National reform action seeks to keep legal system independent, put most experienced judges back in trials

Judicial officials, including court presidents, are being encouraged to return to grassroots courts to hear cases - a move that seeks to make trials efficient and legal teams more professional, officials responsible for judicial reform said on Monday.

The number of cases being heard by presidents and chief judges, whose duties have mainly focused on administrative affairs in the past, has been sharply rising in Shanghai, which has a judicial reform pilot program created by the central government in 2013, said Guo Weiqing, deputy president of Shanghai High People's Court.