Hong Kong pushes ahead with extending senior counsel eligibility to government solicitors, despite strong opposition from barristers
- Government solicitors will qualify for senior counsel promotion under planned reforms ending the status’ exclusivity for barristers
- Department of Justice reveals draft legislation will be tabled next week; Bar Association warns move threatens profession’s independence
Hong Kong’s justice minister is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to allow government solicitors to qualify for promotion to senior counsel, despite stiff opposition from barristers who argue the change is a threat to their profession’s independence.
The Department of Justice revealed on Wednesday it would bring forward legislation in a week on reforming the system of legal representation, opening up for the first time the awarding of senior counsel status to lawyers other than barristers.
The announcement came within hours of the Bar Association, which represents the city’s barristers, voicing its strong objections to a plan floated last month by Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah to extend eligibility for the prestigious title to her own workforce.
Her department said the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2021 would be tabled in the Legislative Council next Wednesday.
The Bar Association earlier made clear it could not accept the proposal given its membership’s “overwhelming opposition” to the reforms.
“The proposal would involve creating a category of senior counsel for legal officers who are neither barristers, nor members of the Hong Kong Bar and are not subject to the Bar’s code of conduct, and which is conditional on remaining in government service,” a statement from the association read. “The Hong Kong Bar Association does not consider that this is in the public interest.”
The professional body said there was a fundamental difference between government legal officers and barristers holding the rank of senior counsel, with the former only serving the Department of Justice and the latter answering to both clients and the court, the association said.
That duty might require a barrister to decline taking up a prosecution case or pursuing a civil claim, if a professional judgment was made that it would be wrong to do so.