Legal Aid Department Annual Report 2014


	Chapter 5
	Publicity Programmes

	The Department is committed to ensure that no one who qualifies for legal aid is denied access to justice because of lack of means. Every year the Department organises or participates in various activities to enhance the public's awareness and knowledge of the legal aid services provided by the Department.

	Promotional Activities 2014 Law Week As in the past, the Department sponsored and participated in the organization of the annual territory-wide event Law Week 2014, which was launched by The Law Society of Hong Kong on 29 November 2014. The Opening Ceremony held at Asia World-Expo was attended by the Honourable Chief Justice Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma; the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen SC; Legislative Council Member the Honourable Mr Dennis Kwok; the Vice-Chairman of Hong Kong Bar Association, Mr Selwyn Yu; the President of The Law Society of Hong Kong, Mr Stephen Hung; the Chairman of Law Week 2014 Organizing Committee, Ms Ann Yeung and the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong. Further, the Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel (Legal and Management Support), Mrs Christina Hadiwibawa, took part in two roller features of a TV drama series as part of the promotional programme of Law Week 2014 promoting the services of legal aid especially on the expanded scope of the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme covering more types of cases. Mrs Hadiwibawa also participated in the recording of an episode on legal aid services which was broadcasted on Commercial Radio 1.


	The Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel, Mrs. Christina Hadiwibawa, with the talk show host on Commercial Radio 1.

	Promotion of Legal Aid Services to External Bodies/Organizations In 2014, we met with a number of counterpart organisations from overseas and the Mainland to exchange views on issues of common interest in legal aid work and spoke on the latest development of legal aid in Hong Kong. In March 2014, the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong and the Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Litigation), Ms Sherman Cheung, met with Mr We Chul-whan, President of Korean Bar Association to discuss the provision of legal aid services in Hong Kong.



	In March 2014, the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Administration), Ms Alice Chung, and the Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Development), Ms Juliana OY Chan, received a delegation led by the Chairman of the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission, Mr Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, the Honourable Chairman and the most senior Judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and his three delegates of the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission to discuss and exchange views on legal aid programmes in Hong Kong.



	In November 2014, the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong and the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Application and Processing), Mr Chris Chong, received Mr Gan Zangchun, Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of China’s State Council, Mainland China to discuss the latest development of legal aid services in Hong Kong.



	In addition, the Department also received the following delegations/groups in 2014:

	Please visit http://www.lad.gov.hk/eng/wnew/event.html for the details and photos of the events.

	Promotion of Legal Aid Services to Legal Practitioners The Department places great importance on working in partnership with the legal profession to deliver quality legal aid services to the public. To enhance the legal profession’s understanding and knowledge of our services, the Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Development), Ms Juliana OY Chan and Senior Legal Aid Counsel (Crime), Miss Angela Mo gave a talk on “Quality Legal Aid Service: Tips for Practitioners on Operation of LAD” to the members of The Small and Medium Law Firms Association of Hong Kong on 8 August 2014.



	Reaching out to the Community To promote legal aid services among the ethnic minorities, the Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel (Legal and Management Support), Mrs Christina Hadiwibawa delivered another talk on the legal aid system in Hong Kong in March 2014 to the clients of the HOPE Centre of International Social Service Hong Kong Branch which serves the ethnic minorities. The first talk was conducted at the Centre in September 2013 for the staff.



	In June 2014, Legal Aid Counsel (Legal and Management Support), Miss Charis Li, Law Clerk (Kowloon Branch Office), Miss Carol Chow and Law Clerk (Crime), Mr Zell Chan met with over 300 Form Four and Form Five students of TWGHs Li Ka Shing College in Fanling and briefed them on the legal aid services provided by the Department and the nature of work undertaken by Legal on Counsel and Law Clerks. In November 2014, the Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel (Legal and Management Support), Mrs Christina Hadiwibawa delivered a talk to the first year business and law students at Shue Yan University on legal aid in Hong Kong. The Legal Aid Counsel (Civil Litigation 2), Mr Paul Yau delivered a legal aid talk to the staff and volunteers of the Hong Kong Federation of Women’s Centres in December 2014.

	Updating of Departmental Leaflets The Department updated and published the guidebook on its provision of legal aid services in Hong Kong in 2014 following the expansion of the scopes of the Ordinary Legal Aid Scheme and the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme. The revised guidebook comprised seven chapters, namely: What is Legal Aid? Civil Legal Aid; The Means Test; The Merits Test; Discharge, Revocation and Legal Aid Appeal; Criminal Legal Aid; and Where to Apply. To give members of the public the latest information on other available legal assistance in Hong Kong, the “How to Apply Legal Services” leaflet was revised to include detailed information of the Home Affairs Bureau’s two-year Pilot Scheme to Provide Legal Advice for Litigants in Person. Other publications such as the Financial Information Sheet which contained comprehensive information on financial eligibility, contributions payable by an aided person towards the costs of litigation and the Director's First Charge were also revised to reflect changes implemented in 2014. A list of publications of the Department is at Appendix 5.

	Further Measures to Combat Improper Touting Activities As a measure to further combat improper touting activities of claims recovery agents among injured workers and accident victims, the Department has arranged to display anti-touting poster at Accident & Emergency Departments of 17 public hospitals in March 2014 warning the public of the risks of using recovery agents. The Department also liaised with the Information Services Department to arrange a territory-wide display of anti-touting posters at various sites including public housing estates, bus stops/terminuses, footbridges, subways and some government premises such as government offices and community centres.

	Website The Department regularly updates the contents of its website to provide comprehensive and timely information to the public and legal aid practitioners. In 2014, the Department enhanced the homepage to increase user-friendliness by adding highlighted effect to the menu bar which enables users to see their pointers easily when navigating web pages.

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