(Yicai) Feb. 29 -- Shanghai's Hongqiao International Central Legal District has gathered more than 80 institutions that offer legal services in less than three years since its inception.

Among the 84 institutions, there are 36 law firms, 45 legal service providers, as well as branches set up by the Shanghai Arbitration Commission, the Shanghai Bar Association, and the Shanghai Oriental Foreign Law Discerning Center, offering services linked to arbitration, notarization, and legal technology, Liu Linqing, an official who is part of the leadership group that is responsible for building the 3.7-square-kilometer legal hub, told Yicai.

The central business district of Hongqiao, located close to the second international airport of Shanghai, is a transportation hub that also hosts the annual China International Import Expo and accommodates many well-known domestic and foreign enterprises so there is a high demand for legal services, Liu said.

The legal hub meets enterprises' needs in the region, providing services involving cross-border disputes, maritime affairs, investment, mergers and acquisitions, international trade, and intellectual property rights. This is the unique resource advantage of the CBD, Liu added.

One of the institutions in the CBD is the UNPICBP Center, a procurement service center affiliated with the United Nations. Suppliers of the center encounter many commercial legal problems abroad. The hub helps enterprises deliver their claims to agencies in the legal district for professional guidance, said Jiang Yuan, department head at the UNPICBP Center.

A local branch of the Shanghai Arbitration Commission is the only arbitration institution in the world that can be reached by a 15-minute walk after a flight or a train journey so clients in the Yangtze River Delta region can return home by night, Fan Mingchao, executive deputy director of the commission, told Yicai.

The Hongqiao branch of the arbitration center accepted more than 7,300 cases last year, and about three-quarters of the cases involved were non-Shanghai parties but the vast majority were residents of the Yangtze River Delta region, Fan added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine