The city's law service will fall into more market segments, as Shenzhen Lawyer Association is planning to help set up law firms coping with cases in one particular industry.

In the next five years, Shenzhen's law firms are expected to undergo a reshuffle to sharpen the competitive edge of the legal service industry. The first batch of specialized law firms will cover 10 categories including real estate, medical compensation, criminal lawsuit, marriage and World Trade Oorganization affairs.

"By setting up more specialized firms, we can ensure a better quality service with a comparatively low cost for the customers," said Xu Jian, director of Shenzhen Lawyer Association.

As property is one the city's dominant industries, real estate law firms may be the first to face the reshuffle. The association is collecting opinions from real estate professionals and lawyers intending to deliver the real estate law service.

There are now over 3,000 chartered lawyers and around 200 law firms in Shenzhen. Most of the lawyers deliver the professional service featuring a wide variety of industries.

However, as the social and economic progress opens up more opportunities, it also gives rise to more complicated legal problems.

"It is impossible for one lawyer to have a good command of many industries, as it requires a huge injection of time and energy in the experience accumulation and academic research," said Gu Bing, a Shenzhen-based lawyer.

Gu said the lawyers are under tremendous pressure as the cases are becoming more difficult to handle and clients are more demanding.

The segmentation will improve the level of the city's law service by allowing lawyers to share resources and reduce cost.

"The new firms will provide lawyers specializing in one field a platform to better communicate with each other and figure out the solution. The operation cost is also expected to decrease as fewer departments are involved in the case handling process," said Xu.

Editor: Yan