Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai’s legal team joined by ‘specialist’ New Zealand lawyer seen as replacement for barred Briton Timothy Owen
- Court allows Marc Corlett’s participation after prosecution raised no objections to him being on Jimmy Lai’s legal team
- New Zealander, who acted for the defence in a media-related sedition trial in Fiji in 2016, is widely seen as replacement for British barrister Timothy Owen
Marc Corlett, who became eligible to practise in the city in June 2020, on Tuesday walked alongside Lai’s leading counsel, Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC, as they entered West Kowloon Court, the venue for Lai’s 80-day trial.
The court allowed Corlett’s participation after the prosecution raised no objections to him being on Lai’s team.
Corlett’s profile on Bernacchi Chambers’ website described him as a “specialist trial lawyer” who had appeared as counsel in more than 180 cases, including criminal trials for both prosecution and defence, while also taking up ones involving complex issues arising from civil and criminal proceedings.
The New Zealander had practised in his home country since 1992 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2016.
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He acted for the defence in a media-related sedition trial in Fiji in 2016. The case involved the newspaper Fiji Times, its senior officials and writers, who were acquitted of sedition charges in 2018.
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's high-stakes national security trial gets under way
Corlett is widely seen as a replacement for British barrister Timothy Owen KC, whose planned participation in Lai’s case triggered an interpretation of the national security law by Beijing last year.
Unlike Corlett, Owen has not been admitted to the Hong Kong Bar and requires the court’s permission to take up cases in the city.
The High Court had approved Owen’s participation in Lai’s case, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal, before Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu asked Beijing to explain the role of overseas lawyers in cases pertaining to national security and sovereignty.
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The National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, ruled in December 2022 that Lee and a high-level committee that he chaired could decide if overseas lawyers were able to participate in national security trials.
The national security committee decided in January this year that Owen’s participation constituted a national security risk.
Lai is also represented by Pang, who has appeared in cases involving opposition activists. The others in his legal team are Steven Kwan Man-wai, Albert Wong Nga-bun, Ernie Tung Ho-chit and Colman Li Fung-kei.
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The prosecution, meanwhile, is spearheaded by Anthony Chau Tin-hang, deputy director of public prosecutions, who previously led a now-disbanded “special duties” unit focusing on cases linked to the 2019 anti-government protests.
Chau is joined by four colleagues from the Department of Justice: assistant director of public prosecutions Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan; and senior public prosecutors Karen Ng Ka-yuet, Crystal Chan Wing-sum and Elisa Cheng Wing-yu.
The five were previously involved to varying degrees in cases arising from either the national security law or colonial-era sedition legislation.
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Chau and Cheung partnered in the first national security law trial in 2021, in which three High Court judges handed down a nine-year jail sentence to a restaurant worker after finding him guilty of inciting secession and committing a terrorist act.
The deputy director is also involved in the prosecution of 47 opposition figures charged with conspiracy to commit subversion over their roles in an unofficial legislative primary election in 2020.
Lai’s trial also involves three Apple Daily companies, which are represented by barrister Jon Wong Kwok-ho, leading fellow juniors Natalie Yeung and Joanna Wong.
Wong, who has more than 20 years’ experience, specialises in “complex commercial cases”, according to the webpage of Wong Man Kit SC’s Chambers. He also serves as legal adviser to the disciplinary board of Hong Kong police.
