ENG-2010 — Page 80

38 The Legal System

aid not only for the trial or appeal, but also for exemption from the means test or payment of a contribution.

Appeals against refusal of legal aid for appeals to the Court of Final Appeal are heard by a Review Committee chaired by the Registrar of the High Court and comprising a barrister and a solicitor.

The following table sets out the number of applications, certificates granted and amount of expenditures incurred and monies recovered for legal aid cases in 2010:

Civil Cases

Ordinary Scheme

Supplementary Scheme

Criminal Cases

Number of applications

15 981

143

3 907

Number of certificates granted

8 157

106

2 740

Amount of expenditure

$395.6 million

$2.6 million

$118.1 million

incurred

Monies recovered

$866.7 million

$47.3 million

Not applicable

The Official Solicitor

On August 1, 1991, the Director of Legal Aid was appointed the Official Solicitor under the Official Solicitor Ordinance.

The Official Solicitor's main duties are to act as 'guardian ad litem' or 'next friend' in legal proceedings for persons under a disability of age or who are mentally incapacitated, as representative of deceased persons' estates for the purpose of legal proceedings, as Official Trustee and Judicial Trustee and to act as committee of the estate of mentally incapacitated persons. In 2010, the Official Solicitor Office took up 209 new cases.

Director of Intellectual Property

The office of the Director of Intellectual Property, established under the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance, is responsible for running the Intellectual Property Department, which operates the Trade Marks, Patents, Designs and Copyright Licensing Bodies Registries. The department is responsible for making recommendations on policy and legislation related to intellectual property protection, providing civil intellectual property legal advice to the Government and promoting public awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights.