RULES intended to prevent solicitors refusing politically sensitive cases do not go far enough, Legislative Councillor Martin Lee Chu-ming said yesterday.
Mr Lee, a leading barrister and chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong, said the new code of conduct - announced on Tuesday - still left open the possibility of solicitors turning down such cases.
''Despite the society's pleasing acknowledgment that there is a problem, the response of forbidding solicitors from refusing cases based on a client's political beliefs does not go nearly far enough,'' he said.
Mr Lee and fellow liberal leader, Szeto Wah, encountered difficulties in July finding a firm to represent them in a libel case against former Appeal Court judge and leading China adviser Simon Li Fook-sean.
The liberal pair are suing Mr Li over remarks the former judge allegedly made in Beijing about the pair's behaviour during the 1989 pro-democracy protests.
The new code makes it unethical for a solicitor to refuse instructions on the ground of political belief.