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THE LEGAL SYSTEM
Duty Lawyer Service
The Duty Lawyer Service operates the Legal Advice Scheme, which provides legal advice; the Duty Lawyer Scheme, which provides legal representation; and the Tel Law Scheme, which provides legal information over the telephone. It is jointly managed and administered by the Law Society and the Bar Association of Hong Kong. It is funded by the government and the subvention in 1995-1996 was approximately $70.9 million.
The Legal Advice Scheme was set up in 1978 to provide to members of the public free advice, without means testing, at five advice centres located in the District Offices. Members of the public can make appointments to see the volunteer lawyers through one of the 120 referral agencies, which include all District Offices, Caritas Services Centres and the Social Welfare Department. There are about 550 lawyers in the scheme. They advised 4 035 people during the year.
The Duty Lawyer Scheme was introduced in 1979. It initially provided free legal representation to defendants charged with one of six 'scheduled' offences in three magistracies. This was subsequently extended to nine 'scheduled' offences in 1981 and covered all magistracies in 1983. Upon the enactment of the Bill of Rights Ordinance in 1991, the scheme was expanded to offer representation to virtually all defendants charged in the magistracies who have passed both the means and merits tests.
Applicants are subject to a simple means test. The threshold was raised to $108,000 per annum from November 1, 1995. The Administrator of the Duty Lawyer Service - has discretion to grant legal representation to defendants whose gross annual income "exceeds the specified financial eligibility limit. An applicant is also subject to a merits test, based on the 'interest of justice' principle in accordance with the Bill of Rights Ordinance. The prime consideration is whether the defendant is in jeopardy of losing his liberty or whether a substantial question of law is involved.
The scheme also assigns barristers and solicitors, on a roster basis, to advise defendants facing extradition, to monitor the one-way viewer in police identification parades and to represent hawkers upon their appeals to the Governor in Council. The duty lawyer roster listed about 850 remunerated barristers and solicitors in 1995. A total of 42 206 defendants facing charges received advice and representation at trial under the Duty Lawyer Scheme.
The Tel Law Scheme was introduced in 1984 to provide members of the public with a free telephone enquiry service with basic taped legal information, in English and Chinese, on the legal aspects of everyday problems. These tapes cover aspects of matrimonial, landlord and tenant, criminal, financial, employment, environmental and administrative law. They are constantly updated, and new tapes are added when another subject is identified as being of interest to the public. During the year, Tel Law handled more than 145 870 calls.