Similarly, in Taiwan, civil society organisations such as TAEDP work with the Legal Aid Foundation (a non-governmental organisation) to deliver training and select appropriate lawyers to take cases. There are no minimum qualification requirements, in current laws and regulations or the code of ethics, for lawyers taking death penalty cases in Taiwan. Our researcher in China also found that ACLA does not provide specific training on how to handle death penalty cases although some law firms do. The Lawyers Law (2008) requires that lawyers must go through a one-year internship in a law firm and attend specified training before applying to practice. Since the pandemic much of the training has been conducted online. The training content includes eight learning modules for a total of 200 hours; only 20 hours focus on standards of practice and 120 hours on the “practice of a lawyer”. The remaining hours focus on CCP history, principles, policies and Xi Jinping Thought. Performance standards As part of our project to look at the question of effective defence for those facing the death penalty in Asia we asked researchers to look at whether there were relevant performance standards or other professional guidelines and to explore whether there was an interest in developing standards for death penalty cases. In 2003, responding to concerns at poor quality defence representation in capital cases, the ABA published updated guidelines for US lawyers taking death penalty cases. This initiative has resulted in a comprehensive set of performance standards and training programmes.23 American scholars argue that better quality defence representation has contributed to the decline in the use of the death penalty in the U.S. In none of the countries participating in our study were there specific guidelines for lawyers in death penalty cases. In none of the countries participating in our study were there specific guidelines for lawyers in death penalty cases. In Pakistan, standards are applicable to all practicing lawyers, but the Bar Council does not provide guidelines for lawyers practicing criminal law, or more specifically, those dealing in cases where the maximum punishment is the death penalty. JPP also found that the guidelines provided by the Bar Council are extremely vague. When interviewees were asked about a code of conduct and its enforcement, they shared little evidence of implementation. Many lawyers argue that while these rules or guidelines exist on paper, the Bar Council does not enforce these standards adequately, thereby undermining the efficacy of the Pakistani criminal justice system. In China, national and local lawyers’ associations have issued guidelines for handling criminal cases but they do not promote specific guidelines for handling death penalty cases. The ACLA produced 23 American Bar Association (ABA). Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases. 2003. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/resources/aba_guidelines/2003guidelines/ 19