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The Working Party rejects this criticism. Reforming the system of procedural rules
and practices with a view to enhancing its cost-effectiveness is a key component of
any attempt at tackling the problems of cost, complexity and delays. It is a large
subject, as the length of the Interim Report and this Final Report testify, which lends
itself to, and indeed, demands, independent study. The fact that other matters may
also have a bearing on these problems does not mean that they all can, let alone must,
be crammed into the same study and examined by this particular Working Party.
In fact, the question of conditional fees has recently been referred by the Chief Justice
and the Secretary for Justice to the Law Reform Commission, a body obviously well-
placed to undertake the study.
Admissions of overseas practitioners and ad hoc rights of audience for overseas
lawyers have recently been dealt with by legislation.
Notes
"The Commission has been asked to consider whether conditional fee arrangements (not contingency
fees) would be feasible and should be permitted in Hong Kong for civil cases and, if so, to what
extent (including for what types of cases and the features and limitations of any such arrangements)."
LRC website: www.info.gov.hk/hkreform.
By the new section 27(1) of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance, Cap 159 (brought into operation by
LN 87 of 2003), overseas lawyers can qualify for admission as barristers after taking requisite
examinations, widening the range of persons eligible to join the Hong Kong Bar. By section 27(4),
the range of advocates eligible for ad hoc admissions has also been widened to take in advocates
beyond those from the United Kingdom.
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