A lawyer has been banned from practicing law for one year after taking 350,000 yuan (US$42,000) from a patient with schizophrenia.

Li Kun, the director of Jiuzhong Law Firm in Beijing, was handed the ban by the city's Municipal Bureau of Justice on January 19.

The announcement was made two days later by the bureau at a conference reviewing supervision of the legal profession.

"As a professional lawyer working for a professional legal service organization, Li should have been aware that the matter brought to her by the client had no basis in reality," said bureau Vice Director Geng Jingyi.

Three other lawyers also had their licenses revoked.

The bureau is responsible for supervising lawyers and legal service organizations in Beijing and punishing them when they are found to be involved in malpractice.

Their findings can be appealed against and in fact it can itself also be taken to court.

Li's punishment was handed down following advice from the Beijing Municipal Lawyers Association.

She and her law firm had already received eight complaints by different litigants last year, for which they have received public denunciations.

Neither Li nor the firm would comment yesterday.

The Beijing Times reported that Li sued the lawyers association late last year at Beijing's Haidian District People's Court for damage to her reputation.

There were 9,300 practicing lawyers in Beijing by the end of last year, 1,400 more than in 2003, according to the bureau. Beijing had more than 840 legal service organizations, including 730 local ones and 72 offices set up by overseas law firms.

(China Daily January 24, 2005)