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"As I have said earlier, it is vital that we should obtain the views of consumers," he noted.
He said the Consultation Paper was issued at the end of March, and the consultation period ends on 30 June,
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"We are therefore almost halfway through that period. We are anxious to get as many responses to the paper as possible, since this is a genuine consultation exercise, he said.
Turning to the Consultation Paper itself, Mr Mathews said some concern had been expressed that an introduction of contingency fees would lead to ambulance- chasing and to other unethical practices.
He said: "This assumes that we would have a system similar to that in the United States. This is not the case."
He added that the Consultation Paper made it clear that, if contingency fees were allowed in Hong Kong, they would operate very differently.
He said: "Firstly, under our system of civil litigation, the losing party must normally pay the winning party's costs. This acts as a strong deterrent to speculative litigation. This principle does not apply in the United States.
"Secondly, it is proposed that, if contingency fees were allowed, there should be a code of practice in respect of contingency fees and there should be a limit on the amount by which a lawyer is able to increase his fees for working on a contingency basis."
Mr Mathews said at present, our law did not generally allow a lawyer to agree to charge a fee only if the case was successful.
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However, the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme worked on a contingency basis and worked well, he said.
"Provided the amount chargeable on a contingency basis is adequately controlled, and provided contingency fees are not allowed in respect of certain types of proceedings (particularly criminal cases), there is a case for allowing them to be introduced in Hong Kong. This would increase access to the law for people who cannot now afford to bring legal proceedings," Mr Mathews said.
End/Thursday, May 11, 1995