CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Legal Advice and Duty Lawyer Schemes
267
The Law Society, through an executive committee which includes Bar Association representatives, administers two schemes which provide free legal advice in civil law matters, and free legal representation to defendants for certain criminal cases heard in six Magistrates' Courts. The service is funded by government subvention, which in 1982–3 totalled $9.2 million.
Almost 200 lawyers - drawn from the Bar, practising solicitors, and Commonwealth lawyers in government service - have volunteered to offer advice at six evening bureaux established in City District Offices at Wan Chai, Eastern, Mong Kok and Wong Tai Sin, and District Offices at Tsuen Wan and Sha Tin. Applicants are referred through 100 government and voluntary agencies, and over 120 people each week are seen by 24 lawyers at the six bureaux, within seven days of such applicants first coming forward and disclosing their legal problems. The Wan Chai bureau has been particularly well used, with the number of lawyers deployed increased from three to 10 in October.
The lawyers carry out research and give considered advice on matrimonial problems, landlord and tenant disputes, estate administration, contract and loan matters, and many other subjects. Formalities are minimal and there is no means test, although it is suggested to those people able to afford to employ solicitors that they do so if they wish to pursue a solution after receiving preliminary advice at the bureau. Plans are well advanced to supplement the Free Legal Advice Scheme with 'Telephone-Law' which makes available on five telephone lines legal information covering many topics prepared by scheme lawyers. Callers may listen to the tapes in Cantonese or English. Each tape is of two-and-a-half minutes duration and gives a broad outline of the topic. The object is to inform and educate; if applicants need advice on specific problems they will continue to be seen at the legal advice bureaux.
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The Duty Lawyer Scheme which comprises some 160 lawyers - barristers and solicitors in private practice retained on a roster basis provides legal representation at six magistracies situated in Causeway Bay, Western, South Kowloon, North Kowloon, San Po Kong and Tsuen Wan, for nine scheduled offences membership of a triad society, loitering, unlawful possession, being equipped for stealing, resisting arrest, possession of dangerous drugs, possession of apparatus fit for using dangerous drugs, drug trafficking, and possession of offensive weapons. Western Magistracy was added on April 1, and it is proposed to take in the remaining two magistracies at Kwun Tong and Fanling in April 1983.
Defendants in custody are interviewed in the cells before they appear in court at the first hearing. If they accept the free legal representation offered, duty lawyers will undertake bail applications, pleas in mitigation if a guilty plea is advised and appropriate, and in other cases trials for not guilty pleas. The caseload of 8 929 for 1982 compares with a figure of 6 441 cases undertaken in 1981. About two-thirds of the defendants plead not guilty and a significant acquittal rate is achieved. In cases where the defendant pleads guilty or is found guilty, the plea in mitigation by the duty lawyer assists magistrates in their search for a suitable sentence to impose. Many defendants who could not afford legal representation, and who do not understand English law or legal procedure, owe their liberty to the efforts of the duty lawyer on their behalf.
In administering both schemes, priority is given to ensuring that public money is applied for the benefit of the maximum number of applicants and defendants. The Free Legal Advice Scheme goes a long way towards fulfilling the need for information and advice, and providing solutions to the legal problems encountered by the people of Hong Kong;