BEIJING - There are more than 200,000 licensed lawyers working in 17,000 law firms across China, according to statistics released on Sunday at the eighth National Lawyers' Congress held in Beijing.

Yu Ning, the president of the All-China Lawyers' Association, briefed the delegates on developments of the law industry, adding that 242 foreign law firms from 21 countries and regions have set up a total of 314 representative offices in China.

During the past three years, Chinese lawyers have totally handled 6.24 million litigation cases, and 1.65 million non-litigation ones, and offered legal assistance in 6.4 million cases, with industry revenue totaling 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion), said Yu.

The Congress will conclude on December 27 when new president, vice presidents and the secretariat will be elected.