法律援助署五十周年紀念特刊 | Legal Aid Department 50th Anniversary Commemorative Publication

使命不變 穆士賢相信，今天法援署面對的挑戰與他當年遇到的相似。 向財政部門爭取撥款，是部門恆常而重要的挑戰，然而日益 政治化的社會亦令部門的工作更形艱巨。法律援助署在輔助 計劃的範疇上處於領導地位，得到海外不少法律支援組織的 尊重。他有信心法援署作為政府的一員，會繼續贏得公眾信 任和海外機構的認同。 「希望他們事事順利。」他祝願。 觀看訪問精華片段，請掃描此 二維碼。 Please scan the QR code for the interview highlight. 法律援助署五十周年紀念特刊 “There were few dull moments,” Moss said. Whether it was arresting ships, dealing with one gentleman who made 21 applications for aid before the Department obtained a court order to stop him, obtaining redress for battered wives, suing transport providers for injuries sustained by passengers or pedestrians, seeking to wind up companies which had failed to pay their staff or defending those accused of horrendous crimes—it was all within the scope of the Department. One achievement Moss made was to implement the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS). SLAS enables the “sandwich class” to obtain legal aid to bring proceedings in return for which a percentage is deducted from the amount they recover. It was through the generosity of the Lotteries Fund that seed money was provided to start the scheme. “We had to be even more careful than ever only to grant SLAS to potentially winning cases because if we lost, we had to pay all the costs and there simply was not enough in the Fund to enable that,” he said. P.29 Same Mission, Different Time Moss said that he believes that the LAD faces similar challenges today that he faced whilst Director. The constant battles to obtain funding from the Finance Branch looms high on the list but the politicisation of Hong Kong must make the LAD’s task a lot more of a minefield. The LAD has won considerable respect from overseas legal assistance bodies and was a world leader with SLAS. He is confident that the Department as a branch of the Hong Kong Government will continue to earn public confidence as well as overseas recognition in the future. “I wish them success,” Moss said. 番解釋根據《法律援助條例》，船民有權在香港申請援助。雖 然很多人對此都不以為然；然而，根據佐證審批申請卻是部門 的法定職責。 穆士賢坦言，法援署的工作很少冷場。無論是扣留船隻、在 署方取得法庭命令前與申請了21項法援的男子周旋、為受虐 的婦女爭取賠償、替受傷的乘客或行人起訴運輸機構、為欠 薪的公司進行清盤、或為涉嫌犯下駭人罪行的疑犯辯護等， 這些都是法援署的工作範疇。 法律援助輔助計劃(輔助計劃)是穆士賢任內的其中一項成就， 計劃讓「夾心階層」獲得法援以進行訴訟，並從所追討得的 賠償金額中，扣除一定百分比作為分擔費，撥入計劃基金。 獎券基金慷慨撥出的種子基金使計劃得以推行，「我們必須 格外小心，只可批出援助予勝算高的案件。」他解釋：「因為 如果敗訴，我們就得支付所有訟費，基金根本負擔不來。」