Legal Aid Department
The Legal Aid Department, often abbreviated as LAD, is a department of the Government of Hong Kong. It provides legal aid in the form of legal representation by a solicitor or barrister in civil and criminal proceedings in the District Court and above.
| Legal Aid Department 法律援助署 | |
|---|---|
 Hong Kong Government Agency | |
Legal Aid Department Logo | |
| Director of Legal Aid | Chris Chong |
| Deputy Director of Legal Aid | Juliana Chan (Application and Processing) Steve Wong (Policy and Administration) Mo Yuk Wah (Litigation) |
| Agency Information | |
| Establishment | 1970 |
| Affiliation | Chief Secretary for Administration's Office |
| Headquarter | Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong |
| Contact | |
| Website | Official Website |
| Legal Aid Department | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 法律援助署 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The department is headed by the Director of Legal Aid and is overseen by the Legal Aid Services Council.
Alleged abuse of the legal aid system
In the wake of a number of successful judicial review applications that were made with support from the Legal Aid Department, some pro-government voices criticised the legal aid system for being open to "abuse" and "monopolisation".[1]
In 2021, the government announced a series of measures to curb applicants' ability to choose their own lawyer, and to limit the number of legal aid cases an individual lawyer could take up.
List of Directors of Legal Aid[2]
- Desmond Francis O'Reilly Mayne QC (1968-1981)
- Brian Patrick Clancy (1981-1983)
- Patrick Ronald Moss (1984-1993)
- Pauline Cheung Cheng Po-Lin, Lady Cheung (1993 - June 1996)
- Chan Shu-Ying (June 1996 - 7 August 2004)[3]
- Benjamin Cheung King-man (8 August 2004 - 3 January 2010)[4]
- William Chan Heung-ping (4 January 2010 - September 2013)
- Thomas Edward Kwong (2 September 2013 - 14 March 2022)
- Chris Chong (15 March 2022 - present)[5]
References
- ^ "Chief Secretary for Administration's Blog - Improve the operation of legal aid to prevent abuse and monopolisation". www.cso.gov.hk. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
- ^ "法律援助署五十周年紀念特刊 | Legal Aid Department 50th Anniversary Commemorative Publication". www.lad.gov.hk. p. 50-51. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
- ^ "New chief read all about it". South China Morning Post. 1995-12-20. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
- ^ "政府委任法律援助署署長". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
- ^ "Senior appointment (with photo)". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2024-07-22.