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20 March 2002
Secretary
Chief Justice’s Working Party on Civil Justice
1 Battery Path, Central
Hong Kong

Dear Sir,

We are responding to the above consultation paper with our comments.

We are strongly supportive of the objectives of the paper. The proper and effective operation of the court system is crucial to the rule of law in Hong Kong, which in turn is the main foundation of our society and business community.

As the paper rightly identifies, the present system is too often expensive, slow, and complex. For most people, i.e. those who are neither wealthy nor poor enough to qualify for legal aid, the court system is simply not available. The poor quality of the present system provides a breeding ground for substandard or even unethical practice among lawyers, which makes the whole problem even worse. These defects, if unaddressed, threaten not only the normal functioning of commerce, but people’s confidence in the fabric of the community itself.

We have no detailed comments on the recommendations of the report. However, since the report appears to follow the U.K. Woolf Report closely, we urge careful evaluation of the U.K. experience in implementing Woolf. Further, Hong Kong differs in some respects from the U.K., and these differences should be properly taken into account. We are supportive of the general direction of the proposed reforms, and hope that the effort evident in the paper will be carried through into the development of workable procedures that will meet the objectives set out in the report.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Lung Ka-lun
Chairman