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SUBMISSION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ROSS COMMITTEE
INTRODUCTION
It is obviously not my job to consider whether fundamental changes are necessary in the pay and conditions of the Administrative Service in Hong Kong even if I thought, as I do, that it is far too dependent upon the dedication and hard work of some senior members. But, even though I have only recent experience of any government legal service, I would be failing in my duty if I did not say that in my opinion a serious situation exists which presents a real threat to the ability of my Chambers properly to service Government in the legal field, particularly in legislative drafting but also more generally. This is likely to get worse and I am sure that fundamental changes are necessary if over the next couple of years or so the situation is not to become critical.
There
The reason may be the same both in the Administrative service and in my Chambers. When those now in senior positions entered the Colonial Legal Service it was large, well-known, world-wide, and capable of attracting the ablest and most adventuresome from the Universities and the professions. was a large reservoir of talent scattered throughout the Colonies to fill the top posts in any one territory. But, as the Service generally contracted (Hong Kong is now by far its largest component) and the reservoir of talent elsewhere dried up, as it became unfashionable for the ablest of the young (obviously with many excellent exceptions) to join it, so there developed a diminution in the number of highly talented persons available to fill all the promotion posts, especially at the upper-middle level. Hong /general Kong has suffered because whilst this/decline has taken place its
own civil service has had to expand considerably.
This general decline has been aggravated, certainly in the case of my Chambers, by four factors:
(i)
over recent years the erosion of levels of earnings and conditions compared with private sector lawyers (both in Hong Kong and in other home jurisdictions in the latter case exacerbated by the decline in the HK dollar) together with some poor conditions of service particularly at the lower levels, and some bureacratic aggravations which independent-minded professional people find particularly difficult to stomach, has led to a serious loss of Crown Counsel both in quantity. and, more important, in quality. Naturally it is the ablest who leave for they find it easiest to obtain work elsewhere; moreover leaving government service is far easier for those with professional qualifications like lawyers and doctors, than it is for administrative officers.
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