HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL-15 February 1989
香港立法局
·九八九年二月十五日
49
where a solicitor is declared bankrupt he or she will not be permitted to continue in practice and to make a number of minor amendments found to be necessary in the light of experience.
Turning to the detail of the Bill, I take first the provisions dealing with the admission of solicitors.
A solicitor qualified in the United Kingdom is currently entitled to be admitted as a Hong Kong solicitor and thereafter to practise on his own account or in partnership regardless of how long he has lived in Hong Kong and without further examination or qualifications. By comparison, a newly admitted Hong Kong solicitor must have been employed for two years before being so entitled to practise. The committee thought it desirable to impose a minimum residential requirement for United Kingdom solicitors wishing to practise in Hong Kong as such a requirement would, in the words of the committee, "accord with the wider public interest which argues that those practising law in Hong Kong must first obtain the knowledge of local conditions and demonstrate their commitment to Hong Kong". Clauses 3 and 4 of the Bill provide that a United Kingdom solicitor should be required to have resided in Hong Kong for at least three months immediately before he can apply for admission as a Hong Kong solicitor and for at least 12 months (which can include the period of three months) before he can apply for an unconditional practising certificate.
Within the Judicial and the Government Legal Service (that is service in the Attorney General's Chambers, the Legal Aid Department and the Registrar General's Department) there are lawyers qualified in Commonwealth jurisdictions who, by virtue of the Legal Officers Ordinance, and the Legal Aid Ordinance, are entitled to practise Hong Kong law within the Government. This arrangement is long-standing and under it some lawyers qualified in the countries listed in the Schedule in clause 19 of the Bill have practised Hong Kong law for many years. Unless they obtain a Post Graduate Certificate of Laws from the University of Hong Kong and serve as articled clerks they are not, however, entitled to be admitted as Hong Kong solicitors to practise outside the Judicial and the Government Legal Service. As the requirements of the Post Graduate Certificate of Laws and service in articles are designed to teach the practice of law in Hong Kong and to prepare students for practice, the Government considers that it is unnecessary to apply those requirements to lawyers who already have substantial experience in the practice of Hong Kong law.
The Bill therefore provides that these lawyers should be eligible to be admitted by the Chief Justice as Hong Kong solicitors, subject to certain conditions being met. These conditions are set out in clause 3 of the Bill and
No comments yet.
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