RESTRICTED
XCR(92)11
document on 11 April 1989 under memorandum XCC(89)46, and the Consultative Document was issued on 2 May 1989. Responses to the Document showed strong support for a statutory scheme for regulating the admission of foreign lawyers and the practise of those lawyers once admitted, but there was wide opposition to the employment/partnership proposal.
12
The Law Society put forward counter proposals which included - (a) foreign firms with offices in Hong Kong would be able to share fees with local firms in respect of matters requiring the joint services of a foreign firm and a local firm;
(b)
(c)
the removal of the present restriction that only a person who is a Commonwealth citizen or who has been resident in Hong Kong for at least seven years may be admitted as a Hong Kong solicitor; and
consideration would be given to introducing an accreditation system allowing for the qualifications of a foreign lawyer to be taken into account in determining the examinations or periods of practical training he should undergo in order to qualify as a Hong Kong solicitor.
13
At the end of the consultation, it was obvious that there was little political support for the Administration over the employment/ partnership proposal and that it would be unlikely to receive the support of the Legislative Council.
14
In these circumstances, we believed that the Law Society's fee- sharing proposal, while falling far short of our policy objective, nonetheless represented a significant step in that direction and should be accepted. On 5 December 1989, after considering memorandum XCC(89) 160, the Council ADVISED and the Governor ORDERED -
(a) the Law Society's fee-sharing counter proposal be adopted, with the details to be discussed with the Law Society and other interested parties; and
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.