Move to change Legco legal panel's meeting times criticised
A suggestion to shift meetings of the Legislative Council's justice and legal services panel to Friday mornings has drawn strong criticism from the Bar Association and Law Society, with the former saying the change would "effectively shut out" lawyers since they would be in court.
The proposal was aired last week by panel chairwoman Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, of the Business and Professionals Alliance. She cannot make the planned Monday evening meetings.
Three time slots will be discussed at a special meeting of the panel today: Friday morning and Monday and Tuesday evening.
Bar Association chairman Kumar Ramanathan said he did not see any need for change, as the previous arrangement worked perfectly well. But it was acceptable as long as the meetings were held in the evening.
Law Society president Dieter Yih Lai-tak took a similar view.
