The 2022 Legal Service Forum on the Maritime Silk Road opened in Guangzhou's Baiyun district on July 24, marking the first time for Baiyun to undertake such an event.

It also signaled the rapid clustering of legal services components in Baiyun and the gradual highlighting of Baiyun's central legal district's industrial cluster effects in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangzhou).

Government officials, experts and lawyers delivered speeches on the new situation and the challenges and opportunities that the legal services industry is facing during the forum. 

As the core area of the Greater Bay Area (Guangzhou) central legal district, Baiyun central district has initially formed a legal service cluster from west to east around the Guangzhou intermediate people's court.

The first phase of Baiyun central district has welcomed 34 outstanding legal services and research institutes while its second phase, the 1.13-billion yuan ($167.53-million) Guangzhou Bay Area Lawyer Building for diverse, international and branding legal services, is expected to finish construction in the first half of 2023, and 14 high-quality enterprises have signed contracts to settle in the area. 

Pan Zhijun, head of Baiyun district, said that Baiyun will grasp opportunities brought by the Guangzhou-Shenzhen cooperation and the development of the Greater Bay Area to accelerate the construction of a comprehensive legal ecosystem in Baiyun central district.