The Supreme People's Court (SPC) has released five typical cases demonstrating the application of standardized pleading templates.
The cases show how the templates have facilitated access to justice, improved the efficiency of case filing and dispute resolution, and promoted the prevention and resolution of disputes at the source.
The SPC, together with the Ministry of Justice and the All China Lawyers Association, has promoted the nationwide use of 67 pleading templates for complaints and responses since July 14, 2025.
Designed in a user-friendly, fill-in-the-blank format with checklists and structured elements, the templates simplify legal documents and help litigants present their claims more clearly and accurately.
Courts across the country have expanded support services for the adoption of the templates by providing guidance through mediators, legal aid lawyers and volunteer law students.
Intelligent online functions, including digital completion and one-click document generation, have also been introduced to facilitate case filings. The templates have been incorporated throughout the dispute resolution process — from mediation to litigation and enforcement —helping streamline proceedings and shorten the time needed to resolve disputes.
Since the start of 2026, more than 70 percent of litigants and lawyers have voluntarily used element-based statements of claim when filing cases, an increase of 18.82 percentage points from the previous year. For online case filings, the standardized templates have been preferred choices in more than 75 percent of cases.
More than 644,000 comments on the templates have been submitted online, with an overall satisfaction rate of 90.29 percent.
The typical cases were released to further expand their exemplary roles in judicial practice.
They involve labor disputes, sales contract disputes, securities misrepresentation liabilities, credit card disputes and administrative compensation.
The cases highlight multiparty coordination among courts, administrative agencies, lawyers, mediation organizations and community-level governance bodies in promoting the application of the standardized templates, enhancing substantive dispute resolution effectively.
In one case, legal aid lawyers used the templates to facilitate the handling of a large number of labor disputes, enabling same-day filing, efficient mediation and immediate enforcement of settlement agreements, helping safeguard the lawful rights of workers.
In another, a commercial mediation organization applied the templates to resolve a series of sales contract disputes arising from overdue payments between enterprises.
The cases also show how courts have integrated the application of the templates with diversified dispute resolution mechanisms, including pilot programs combining model litigation with bulk mediation for similar cases, improving consistency and efficiency in resolving a large number of similar disputes.
One representative case demonstrates how the combined use of standardized templates and model litigation helped resolve a series of administrative disputes arising from floodwaters inundating farmland.
More than 700,000 yuan ($103,385) in compensation was paid in a timely manner, safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of 73 farming households and achieving substantive resolution of the disputes.
In these exemplary cases, courts have expanded the use of the templates beyond litigation to support proactive governance by addressing the sources of disputes — contributing to more effective social governance and the prevention of future conflicts.
In one case, the court resolved more than 300 securities misrepresentation disputes in a single effort by using the standardized templates, while supporting evidence-sharing between courts and securities regulators. In another, a comprehensive governance center incorporated the templates into a one-stop mechanism for handling credit card disputes — linking case acceptance, professional mediation and source-based governance to provide a replicable model for resolving financial disputes.
