The Secretary for Justice

The Secretary for Justice is the Chief Executive's legal adviser and an
ex officio member of the Executive Council. She chairs the Law Reform
Commission of Hong Kong, and is a member of the Judicial Officers
Recommendation Commission and of the Operations Review Committee
of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

All government departments requiring legal advice receive it from the
Secretary for Justice. She is the representative of the government of the
HKSAR in all actions brought by, or against, it. She is also responsible
for the drafting of all legislation.

The Secretary for Justice is responsible for all prosecutions in the
HKSAR. It is her responsibility to decide whether a prosecution should be
instituted in any particular case, and, if so, to institute and conduct the
prosecution.

The Secretary for Justice chairs the Legal Affairs Policy Group, one of
several policy bodies established under the umbrella of the Chief Secretary
for Administration's Committee, to bring together bureau secretaries in
related programme areas. The group plays an important co-ordinating role
in legal policy matters, decision-making and allocation of responsibility for
legislative initiatives which have a substantial legal policy content. Often,
the group will call upon the Secretary for Justice to take responsibility, as
sponsor and spokeswoman, for legislative proposals to be submitted to
the Executive and Legislative Councils.

The Department of Justice consists of the Secretary for Justice's Office
and six divisions, five of which are headed by a Law Officer to whom
the Secretary for Justice delegates certain of her powers and
responsibilities. The remaining division, headed by the Director of
Administration and Development, covers departmental administration and
media and public relations. The Secretary for Justice's Office provides
legal and administrative support to the Secretary for Justice in respect of
her many functions.

The Civil Division, headed by the Law Officer (Civil Law), provides legal
advice to the government on civil law and conducts civil litigation,
arbitration and mediation, on behalf of the government.

The International Law Division, headed by the Law Officer (International
Law), advises on the legal implications of the Sino-British Joint
Declaration and other international agreements applicable to the HKSAR
and provides advice on all aspects of public international law.

The Law Drafting Division, headed by the Law Draftsman, is responsible
for drafting and translating all legislation, including subsidiary legislation,
in Chinese and English, and assists in steering legislation through the
Executive and Legislative Councils.

The Solicitor General heads the Legal Policy Division, which includes the
Law Reform Commission Secretariat. The division provides legal input on
a wide variety of topics being considered by the government, and also
advises on issues affecting the administration of justice, human rights,
constitutional law, China law and the Basic Law.

The Prosecutions Division is headed by the Director of Public
Prosecutions. Counsel from this division conduct prosecutions in the
majority of trials in the Court of First Instance and the District Court, and
often appear before magistrates when an important point of law is
involved. The division also provides legal advice to the police and other
government departments responsible for prosecuting offences.

The Basic Law of the HKSAR came into effect on July 1, 1997. In order
to enhance civil servants' understanding in the Basic Law, the Civil
Service Training and Development Institute has been organising regular
seminars on the subject since 1995. The Department of Justice has
contributed to these seminars by supplying both training materials and
speakers. Specific training courses for particular bureaux and departments
are arranged as and when needed. The Basic Law is also covered in the
curriculum of China studies courses organised by the institute, such as
one at the Tsinghua University of Beijing. The department has also helped
the institute prepare a self-training booklet and computer disk on the Basic
Law for civil servants, and more than 130 000 of these have been
distributed.

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