Paul Shieh: A lawyer raising the bar for Hong Kong justice
The new chairman of the Bar Association Paul Shieh loves soccer, is a keen reader and fan of all movies, not just the courtroom dramas
Being a lawyer was never his childhood dream - he would rather have been an engineer. But Paul Shieh Wing-tai became a top barrister and senior counsel and now leads the 1,100-member Bar Association.
"During my teenage years, boys usually studied science and were eager to become engineers or to join any science-related professions, such as building bridges and building computers. I was one of those boys," Shieh said, a month after becoming chairman of the professional body.
"But when the time came to select my major at university, I changed my mind, believing that my mathematics would not be good enough to compete with other university students," Shieh told the South China Morning Post.
"After I decided not to do science, there were not many choices left. I didn't like medicine and didn't want to become a doctor," he said.
Then a student at the elite St Joseph's College on Kennedy Road, Central, Shieh was confident of his debating skills and was impressed by courtroom drama on TV and film.
He eventually decided to pursue a law degree and enrolled at the University of Cambridge law school, from which he graduated in 1987.
"All along I had thought law was a subject only for students whose major was in arts or literature. But I am an example of how a science student can also study law," he said.