It is my pleasure to present to you the 2016 Legal Aid Department Annual Report. It has been another fruitful and dynamic year for the Legal Aid Department as we continued to place our efforts to enhance our service for the public, and at the same time, reach out to different sectors of the community to promote our work. Let us have a recollection of the major events in 2016.

Mr Thomas Edward KWONG Director of Legal Aid

Promotion of our work through interactive dialogues

We are fortunate to be given the opportunities in 2016 to have several useful exchanges of views with the Legal Aid Services Council (LASC), the two legal professions, Legislative Council members and our stakeholders. We participated in television and radio interviews to address the concerns of certain sectors of the community on various legal aid related issues. Meetings were held with a number of our stakeholders on legal aid policy and talks were delivered to NGOs covering our services. We also worked closely with the Task Force of the LASC exploring ways to enhance the operational transparency of the Department. With the support from the LASC, more statistical information were included in the Annual Report starting from this year to reflect our efforts and determination in combating touting activities and strengthening monitoring work. We trust that through all these concerted efforts, the community will have a better grasp of the work of our Department which has been a cornerstone of the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Increase in Criminal Legal Aid Fees

Legislative amendments to Rule 21 and the Schedule of the Legal Aid in Criminal Cases Rules giving effect to the results of review recommended by the Working Group formed by the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) (which comprised representatives from the two legal professions, the Department of Justice and this Department) were completed in 2016. The adjustments included a 50% increase in criminal legal aid fees for counsel, a 25% increase for instructing solicitors and a 40% increase for solicitor advocates in the District Court. A new category of fees for High Court cases were also introduced for solicitor advocates with higher rights of audience. The new rates were implemented on 14 November 2016. We are pleased with results which were achieved through collaborative efforts of the Government and the two legal professions.

Enhancement of E-Communication

We continued to explore ways to enhance the use of e-communication with our panel lawyers. In this respect, hardware and software upgrade for the Legal Aid Electronic Services Portal was rolled out to production in March 2016.

We mentioned in the last Annual Report that the Department participated in the pilot use of the Correctional Services Department’s Remote Official Visit System (ROVS). The System was successfully launched in May 2016. It enables our staff to interview applicants who are in custody at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre through a video conferencing system in a designated interview room at our Queensway office. Not only has this enhanced the efficiency of our work in dealing with criminal legal aid applications, it also helped in streamlining the relevant procedures involved in the process.

Quality Service to the Public

In the domain of customer service, I would like to express our gratitude to The Ombudsman for bestowing upon us the Grand Award of The Ombudsman’s Awards for 2016. It serves as a great encouragement to us to have earned The Ombudsman’s recognition of our efforts in providing quality services to the public as well as promoting a positive and impartial culture in the handling of complaints. A comprehensive complaint handling system is well in place in our Department to ensure that all complaints are handled in an expeditious, fair and impartial manner. If any areas of improvement are identified after thorough investigation, reviews will be carried out and necessary arrangements will be made to implement such improvement measures in a timely fashion. We attach great importance to public opinions on our services and we will continue to strive to handling complaints in a proactive manner.

In August 2016, we replaced our 24-hour telephone hotline system which has been in use for over ten years by a new system. This has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of our communication with the public whilst allowing the public to have a direct and easy access to our information depository.

Meeting the Youth

Throughout the year, we met with students from various different schools and introduced to them our work and the operation of legal aid system in Hong Kong. Through talks, visits and experience sharing, the students got to know more about our work, challenges and our mission which is to ensure that any person who has reasonable grounds for taking or defending a legal action is not deprived from doing so because of lack of means.

Mr Thomas Edward KWONG Director of Legal Aid

Looking Ahead

I wish to express my gratitude to the LASC, HAB and our working partners for their trust and invaluable advices throughout the year. Their unfaltering support laid the foundation for us to rise to the challenges in 2016. We will continue to do our best in serving those in need of legal aid services in the years ahead. I would also like to register my due recognition for the contribution and hard work of my colleagues. Their unreserved support to the Department, dedication and commitment towards our work has been the key to the achievements we made in this year.

 

 

Thomas Edward KWONG
Director of Legal Aid