The Court of Appeal will decide on Tuesday whether to lift a stay on proceedings that came into effect when Link Reit challenger Lo Siu-lan filed her latest application for legal aid, which was turned down.
A ruling against Ms Lo will force her to reveal her plans by the end of the Lunar New Year holidays at the earliest.
'We're still discussing with our client,' said Barnes & Daly solicitor Mark Daly, who is advising Ms Lo.
The Housing Authority is seeking to have the 42-day stay of proceedings lifted. That would start the clock ticking again on the 28 days allowed Ms Lo to file a final appeal following the Court of Appeal's ruling against her lawsuit. Since 17 of the 28 days had elapsed before she sought legal aid, Ms Lo would have 11 days left to decide what to do.
Benny Tai Yiu-ting, associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, expects the court to grant the authority's request.
'Of course, her lawyers can argue that they could not work on the case until the legal aid matter was resolved and that they now need more time to prepare,' Professor Tai added.