My TakeThe future of overseas judges and barristers in Hong Kong looks dim

Top British officials and senior lawyers want UK judges and barristers to stay away from Hong Kong’s legal system, unless they happen to represent individuals facing charges under the national security law.

The Hong Kong government wanted to hire a Queen’s Counsel last year to prosecute Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of the defunct Apple Daily and eight opposition figures for their roles in a 2019 anti-government protest. Now the justice department is fighting tooth and nail against Lai’s attempt to retain his own King’s Counsel.

The way things stand is that in such high profile and politically charged cases, it’s increasingly difficult, if not impossible for Commonwealth barristers and judges to work within the Hong Kong system, however valiantly they may try to practise law impartially, free of politics. Pressure may come from any side, whether it’s their own governments, news media or their peers.

Whatever you think about the judicial system in Hong Kong, the conflict between China and the West over the city has politicised every aspect of its governance, unfortunately, including its legal system. In March, the resignation of UK Supreme Court president Lord Robert Reed and vice-president Lord Patrick Hodge from the city’s Court of Final Appeal sent shock waves through the judiciary and far beyond.

Both denied they were under UK government pressure to resign. However, the last six-monthly report on Hong Kong submitted to the British parliament by the office of Liz Truss when she was foreign minister inadvertently gave the game away.

It said: “[F]ollowing discussions with the deputy prime minister and lord chancellor and the president of the Supreme Court, it was agreed that it is no longer tenable for serving UK judges to sit on Hong Kong’s top court … [The] political and legal situation in Hong Kong has now deteriorated beyond the point where it is acceptable for serving UK judges to take part.