Second job 'can help Hong Kong's junior barristers survive'
Following successful challenge to Bar Association's stipulation, Albert Leung says allowing alternative sources of income has many advantages
Law graduates are more likely to accept hardship as junior barristers if they have the freedom to take on a second job without being bound by restrictions from their legal body.
This was the change barrister Albert Leung Sze-ho, 46, hoped to effect when he challenged the Bar Association at the High Court in April over a stipulation in its code of conduct that members must get consent to work in jobs outside a pre-approved list.
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It was well known that a junior barrister had to be prepared for hardship at the beginning of his career, he said.
"[But] not many know they can apply to undertake a second job to support their basic needs," he said. "If junior barristers were allowed to have supplementary occupations more young law graduates would consider being barristers and those who have left could come back."
The association does not ban additional jobs outright. Barristers can double up as lawmakers or university academics, for instance, and can seek approval for occupations it has not listed.
It retained the stipulation to ensure barristers could apply themselves fully to their practices in rendering legal services to the community, an association spokesman said.