- 19.
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Public support
Mr President, as I have explained earlier, this Bill is the product of several years of debate, a debate that involves all sections of the community. This is only right. Members of the community are the consumers of legal services and they have every right to express their views on legal services in Hong Kong. The reforms contained in this Bill reflect those views and have wide public support.
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Most of the proposed reforms are also supported by the two branches of the legal profession. This is not surprising, given that the Bill offers new opportunities for those who supply legal services. Solicitors and foreign lawyers will be permitted to operate from within new business structures incorporated and multi-disciplinary practices. These structures will offer greater flexibility than the present regime, both in terms of raising capital and sharing profits, and in meeting clients' needs for a wide range of services. Similar developments are occurring elsewhere in the common law world. Legal practitioners in Hong Kong must have the ability to compete with other places in respect of the quality and variety of their services. I am pleased that the Law Society supports these reforms.
I assure members that the Bill is put forward by the Administration in the belief that all its provisions are in the public interest. They will benefit members of the public, who are consumers of legal services, and will offer opportunities for legal practitioners to provide quality legal services in ways that are more cost-effective, competitive and flexible than at present.
Mr President, I commend this Bill to the Council.
End
Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
Following is the speech by the Attorney General, the Hon Jeremy Mathews, in moving the second reading of the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1996 be read the second time. The Bill aims to amend four Ordinances relating to the administration of justice and to security which are obsolete or anomalous and to repeal five Ordinances which are no longer needed or do not suit Hong Kong's present circumstances.