When Michael Vidler moved to Hong Kong from his native Britain in the early 1990s, it was inevitable that he would encounter differences between the two societies. What he didn't expect to find was the appalling, sometimes abusive, way female domestic workers were treated.
The solicitor read in amazement a sign instructing domestic helpers to use service lifts, but nothing prepared him for one of his earliest pro bono cases. His client, Filipino maid Achacoso Warly Cabaneros, was left permanently scarred after her employer branded her hands with a hot iron in 2000.
'I saw the client pretty soon afterwards. Just looking at her hands, it was horrific. I was pretty annoyed at the initial reaction of the police,' Mr Vidler said, adding he had to persuade them to take the case seriously.
In the years since that shocking case helped expose the abuse of domestic helpers, the solicitor has represented a wide range of clients, from a democracy activist who ran onto Sha Tin racetrack dressed in a horse suit to a burglar who stole toy animals to comfort his three-year-old daughter. But Ms Cabaneros' case has stayed with him over the years.
Mr Vidler said the case, in which Ms Cabaneros' female employer was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm and jailed for 18 months, changed the mindset of many local people towards domestic helpers.
'That really epitomised for me the attitude that they could be treated like cattle,' he said.
After more than a decade in Hong Kong, Mr Vidler has made a name for himself by often forgoing the big money of corporate law for the chance to represent the underdog. With strong political views and a belief in people's right to justice, he has become a key player on Hong Kong's legal scene, a thorn in the government's side and the toast of human rights groups.