The 86-022-12348 public legal service hotline of Tianjin - one of the earliest provincial legal service hotlines - has played a significant role in public legal service over the past four years.

According to Li Ming, director of Tianjin Legal Assistance Center, there are over 200 lawyers working shifts for the hotline in a bid to offer people 24-hour legal services, including notarization, legal assistance, judicial expertise and arbitration, free of charge, every day, without exception, throughout the year.

Lawyers providing legal services on the phone. [Photo by Deng Zaiyue/For China Daily]

In 2019, the 12348 public legal service hotline of Tianjin established its connection with the 110 service platform.

“If a local citizen calls the police by 110 and the case turns out to be about civil dispute, the call will be redirected to the 12348 hotline, and professional lawyers will help to solve the problem, which not only eases the pressure on the 110 platform, but also provides people with professional legal services,” said Li.

As early as 2015, Tianjin Municipal Public Legal Service Center had been set up and, as a platform, was gathering various legal resources to provide people with convenient one-stop legal services including notarization and legal assistance, guiding people to safeguard their rights in reasonable and legal ways.

In 2019, through the collaborative efforts of the Service Center and the 12348 hotline of Tianjin, the number of legal assistance cases in Tianjin exceeded 10,000 for the first time, reaching 10,182, with a total economic loss of 120 million yuan recovered. This demonstrates that the public legal services, paid for by the government, are benefiting millions of households.