Bar Association votes to scrap its ban on members advertising

Hong Kong's barristers are free to publicise their services on television, in newspapers, on the internet or in other media - in an appropriate manner - after the Bar Association voted yesterday to drop its absolute ban on advertising.

After the association's annual general meeting, new chairman Russell Coleman announced that the advertising ban had been removed from its Code of Conduct.

Acknowledging that outsiders sometimes perceived the Bar as a 'cloistered profession and a little out of touch', Mr Coleman said he hoped the reform would help dispel that impression.

The removal of the ban has been discussed in the past, but it received renewed impetus after a recent Court of Appeal ruling against a similar ban for doctors.

Some barristers abstained from the vote, Mr Coleman said, possibly because while conservative barristers might not have personally agreed that advertising was proper, they did not want to obstruct the amendment to the code.

As of today, barristers can distribute promotional material in any form, in any area of the media.

Their adverts can carry profile photographs, the nature of legal services they provide, their qualifications and affiliations, cases in which they have been involved, the identity of clients for whom they have acted, and their fee scale. However, a new section will be inserted into the code to ensure advertisements are not 'inaccurate, unverifiable or likely to mislead' - and do not bring the profession into disrepute.