Zhou Qiang, president and chief justice of the Supreme People’s Court, (second from left) on his visit to the Wuhan intellectual property tribunal.[Photo by Cao Bo/ The People’s Court News and Communication Agency]

Judicial system reform needs to be deepened and full play given to judicial functions to protect the Yangtze River and provide legal underpinning to the development of Yangtze River Economic Zone, says Zhou Qiang, president and chief justice of the Supreme People’s Court.

During a visit to Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, on Oct 16 and 17 Zhou heard, in the province’s High People’s court, a work report on court activities. Meeting court staff, Zhou met talking about strengthening exploration and research and improving work efficiency, which he said has been highly fruitful.

Hanyang district court is working to streamline the handling of cases by assigning simple cases to one set of staff and more complicated cases to another set of staff, and this has greatly improved efficiency, Zhou said.

Wuhan intellectual property judicial tribunal handles technology cases. Since it was set up last year, strengthening trial team construction and making changes to trial procedures has played an important role in promoting innovation.