To further strengthen the supervisory role of people¡¯s congress deputies and deepen the coordination between judicial transparency and grassroots governance, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court has been conducting regular activities under the series ¡°Deputies Visit the Court¡±, ¡°Deputies Visit People¡¯s Courts¡±, and ¡°Deputies Visit Judges¡¯ Offices¡±, continuously extending its liaison efforts to the grassroots level. On the afternoon of June 26, eleven deputies from the municipal, district, and township levels served as ¡°Rule-of-Law Experience Officers¡±, visiting the Huinan Court of the Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court as a group to conduct in-depth research on its efforts to advance diversified dispute resolution. Mao Haibo, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court, attended the event.

The deputies observed a court hearing, visited the ¡°Mediation Officer Station of the Huinan Court¡±, and learned about the work of the Huinan Court, including its one-stop dispute resolution mechanism for cases involving persons with disabilities. Through this visit, they gained a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of judicial work of the People's Court in case adjudication, promotion of diversified dispute resolution, and participation in grassroots governance.

According to reports, with the continuous increase in litigation cases, it has become increasingly difficult to resolve grassroots disputes locally. In response, the Huinan Court of the Shanghai Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court has innovatively established the ¡°Mediation Officer Station of the Huinan Court¡±, bringing together the combined strengths of judges, professional mediators, and village or community-based resident mediators to handle dispute resolution work. In practice, the Huinan Court develops targeted training programs on dispute resolution for professional mediators and village or community committee mediators based on the types of disputes commonly seen in its jurisdiction. Mediators are invited to the station to participate in hands-on ¡°practical training¡± sessions, which integrate judges¡¯ professional expertise with the grassroots knowledge of village and community-level officials to work collaboratively on effectively resolving disputes. After completing the ¡°practical training¡±, mediators can take the skills they have learned back to their villages and communities, expanding local dispute resolution capacity and promoting the settlement of conflicts at the grassroots level.

In recent years, the Huinan Court has also actively explored a one-stop dispute resolution mechanism for cases involving persons with disabilities. In matters such as declarations of legal incapacity and the appointment of guardians, the tribunal has worked with multiple departments to establish a four-level dispute resolution framework involving the Disabled Persons¡¯ Federation, Village and Community Mediators, Judicial Offices, and Judges¡¯ Offices. This collaboration helps persons with disabilities by streamlining the required documentation, optimizing the assessment process, and effectively addressing the ¡°last mile¡± of access to judicial services. Building on this foundation, the tribunal has also promoted circuit trials, adopting a model of ¡°local hearings + on-site legal explanations + distribution of guidance materials¡± to resolve disputes at an early stage and achieve the goal of ¡°hearing one case, improving governance in one area¡±. To address issues such as the lengthy and costly process of civil capacity assessments and the difficulty in appointing guardians, the Huinan Court has innovated with a ¡°legal aid + centralized assessment¡± mechanism. In cooperation with the local Judicial Bureau, it has implemented a ¡°no-application, immediate benefit¡± policy for waiving forensic assessment fees for individuals in extreme financial hardship. This approach lowers the ¡°procedural costs¡± of litigation involving persons with disabilities, saving litigants up to CNY 3,000 in legal fees, CNY 3,750 in assessment fees, and CNY 1,500 in home-visit service fees, while shortening assessment times by nearly 60 days.

At the discussion meeting, Vice President Mao Haibo provided an overview of the Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court¡¯s efforts to develop ¡°Fengqiao-style People¡¯s Court¡± as well as the court¡¯s liaison work with people¡¯s congress deputies in the first half of the year. He also addressed, one by one, the comments and suggestions raised by the deputies. The deputies praised the Huinan Court for launching the ¡°Mediation Officer Station of the Huinan Court¡± and the one-stop dispute resolution mechanism for cases involving persons with disabilities. They fully affirmed the Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court¡¯s commitment to upholding and advancing the ¡°Fengqiao Experience¡± in the new era and its achievements in promoting diversified dispute resolution.

Looking ahead, the Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court will continue to improve its liaison mechanism with people¡¯s congress deputies, broaden channels for deputies to exercise oversight of the court¡¯s work, and enhance the quality of its liaison efforts to enrich the grassroots practice of whole-process people¡¯s democracy.