CS commends legal professionals for providing pro bono legal services to community
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A total of 455 legal professionals were commended under the Recognition Scheme. There were 330 legal professionals presented with an Individual Award for having provided pro bono legal services of not less than 30 hours within the recognition period. Furthermore, 125 legal professionals were presented with a Special Award under the Individual Category for having provided pro bono legal services of not less than 50 hours within the recognition period. The awardee with the highest number of pro bono legal service hours has served for 567 hours in total.
Apart from the Individual Award, nine law firms and barristers' chambers were commended with a Company Award. They demonstrated significant efforts in providing pro bono legal services and their legal professionals had provided the required aggregate hours of pro bono legal services during the recognition period.
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, expressed his gratitude to the awarded legal professionals, law firms and barristers' chambers for serving the public and contributing to society with professional knowledge. He was delighted to see an increasing number of legal professionals volunteering their pro bono services. The rule of law is the cornerstone and core value of Hong Kong's success. To maintain and promote the rule of law is of crucial importance to Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability, and to providing a better living and working environment for all. In addition to the provision of legal aid services, the Government is committed to promoting pro bono legal services to enhance members of the public's access to justice.
To serve this purpose, the Government has provided a subvention for the Duty Lawyer Service to run the Free Legal Advice Scheme (FLAS) at nine district offices of the Home Affairs Department to engage volunteer lawyers to provide free legal advice. There are 1 500 pro bono lawyers participating in FLAS, handling nearly 7 200 cases in 2024.
The Administration Wing has implemented the Legal Advice Scheme for Unrepresented Litigants on Civil Procedures (Procedural Advice Scheme). Resident lawyers and volunteer lawyers will provide free legal advice on legal procedures. The Procedural Advice Scheme covers litigants who are parties to or going to commence civil legal proceedings in the Lands Tribunal, Family Court, District Court or courts at levels above.
Furthermore, Free Legal Advice Service on Building Management and Free Outreach Legal Advice Service on Building Management run by the Home Affairs Department in collaboration with the Law Society of Hong Kong, Free Legal Helpline and Free Legal Consultation Service run by the Law Society of Hong Kong, etc are also pro bono legal services recognised by the Recognition Scheme.
Three awardees of the Recognition Scheme shared their takeaways from the scheme in Announcements in the Public Interest (APIs). For more details of the Recognition Scheme, the list of awardees and the APIs, please visit www.admwing.gov.hk/eng/public_service/probonolegalservices.html.
Ends/Monday, August 4, 2025
Issued at HKT 16:00
Issued at HKT 16:00
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