On the occasion of the 9th National Legal Advocacy Day, we, the 2007 law students, under the guidance of our teachers, took to the streets and delved into schools and communities with the aim of strengthening legal education and serving economic and social development, contributing our modest efforts to the national legal construction.

As it was our first time engaging in such activities, there were inevitable rough edges and frequent mistakes…

Initially, we set three plans, and the teacher recommended the second one. However, as the female students unanimously felt that the second plan had a low safety factor, we ultimately did not follow the teacher’s advice and chose the third plan.

Following the third plan, we detailed our approach.

Due to serious issues that arose later, this plan was vetoed on the day of departure.

Of course, the vetoed plan was still considered to have been given much thought.

Twenty hours before the event, we redesigned the plan, referencing the methods of other groups and making certain improvements.

First, we considered that this was a legal advocacy event, so we could only choose two methods: oral presentations, advocacy, education, and the distribution of free legal advocacy materials.

Given the limitations of our knowledge and abilities, the oral work had to be simplified to match our professional level, while the distribution of legal advocacy materials was prioritized.

As a free public welfare activity, our group members could not invest too much personally, so we naturally thought of the Legal Advocacy Office of the Judicial Bureau. Thus, we divided our efforts, first addressing the issue of free materials.

With the strong support of the Legal Advocacy Office of the Foshan Municipal Judicial Bureau and the Chancheng District Judicial Bureau, we moved over 100 kilograms of legal advocacy materials from these two departments on the afternoon of the 4th.

After careful selection, we chose the following seven materials: “12·4 Legal Advocacy Special Issue,” “Law into the Community,” “100 Legal Questions for Private Enterprises,” “Enterprise Legal Advocacy and Stability Maintenance Handbook,” “Legal Education Reader for Migrant Workers,” “Democratic Rule of Law Village Construction Brochure,” and “Law into Schools.”

Due to the excessive amount of materials, on the evening of the 4th, after consulting with other group leaders, we decided to distribute some of the materials. This would enrich the content of other groups’ activities (as none had planned to distribute materials before) and significantly reduce our group’s burden, allowing us to better focus our limited energy on the distribution process and on-site legal consultations.

On the morning of the 5th, due to a sudden flu outbreak among our group members, we had to regroup temporarily, dividing the 10 members into 5 groups, each responsible for distributing about 150 copies of the materials.

Since merely distributing materials did not reflect the essence of legal advocacy nor distinguish us from street advertisers, we designed a general procedure to ensure the smooth progress of our legal advocacy.

The specific method was to first quickly grasp the general content of the materials, then design the distribution scenarios based on the content and quantity of the materials, and also consider the flow of people at fixed times.

This approach would significantly extend the time for each material distribution and each advocacy session, and the subsequent facts confirmed the scientific nature of our plan.

At 9 a.m., we took a bus to the destination of this legal advocacy event, Dongfang Square. Since our group and a group from Class 2 had overlapping target areas, some of the advocacy work was completed jointly by both groups. Additionally, the morning crowd in winter was sparse, but as it was our first experience with such activities, the beginning was quite challenging. However, everyone managed to overcome their nervousness and unease, gradually adapting to the activity.

Ultimately, the materials we brought mainly included five types: “Legal Education Reader for Migrant Workers,” “Enterprise Legal Advocacy and Stability Maintenance Handbook,” “Law into the Community,” and “Legal Advocacy Special Issue.”

Since there were over 400 copies of the “Legal Advocacy Special Issue,” our consensus was that this material had the highest distribution potential, and if the recipients did not show rejection, it could certainly be distributed;

“Law into the Community” and “Enterprise Legal Advocacy and Stability Maintenance Handbook” had the same number of copies, 240 each, with one focusing on family and the other on work, so it was agreed that they could be distributed together; the “Legal Education Reader for Migrant Workers” was, as the name suggests, targeted at migrant workers, so the number was relatively smaller, totaling about 160 copies, along with a small number of “100 Legal Questions for Private Enterprises” and other advocacy materials for contingencies.

The distribution process generally followed the planned method. The reason for adopting the approach of first inquiring and then distributing materials was to maximize the convenience of the amount of materials we could carry and the effectiveness of the distribution.

Subsequent facts also proved that when we were about to leave after the advocacy, many people around were carefully reading the legal materials, and the large square and nearby trash bins showed no trace of any legal materials, fully aligning with our pre-conceived goals.

In terms of statistical results, the main body of this advocacy was middle-aged and elderly friends. Most people could not directly express the legal issues around them, requiring us to gently guide them to uncover some common social legal issues, such as labor disputes, divorce property division, and difficulties in enforcement. Since these issues were often covered in our usual courses, there is no need to elaborate here.

In summary, the positive impacts of this activity on us and the people we advocated to are roughly as follows:

First, it undoubtedly enriched the legal knowledge of the people we advocated to. We fully utilized legal proverbs and other simple language forms, integrating the daily language of the people, to translate many obscure professional terms into plain language for advocacy. The effect, judged by the on-site reactions of the advocacy targets, was quite good;

Second, the distribution of legal materials and the people’s thirst for such information, as evidenced by the on-site reactions, should be quite effective;

Additionally, it certainly honed everyone’s oral expression skills. Due to the strictly set procedures and the strong execution concept of the group, everyone maximally enriched their experience in verbal communication during the process;

Finally, it also enhanced everyone’s adaptability. Since the range of people we faced on-site was quite broad, and the tasks were predetermined, an efficient way to execute the tasks did not necessarily equate to the pre-designed plan. The adaptability of everyone during the advocacy activities was thus improved to a certain extent.

Moreover, during this activity, we actively promoted the spirit of mutual assistance, pooling our collective efforts to resolve the people’s difficult questions on the spot, leaving basically no regrets.

Appendix: Theme: Strengthen Legal Advocacy Education, Serve Economic and Social Development.

Plan One: Group Members Conduct Fixed-point Speeches and Advocacy

Thematic speeches titled “Strengthen Legal Advocacy Education, Serve Economic and Social Development,” with each group member preparing a 10-minute impromptu speech. Target audience: first and second-year students of our university, location: Hebin or North Campus, time: December 4th, 8:30-21:00.

Plan Two: Group Members Conduct Street Surveys and Advocacy

Survey and advocacy targets strictly limited to street vagrants; time: December 4th, 8:30-17:00; location: Foshan city area. Advocacy content focused on basic legal concepts, how laws and regulations assist street vagrants, and crime prevention; method: group members in pairs or trios conducting dispersed advocacy, with each group ideally advocating to no fewer than 30 people, using audio-visual aids to document the process, followed by timely summaries after street advocacy.

Plan Three: Group Members Conduct Fixed-point Surveys and Advocacy

Survey targets: merchants and consumers at Foshan’s New and Old Hongyun, Polar Bear, and Pacific Electronics Markets; time: December 4th, 8:30-17:00; content: advocacy on consumer protection laws, certification and accreditation regulations, and other relevant laws and regulations; method: group visits for advocacy and surveys; process requires audio-visual aids to document, followed by timely summaries after advocacy.