Lawyers on Sunday called for a greater protection of their rights, especially when meeting with their clients and speaking up in court.

Guaranteeing lawyers' rights is an important part of developing the rule of law in China, several delegates of the National People's Congress (NPC) and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said at a Sunday symposium organized by mzyfz.com, a news site hosted by the China Law Society.

"Lawyers are sometimes a vulnerable group in society, whose rights require better protection, as the group faces both new and old problems," CPPCC member Liu Hongyu, also a Beijing-based lawyer, said at the symposium.

According to the Procuratorial Daily, old problems include restrictions in meeting with their clients and obstacles in collecting evidence and conducting investigations, while the new ones include limited debates at court hearings.

Such problems were echoed by Heilongjiang-based lawyer Li Yalan, who is also an NPC delegate. Li noted that there is no specific government body authorized to deal with those problems even if a regulation on protecting lawyers' rights issued last September has, for the first time, provided for the establishment of such a government body.

In her bills, Li also called for an amendment to the current law on lawyers, which she said is "outdated" and "too general," stressing that the amendment should be made by an independent organization, not judicial authorities.

Meanwhile, Li Dajin, another Beijing-based NPC delegate and lawyer, told the symposium that he has proposed a nationwide inspection of the implementation of the law on lawyers, since the law has been in effect for 20 years.

As China deepens judicial reform to better guarantee justice, lawyers must be actively involved in the process, for their expertise in legal affairs can make them better supervisors in courts and procuratorates, the lawmakers and advisers noted.

Read more in Special Coverage: