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THE LEGAL SYSTEM
Legal Advice and Duty Lawyer Schemes Since November 1978, the Law Society of Hong Kong, with the full support of the Bar Association, has administered three schemes to provide free legal representation, legal advice, and legal information for people in Hong Kong. The three schemes are: the Legal Advice Scheme which provides free legal advice in both civil and criminal law matters; the Duty Lawyer Scheme which offers free legal representation to those who are charged with any of the nine scheduled offences in magistrates' courts; and Tel-law, which provides legal information on a wide range of topics by taped telephone messages. The schemes are administered through a management committee which comprises nominees from both branches of the legal profession. The schemes are fully subvented by the government, and received slightly over $20 million in 1987-8.
The Duty Lawyer Scheme has 544 remunerated lawyers (barristers and solicitors) on its panel. The lawyers are rostered by computer or assigned through the central assignment system to represent eligible defendants in magistrates and juvenile courts. The nine scheduled offences covered in the magistrates' courts are: membership of a triad society, loitering, unlawful possession, going equipped for stealing, resisting arrest, possession of dangerous drugs, possession of apparatus fit for using dangerous drugs, possession of dangerous drugs for unlawful trafficking, and possession of offensive weapon. In addition, free legal representation is available in extradition proceedings. In 1988, 15 609 adult and juvenile defendants facing 21 792 charges were assisted by the Duty Lawyer Scheme.
The Legal Advice Scheme operates eight centres in Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, Wan Chai, Eastern, Mong Kok, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong and Yau Ma Tei District Offices. Each centre opens once a week in the evening. Members of the public can approach any of the scheme's referral agencies to make an appointment to see a lawyer at the centre convenient to them. Generally, clients can see a lawyer within 14 days. However, in genuinely urgent cases, special arrangements are made for an early appointment. The scheme has over 100 referral agencies, including all District Offices, Caritas Services Centres and many other social services bodies. There are 355 lawyers (barristers and solicitors) on the Legal Advice panel. They are rostered to give advice at the various centres bi-monthly, and give their service completely without charge. Over 3 200 clients are advised by the volunteer lawyers each year. Legal advice may be sought on any issue, but the most frequent enquiries concern matrimonial, employment, and landlord and tenant problems.
The Tel-law Scheme was introduced in 1984. It provides taped legal information by telephone. Each taped message lasts 2.5 minutes and is available in both English and Chinese. There are over 60 tapes available. The main purpose of the service is to provide basic information on the legal aspects of everyday problems, and to encourage people who have such problems to use the Free Legal Advice Scheme. The tapes are updated as necessary, and cover matrimonial, landlord and tenant, criminal, financial, employment and some administrative law. New tapes are added when a new subject is identified as being of interest to the public. During the year, Tel-law handled 37 582 calls.