Duty Lawyer Service

The Duty Lawyer Service operates the Legal Advice Scheme, the Duty
Lawyer Scheme and the Tel Law Scheme. It is subvented by the
government of the HKSAR but independently administered by the legal
profession of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Bar Association and the Law
Society of Hong Kong each nominate four members to sit on the council
of the service, which manages and administers its operations. Two lay
members have also been invited to sit on the council.

The Legal Advice Scheme provides free advice to members of the public
without means testing, at six advice centres located in the District Offices.
Members of the public can make appointments to see volunteer lawyers
through one of the 120 referral agencies, which include all District
Offices, Caritas Services Centres and the Social Welfare Department.
Approximately 570 volunteer lawyers participate in the scheme. A total
of 5 004 people were given legal advice during the year.

The Duty Lawyer Scheme provides legal representation to virtually all
defendants who are charged in the magistracies. To be eligible for legal
representation under the scheme, an applicant has to pass a means test:
if his gross annual income does not exceed $127,330, he is eligible for
assistance under the scheme. However, the Administrator of the Duty
Lawyer Service has a discretion to grant legal representation to
defendants whose gross annual income exceeds this limit, if she
considers that it is in the interests of justice to do so. An applicant is
also subject to a merit test. The prime consideration is whether the
defendant is in jeopardy of losing his liberty or whether a substantial
question of law is involved.

The scheme also assigns barristers and solicitors to advise defendants
facing extradition, to monitor the one-way viewer identification parades
conducted by the Police, and to represent hawkers upon their appeals
to the Chief Executive in Council.

In 1997, there were approximately 920 barristers and solicitors on the
duty lawyer roster. A total of 35 041 defendants were represented under
the Duty Lawyer Scheme.

The Tel Law Scheme offers free taped legal information to the public.
The tapes cover various aspects of law including matrimonial, landlord
and tenant, criminal, financial, employment, environmental and
administrative law. They are constantly updated and new tapes are added
when new subjects are identified as being of interest to the public.
During the year, 69 topics were available and 115 967 calls were
received.

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