He has given it all away to the poor

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-13 07:39

Shi Fumao, a 34-year-old lawyer, starts his day at 6 am, when he wakes up to go for his hour-long jog. He says the exercise is important if he wants to continue doing what he does well.

Shi isn't one of those lawyers who charge their moneyed clients hefty amounts to appear in court on behalf of them. Shi's clients are poor workers, harassed by their employers, and he fights their cases free of charge.

Over the past year, Shi has fought 32 lawsuits for 508 migrant workers, and has won 118 workers over 5 million yuan as compensation from their employers.

It's not an easy job, which more often than not starts early in the day, and continues till well after midnight.

"There's always just so much work. At times I get tired and can barely read another line in the file. The exercise helps me stay fit. I love what I do, and I wouldn't want my health to interrupt my job," says Shi, sitting inside his modest 4 sq m office, overflowing with documents and files, in a western suburb of Beijing.

The Zhicheng Law Firm, established in 2005, has its office inside a shabby-looking two-story building, situated in the capital's Fengtai district. With a signboard that reads, "Beijing Legal Aid Office for Migrant Workers", the firm is for many harassed workers their last hope for justice.

Like Shi, who was recently named one of the 10 "outstanding lawyers protecting employees' interests", there are six other lawyers in the firm who fight lawsuits for migrant workers free of cost.

"It (the firm) is a nongovernment organization for public welfare," Shi says.

Since September 2005, when the law firm was set up, it has won more than 31 million yuan for 5,268 migrant workers.

About 17 years ago, Shi's father, a construction worker from Hebei province, sold the family's only donkey to pay for his university fees.

After graduating from law school, Shi joined a law firm in Hebei, and soon rose to become a partner in the firm. At times, Shi would fight lawsuits for poor workers free of charge.

"When I started taking up their cases, and sometimes win them some money without charging a penny from them, it made me feel I was doing the right thing."

Shi quit his job in Hebei and landed in Beijing in 2005, just as the Zhicheng Law Firm was being set up. In the firm, he found a platform to do what he always wanted - help the troubled and needy.

Today, when his former partners of the Hebei law firm are driving luxury cars and taking home hefty pay packages, Shi rides a bicycle to work.

"I can't afford a vehicle with my pay," said Shi, who makes just about 4,000 yuan ($580) a month.

(China Daily 02/13/2009 page5)