ENG-2013 — Page 59

2

The Legal System

This table sets out statistics for legal aid cases in 2013:

Civil Cases

Criminal

Ordinary Scheme

Supplementary

Cases

Scheme

Number of applications

15,494

197

3,797

Number of certificates granted

7,239

147

2,785

Amount of expenditure incurred

$458.5 million

$5.1 million

$109.7 million

Monies recovered

$1,056.5 million

$49.5 million

N/A

The Official Solicitor

The Director of Legal Aid is also the Official Solicitor, appointed 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 2013, the Official Solicitor took up 229 new cases.

The Law Reform Commission

The Law Reform Commission considers and reports on those topics referred to it by the Secretary for Justice or the Chief Justice. Its membership includes judges, academics, practising lawyers and prominent community members. Since its establishment in 1980, the commission has published 62 reports covering subjects as diverse as commercial arbitration, description of flats on sale, guardianship and custody, hearsay, privacy, class actions and charities. The commission is currently considering a range of subjects, including sexual offences, archives law, access to information and third party funding for arbitration.

Director of Intellectual Property

The office of the Director of Intellectual Property, established under the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance, runs the Intellectual Property Department, which operates the Trade Marks, Patents, Designs and Copyright Licensing Bodies Registries. The department makes recommendations on policy and legislation related to intellectual property protection, provides civil intellectual property legal advice to the government, and promotes public awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights. It also facilitates and promotes the development of intellectual property trading in Hong Kong.

Equal Opportunities Commission

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is an independent statutory body established to implement Hong Kong's anti-discrimination legislation. There are currently four anti- discrimination ordinances: the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Disability Discrimination.

31