The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc in people's lives. But for the already vulnerable among us, being left to fend for themselves can be an especially harsh reality at this time.

Elderly people living alone, underprivileged minors and struggling business owners have been the priority of veteran lawyer Fang Yan's work. The vice chairwoman of the Bar Association of Shaanxi Province is working hard to support those adversely impacted by the epidemic.

Fang, a deputy to the country's top legislature the National People's Congress (NPC), has put forward multiple proposals concerning vulnerable children and seniors since the coronavirus outbreak. In February, the Ministry of Civil Affairs adopted some of her recommendations in their work guidelines for protecting minors without care due to the epidemic.

The lawmaker has also raised awareness of the health hazard caused by discarded face masks. When the issue was brought to the attention of NPC members, they promptly pushed for standardized waste management for used masks to be implemented.

Her calls for better welfare for frontline medical workers suffering work-related injuries and an optimized public health emergency response have also received wide government support.

"Legal work is essential for safeguarding the efforts of epidemic prevention and control," Fang said. "As a NPC deputy and a lawyer, it is my duty to ease everyone's worries in this area."

Another prominent lawyer at the annual political gathering is Xiao Shengfang, chairman of the Bar Association of Guangdong Province, who has offered his expertise to help workers and companies return to work and recover from their losses.

Since the outbreak, Xiao has led a group of more than 2,000 attorneys and mobilized some 50,000 others to assist Guangdong's epidemic prevention and control work, with more than 17,000 directly involved.

As of mid-April, the lawyers had serviced nearly 20,000 businesses in the southern Chinese province and offered free legal advice to more than 45,000 individuals, resolving over 8,600 disputes related to the epidemic.

Small and medium-sized enterprises have borne the brunt of the economic fallout of COVID-19. As cash-strapped businesses struggle to pay salaries and rent due to the shutdowns, Xiao received a flurry of public inquiries regarding labor and tenancy disputes.

To address those specific problems, Xiao's team of experts compiled detailed guidance for labor and employment management for enterprises, and another for legal issues pertaining to long-term rentals.

With support from the provincial government, Xiao has overseen the up and running of a public service hotline offering free legal advice to small and medium-sized enterprises via phone and video calls, along with more than 200 veteran lawyers. Within a month of opening, the hotline helped more than 1,200 firms looking to get back to work.

Xiao has led calls from Guangdong's lawyers to amend the regulations on public health emergency in the province. At the invitation of the Ministry of Justice, Xiao has been actively contributing to discussions about the law on prevention and control of infectious diseases, and on public health emergency.

"This work has made me realize the importance of improving the legal system in regard to public health," Xiao said.