SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1988
"AN INWARD-LOOKING SOCIETY WHICH IS ISOLATED AND TOO PROUD TO LEARN FROM OTHERS IS BOUND TO FAIL."
SIR TI LIANG RECALLED, WHEN HE WAS ADMITTED TO THE BAR IN HONG KONG SOME 32 YEARS' AGO, THERE WERE BUT 70-ODD SOLICITORS AND 20 OR 30 BARRISTERS AND THE PROFESSIONS WERE ALREADY COMPLAINING OF BEING "OVER-CROWDED AND FLOODED".
THE POPULATION HAD SLIGHTLY MORE THAN DOUBLED SINCE THEN BUT THE NUMBER OF LAWYERS HAS GROWN MANY MORE TIMES THE NUMBER THAT EXISTED IN 1955.
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"IT MEANS THAT IN A GENERATION, WE HAVE A POPULATION WHO TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OUR LEGAL SERVICES MUCH MORE THAN THEIR PARENTS DID, HE SAID.
"IN THOSE THREE DECADES, OUR BUSINESS ACTIVITIES HAVE BECOME MORE COMPLEX AND MUCH LARGE IN SCALE, THUS REQUIRING MORE AND BETTER EXPERTISE IN THE LEGAL FIELD. THE VAST INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF LAWYERS IS THEREFORE IN RESPONSE TO THE NEW DEMANDS MADE UPON THEM.
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ON THE WORK OF THE LAWYERS, SIR ΤΙ LIANG SAID THAT IT HAD BECOME MORE COMPLICATED BECAUSE OF THE MORE DIFFICULT ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE CASES THEY HAD TO HANDLE, BUT WITH THE DITTICULTIES WAS ALSO THE SATISFACTION OF FACING NEW AND GREATER CHALLENGES.
"THE MATERIAL REWARDS ARE MORE THAN ATTRACTIVE AND THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF SCOPE FOR GOOD MEN TO MAKE FULL USE OF THEIR TALENTS."
AS TO THE ROLE OF LAWYERS IN SOCIETY, THE CHIEF JUSTICE SAID THE THAT IN HIS VIEW IT WAS PRIMARILY ONE IN WHICH THEY SHOULD UPHOLD OBEYED BY LAW, AND ENSURE THAT IT WAS UNDERSTOOD, RESPECTED AND GOVERNMENT, BY THE BIG CORPORATION AND BY THE MAN IN THE STREET.
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"IT IS AN AWESOME TASK, BECAUSE IF WE FAIL IN OUR DUTIES, THEN THE WHOLE FABRIC OF SOCIETY WILL GRADUALLY DISINTEGRATE, HE SAID.
"WHEN THAT HAPPENS, THE REWARDS WE HOPE TO ATTAIN WILL NO LONGER BE ATTAINABLE.
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