Hong Kong’s legal community calls for more support for judges after chief justice criticises arbiter for copying in verdict
- ‘Totally unacceptable’ for Mr Justice Wilson Chan to use more than 98 per cent of plaintiff’s wording in his own ruling, says Chief Justice Andrew Cheung
- Bar Association chairman Victor Dawes stresses judges under immense pressure and have more work than counterparts overseas
Members of Hong Kong’s legal community have called for more support and guidance for judges after one was reprimanded by the city’s chief justice for copying almost the entirety of written submissions from the winning party in a civil case.
The calls by the Bar Association and a law professor on Wednesday followed a Court of Appeal judgment last Friday that criticised Mr Justice Wilson Chan Ka-shun – who has previously faced similar complaints – for failing to discharge his judicial duties in an intellectual property lawsuit.
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung had found Chan’s conduct to be “totally unacceptable”, a judiciary spokesman on Tuesday said. He also instructed the Judicial Institute, which organises lectures and training sessions for court officials, to improve judges’ awareness of the issue.
“He believes judicial copying is unfair to both parties in a case and undermines the public’s confidence in the administration of justice,” the spokesman said.
Friday’s ruling also prompted three judges hearing an appeal in a separate case on Wednesday to disregard Chan’s findings and examine evidence in the original trial themselves.
The controversy stemmed from the intellectual property lawsuit that was first filed in 2014. In that case, Chan, a Court of First Instance judge ruled in favour of the plaintiff, Wong To Yick Wood Lock Ointment, after finding a Singaporean firm had infringed its trademarks.
But his judgment, delivered in April 2021, incorporated verbatim more than 98 per cent of the plaintiff’s arguments.