. However, in case of any lower amount of service fees as provided in the charter of the local bar association, such provisions shall prevail.
1. NT$300, if the general membership of the local bar association reaches 150; and
2. NT$400, if the general membership of the local bar association is fewer than 150.
Where any attorneys fail to pay any service fees for cross-regional legal practice in accordance with the preceding paragraph before the rules regarding matters related to national or cross-regional legal practice in the charter of the National Bar Association become effective, and if such attorneys still fail to pay such service fees payable within the demand period after the demand by the local bar association of the region of their legal practice, the bar association may, depending on the seriousness of the violation, impose on them a late fee of less than ten times the service fees unpaid by such attorneys.
Article 140
An attorney who had joined a local bar association before the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019 shall be an ex officio individual member of the Taiwan Bar Association.
Individual members of the Taiwan Bar Association shall pay a monthly membership fee of NT$300 until the rules regarding the membership fee payable in the charter of the National Bar Association take effect.
Article 141
Each local bar association shall submit its general member register to the Taiwan Bar association within four months after the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019; such local bar association shall document and report any attorney who fails to select the local bar association he/she belongs to or who is its special member.
The Taiwan Bar association shall confirm, prepare, submit to the competent central social administrative authority and the Ministry of Justice, and announce its individual member register within six months after the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019.
The individual members referred to in the preceding paragraph shall have the right to elect, be elected and dismiss directors, supervisors and individual member representatives of the National Bar Association.
Article 142
The Taiwan Bar Association shall, within one month after announcing its individual member register in accordance with Paragraph 2 of the preceding Article, hold an election of the chairman, vice chairmen, directors, supervisors and individual member representatives of the National Bar Association, all of whom shall be directly elected by all individual members identified in Paragraph 2 of the preceding Article by means of communications or electronic voting.
The participation of any individual members in the election of the chairman, vice chairmen, directors, supervisors, and individual member representatives said in the preceding paragraph shall be invalid when they are registered as candidates for two or more posts stated above.
The number of candidates for and methods of the election referred to in Paragraph 1 hereof are as follows:
1. 45 directors, one of whom shall be the chairman and two of whom shall be the vice chairmen, shall be elected by each individual member by casting a secret vote for one candidate from a list of jointly registered candidates. The remaining directors, except for those who are as the ex officio directors concurrently acted by the chairmen of the local bar associations, shall be elected by each individual member by casting a secret voting for a maximum of nine candidates from a list of registered candidates.
2. 11 supervisors shall be elected by each individual member by casting a secret vote for a maximum of four candidates from a list of registered candidates.
3. 78 individual member representatives shall be elected by each individual member by casting a secret vote for a maximum of 26 candidates from a list of registered candidates.
The term of office of the chairman, vice chairmen, directors, supervisors and individual member representatives mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be two years effective from January 1, 2021.
If the chairman of a local bar association is a special member of such local bar association, the joint meeting of the board of directors and supervisors of the local bar association shall appoint a director with general membership to concurrently act as an ex officio director said in Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 3 hereof.
In order to hold the election referred to in Paragraph 1 hereof, the Taiwan Bar Association shall formulate election rules by adopting the resolutions of the joint meeting of the board of directors and supervisors and report them to the competent central social administrative authority for reference.
Article 143
The chairman, vice chairmen, directors, supervisors, and ex officio directors stated in Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 3 of the preceding Article who have been elected in accordance with the provision of Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall establish an Organizational Reform Committee after such election and carry out the organizational reform of the Taiwan Bar Association in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
The chairman elected in accordance with Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall, within three months after taking office, submit the amendments to the charter approved by the resolution of the Organizational Reform Committee to the member representatives meeting for resolution and approval, and apply for relevant registrations.
The attendees of the member representatives meeting stated in the preceding paragraph shall be as follows:
1. Ex-officio member representatives: All directors and supervisors shall serve the ex-officio member representatives concurrently.
2. Individual member representatives.
3. Group member representatives: The joint meeting of the board of directors and supervisors of each local bar association shall appoint one general member to act as a group member representative.
The resolution shall be adopted by the member representative meeting attended by a majority of the member representatives, with more than two-thirds of the attendees giving their consent on such resolution.
After the Taiwan Bar Association establishes the Organizational Reform Committee under Paragraph 1 hereof, such committee should be consulted in case of any formulation, amendment and abolition of any internal regulations.
Article 144
The term "National Bar Association" as used in this Act refers to the Taiwan Bar Association before December 31, 2020.
The charter published and implemented by the Taiwan Bar Association in conflict with this Act shall become invalid after the implementation of this Act as amended on December 13, 2019.
The term of office of the directors, supervisors and member representatives of the Taiwan Bar Association of the eleventh term shall end on December 31, 2020.
The Taiwan Bar Association shall be renamed the National Bar Association after January 1, 2021.
Article 145
Regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be formulated by the Ministry of Justice after consultation with the National Bar Association in conjunction with the Ministry of the Interior.
Article 146
This Act shall be implemented from the date of promulgation. However, the implementation dates of Article 4, Paragraph 1 of Article 10, Article 78, Article 80, Article 106 to Paragraph 1 of Article 113, and Article 136 shall be determined by the Executive Yuan by order; Article 20, Article 22, Article 37, Paragraph 2 of Article 63, Article 64, Article 67, Paragraph 2 of Article 68 Article, Article 75, Subparagraph 3 of Paragraph 1 of Article 76, Paragraph 2 of Article 123 shall be implemented on January 1, 2021.