MESSAGE FROM THE AUTORNEY GENERAL OF HONG KONG
"I think that by now you will have seen a copy of Wilfred Bourne's letter to Denys Roberts about the search for my successor as
ttorney General.
f.
We are conducting a broadly-based search not only because there is no obviously suitable candidate here but also because this seems sensible anyway. It is against this background that we are looking at the English Bar as a possible source. are also looking at other sources.
You will realise that we
The objectoof this message is to provide you with norge background information.
The Attorney Gener:l is an ex-officio member of the Executive Gouncil (the Government's prime policy-making body, presided over by the Governor) und of the Legislative Council. The Tice of ttorney General combines, under the simple Crom Colony constitution of Hong Kong, the role of Minister responsible for the administration of justice in its videst sense und that of Permanent Under-Secretary. There is therefore a large policy content in his work.
In the executive field, the Attorney General is responsible for the provision of the bulk of the legal services required by the Govern- ment. This includes the traditional independent responsibility for the administration of the Criminal Law, responsibility for the provision of legal advice in the Civil field and responsibility for legislative drafting. My Chambers therefore combines in a single centralised organisation the roles of your attorney General and Director of Fublic Prosecutions, the Treasury Solicitor and other departmental legal advisers and the Office of Parliamentary Councel, and some of the roles of the Home Secretary. The Attorney General is also Chairman of the long-term prisoners Board of Review; he has respon- sibilities in the field of legal eduction; he is a member of two Croups (otherwise comprised wholly of unofficial members of the Legislative Council) who are responsible for monitoring the handling of complaints against the Police Force and the Independent Commission Against Corruption; he is a member of the Operations Review Committee of the Independent Commission against Corruption (a body which monitors the investigation department of the Commission); and he is a member or the Judicial Service Commission, which advises the Governor on judicial appointments.
You will recognise from this selection of his activities the diversity of the attorney General's responsibilities, which call for a lawyer with broad experience. For our part, we recognise that we are unlikely to find any one man with the range of experience which all this suggests. The old Colonial Legal Service was probably the only organisation which produced such lawyers lawyers who were jacks of all trades and probably masters of none. My own particular exper- ience was principally in the field of legislative drafting before I took up this appointment, but the pattern of service in a colonial Attorney General's office has always been such that one necessarily attains some degree of expertise in most non-specialised legal fields.
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