6
2
(c)
(a)
(e)
difficult, for frequently the legal answer depends upon details which can only be apparent from reading all the same papers as the original adviser.
For these reasons both draftsmen and civil lawyers habitually are advising (and often have to take decisions for) administrators who are much senior and more highly paid than them. Thus the SCC who drafted the Rent Control Ordinance worked directly with the Secretary of Housing; the PCC negotiating recently with CMB and KMB worked directly with Secretary for Environment; and so on. Because the lawyer's role is that of an expert, the senior Administrator in practice has usually to accept his advice. It is vital therefore to ensure sufficient mature men of high ability to advise in important matters, for not only will Departments tailor their actions but even their policy according to the advice given. The proper implementation of policy too is dependent on the quality of the legislation drafted, and much of the legislation setting the financial and social environment (Securities; Companies; Buses; Rent Control; Employment
etc.) is now very complicated.
Consequently the usual considerations affecting pay and seniority in the administrative service (span of control; functional role; supervisory accountability etc.) are difficult to apply in the legal field where often very important matters have of necessity to be decided at a lower level than would be the case in other departments for the reasons described above.
A difficulty however is that workhorses to deal with the more mundane matters are required as well as racehorses to tackle important problems; and (in the present Civil Service set-up) both are likely to be of the same rank because the broadly-based pyramidical structure of the administrative service has traditionally been applied to the Colonial Legal Service. Whilst this may have been satisfactory in relatively undeveloped territories with mostly generalist legal problems, it is no longer appropriate in the increasingly specialist legal work of Hong Kong.
Suggested Aims
1.
The principal aims should be:
To provide pay and conditions at all levels sufficient to attract and then retain enough lawyers of suitable calibre and expertise to service with efficiency the legal needs of Government, bearing in mind possible contributions in special cases from the private sector; provision for both workhorses and racehorses is required;