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 In November 1997 and January 1998 Council visited the legal aid bodies and other relevant parties in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United Kingdom as part of its study on the feasibility and desirability of establishing an independent legal aid authority in Hong Kong. Since then, we have taken an interest in keeping ourselves informed of developments overseas. With the passage of time, there is apparent interest in how Hong Kong is doing. Council was invited to join the Conference of the International Legal Aid Group (ILAG) in June 2005. The ILAG was formed in 1992 by a small group of academics and legal aid administrators for the purpose of sharing ideas and experience and of comparing practices. The opportunity was taken too for Council to join the 25th anniversary conference of the Irish Legal Aid Board which immediately followed. In October, Council was invited to take part in another international conference in Taipei. These meetings of experts and practitioners underline some core concepts of legal aid. Firstly, legal aid is based on the conviction of human rights. Secondly, legal aid may take a variety of forms, and service may be delivered through different models. Thirdly, the importance of service quality cannot be under-emphasized, and means are explored to assess quality and cost effectiveness. Finally, legal aid institutions should be independent in structure, in operation and in service delivery. In this regard, the legal aid profession can play an important role.
It would be hard to argue that we would not benefit from participating in such international meetings as Hong Kong is very much alive to issues such as safeguarding human rights, the independence of legal aid, and measures to provide quality legal aid service to meet community needs in a cost-effective manner. Indeed, during the year under review, we identified areas in which further study would be made in respect of the scope of legal aid, such as the remit of the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme, or legal aid for enforcement of the Building Management Ordinance and the deed of mutual covenant in respect of maintenance of buildings for reasons of public safety. At the same time, as it was policy that the lower middle class and below formed the target group for legal aid, it would be necessary to establish a properly researched basis in translating this into practice in terms of household income and financial eligibility. Furthermore, as the financial eligibility limits for legal aid were subject to adjustment in line with the movements of consumer price index C, it would also be valuable to establish if this was the best adjuster available. For these purposes, Council attempted to secure assistance from experts to define the scope of research.
Improving the delivery of service cost effectively has been an on-going concern of Council. Completing the review of the consultant's study on cost control and monitoring of case progress, we identified measures to be explored further which would achieve the dual purpose of quality and cost effectiveness. Our study was interrupted by, or compounded with the Ombudsman's report on monitoring of assigned out cases by the Legal Aid Department, and the 45th report of the Director of Audit on the Department. It is not expected that a comprehensive study of all the views gathered will be completed before the end of March 2006.
Council had to modify its work schedule and redirect resources in the light of major external issues thrust upon it. Apart from those mentioned above, Council diligently examined the concern and comments from the legal profession on the Legal Aid in Criminal Cases Rules, and the interim consultation paper by a Sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission proposing that lawyers might choose to charge conditional fees. For the former, we recommended to the Administration that it would be timely to review the Rules and its operation, given they were first made in 1970s. We accepted that work actually and reasonably done by lawyers should be paid, and that proper preparation and representation of a case would reduce the chore, time and cost for all the parties concerned. Subsequently the Administration set up a working group to review the issues raised. For the latter we held the view that conditional fee arrangements would invariably bring about complications putting the current legal system to risk, benefiting neither consumers nor the community, in addition to the moral hazard in tying lawyers' income with the outcome of the case. If it was the intention of the Sub-committee to make the court more accessible to a greater number of people, Council believed a preferred alternative would be to review the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme through broadening its scope and widening eligibility.
Despite the unanticipated increase in workload, Council developed a plan for its 10th anniversary aiming to project legal aid within the perspective of community life. Apart from a community reception to kick off the anniversary, there would be community interactive events such as a seminar on employment, human rights, matrimonial issues and personal injuries. The Working Party on the Institution of Legal Aid completed its task in drawing up the document entitled "Legal Aid in Hong Kong". It placed on record the values, principles and history of legal aid so that the operation of legal aid might be facilitated, and its evolution put in perspective, and so that it might be a useful start for looking at development in the future. Release of the book will be a fitting and timely feat for Council to mark its 10th anniversary.
2006 is the year to celebrate. We celebrate for what we have achieved for Hong Kong in the past 10 years. We celebrate for we know Council has played and can play a positive and proactive role in the constructive development of legal aid. Many organizations and parties have lent us support in working towards our vision, contributing to the rule of law and upholding human rights. To every one of them we are indeed very grateful.
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