WHEN liberal legislators Martin Lee Chu-ming and Szeto Wah decided to take out a libel suit against a former Appeal Court judge, it was a case that was bound to cause sensation inside Hongkong's tight-knit legal community.
But even before coming to court, the case has posed important question marks over the role of lawyers in the run-up to 1997 and placed the legal profession in the dock.
Today we reveal that at least eight of the territory's top firms of solicitors rejected approaches to take on the case against Simon Li Fook-sean, a leading figure in the Preliminary Working Committee on the Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee.
According to United Democrats Vice-Chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, some pointed out the matter was ''politically sensitive''. Still others said they were concerned about the damage to their business interests in China.
The merits or otherwise of the case itself, which revolves around remarks made by Mr Li while he was in Beijing for th e first meeting of the Preliminary Working Committee, are a matter for the courts of Hongkong to decide.
But the difficulties encountered by Mr Lee and Mr Szeto in finding someone to represent them are another matter.