Andrew Li
Encyclopedia
Andrew Li Kwok-nang, CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, GBM
Grand Bauhinia Medal
The Grand Bauhinia Medal the highest award under the Hong Kong honours and awards system, is to recognise the selected person's lifelong and highly significant contribution to the well-being of Hong Kong. The awardee is entitled to the postnominal letters GBM and the style "The Honorable"...
, JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
is the former Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, a post he held from the 1997 Hong Kong handover until 31 August 2010 inclusive. He is succeeded by Geoffrey Ma
Geoffrey Ma
Geoffrey Ma Tao-li is currently the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, who ranks second only to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong order of precedence....
.
Early life and education
Born in Hong Kong, Andrew Li received his early education at St. Paul's Co-educational CollegeSt. Paul's Co-educational College
St. Paul's Co-educational College , is located at 33 MacDonnell Road, Mid-levels, Hong Kong....
, and then at Repton School
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He earned an MA and LLM from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he was a scholar at Fitzwilliam College.
Legal career
Li was called to the Middle TempleMiddle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in 1970, and the Hong Kong Bar in 1973. His first ever pupil was Audrey Eu
Audrey Eu
Yuet Mee Audrey Eu , LLB, LLM, SC, JP is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and the former leader of the Civic Party.-Education and legal career:...
, who commenced her pupillage
Pupillage
A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, is the barrister's equivalent of the training contract that a solicitor undertakes...
in 1978. Her brother and senior counsel Benjamin Yu was also Li's pupil. Current Secretary for Justice
Secretary for Justice
The Secretary for Justice is a member of the Hong Kong Government responsible for prosecutions and legal matters. He or she heads the Department of Justice....
Wong Yan Lung
Wong Yan Lung
Wong Yan-lung, SC, JP is the current Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong since 20 October 2005.-Early years:Wong grew up in a small flat in Tai Wong Street East in Wan Chai. He sold ice cream with his father for a monthly income of HK$300-HK$400. Wong graduated from secondary school at Queen's...
was Li's last pupil. In 1988, he was appointed Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
.
Judicial career
He was appointed a Deputy Judge of the District Court of Hong KongDistrict Court (Hong Kong)
The District Court is the lower court system in Hong Kong, having both criminal and civil jurisdictions. It is located in the Wanchai Law Courts, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road...
in 1982 and a Deputy High Court
High Court (Hong Kong)
The High Court in Hong Kong consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance. It deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the lower courts. It was named the Supreme Court before 1997.- High Court Building :...
Judge in 1991. In 1997, Li was elevated to Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
by Tung Chee-Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong after the handover. There he developed a moderate jurisprudence and was a consensus builder in the Court of Final Appeal.
In 1999, he gave the leading judgment in Ng Ka Ling and Others v. Director of Immigration, which was at the centre of the right of abode controversy.
In 2000, Li set up a working party, consisting of judges, lawyers and academics, to introduce reforms on minimising the complexity of High Court civil litigation procedures
Civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits...
, widening judges' discretionary powers to manage the progress of cases
Legal case management
The terms Legal case management or matter management refer to a subset of law practice management and cover a range of approaches and technologies used by law firms and courts to leverage knowledge and methodologies for managing the life cycle of a case or matter more effectively...
and requiring lawyers to justify their charges. An interim report was released in 2001, containing 80 recommendations, some of which mirror those in the Woolf Reforms in England. Known as the Civil Justice Reform, the final report was released on 3 March 2004, setting out 150 recommendations. It has come into effect on 2 April 2009.
In 2008, Li received the Grand Bauhinia Medal
Grand Bauhinia Medal
The Grand Bauhinia Medal the highest award under the Hong Kong honours and awards system, is to recognise the selected person's lifelong and highly significant contribution to the well-being of Hong Kong. The awardee is entitled to the postnominal letters GBM and the style "The Honorable"...
.
Li announced his decision to resign early from his position as Chief Justice on 25 August 2009, ceasing service on 31 August 2010 and commencing pre-retirement leave on 1 September 2010, three years before retirement age. Upon retirement, Li will be leaving public life. Li's announcement that he intended to take early retirement came as a surprise, prompting widespread speculation that there had been pressure from Beijing, according to the South China Morning Post. Li, however, stressed his retirement was in the best interests of the judiciary and would be conducive to orderly succession planning of the judiciary as three other permanent judges on the Court of Final Appeal will reach retirement age between 2012 and 2014. He also said the judiciary has been under his leadership for 13 years, which was a long time, and that retirement is consistent with his personal wishes. He dismissed speculation that he resigned due to political pressure.
On 18 February 2010, Li achieved the highest score ever recorded (68.1) by the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme.
On 8 April 2010, it was announced that Chief Executive of Hong Kong
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...
Donald Tsang
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
has accepted the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission to appoint Geoffrey Ma
Geoffrey Ma
Geoffrey Ma Tao-li is currently the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, who ranks second only to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong order of precedence....
as Li's successor. On 9 June 2010, Ma was formally endorsed unanimously by Hong Kong legislators. However, pro-democracy members remained concerned at the implications of Li's resignation. Margaret Ng said: "The public is deeply worried that [Li's resignation] signals an era in which judicial independence will gradually yield to the influence and intervention of Beijing ... but I believe the challenges have always been there, openly at times, but unceasingly as an undercurrent." Emily Lau said many people were unnerved by Li's decision last year, and that "Hong Kong cannot afford another surprise resignation."
On 17 July 2010, a farewell ceremony was held for Li, which was attended by judges, personnel from the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Bar Association, solicitors and senior counsel etc.
Extra-judicial life
Li was appointed justice of the peaceJustice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in 1985. In 1992, he was appointed member at-large of the Executive Council
Executive Council of Hong Kong
The Executive Council of Hong Kong is a core policy-making organ in the executive branch of the government of Hong Kong.. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong serves as its President.The Executive Council normally meets once a week...
of Chris Patten
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....
(later Lord Patten), the last British governor of Hong Kong
Governor of Hong Kong
The Governor of Hong Kong was the head of the government of Hong Kong during British rule from 1843 to 1997. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions...
, and was appointed Commander of the Order of British Empire the same year.
Li has also served as the Deputy Chairman of the Inland Revenue Board of Review, the Securities Commission, the Law Reform Commission, the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform, the Banking Advisory Committee, and the Judicial Services Commission. He also held the post of secretary of the Hong Kong Bar Association
Hong Kong Bar Association
The Hong Kong Bar Association is the professional regulatory body for barristers in Hong Kong, and was founded in 1949. Like other professional bodies, the HKBA has the authority to take disciplinary action to the members who breach the Code of Conduct of the Association...
. He was also a steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Hong Kong Jockey Club
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, founded in 1884 to promote horse racing. It was granted Royal Charter and renamed to "The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club" in 1959...
.
On the education front, he is currently Vice-Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Chairman of the University and Polytechnics Grants Committee. He is a trustee of the Friends of Tsinghua University Law School Charitable Trust. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the School Council of St. Paul's Co-educational College of Hong Kong.
In 2001, he was awarded an honorary doctor of law
Doctor of law
Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degrees such as the LL.D., Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D., and Dr. iur.-Argentina:...
s by the University of Hong Kong.
In August 2010, he was appointed as honorary professor of law by the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...
and the City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong is a comprehensive research university in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. It has achieved fast growth in recent years and received international recognition for its academic achievements...
. His appointments took effect on 1 September 2010 after his retirement from the post of Chief Justice.