Legal Aid Department Annual Report 2017


	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 2017 Law Week As in the past, the Department sponsored and participated in the organization of the annual territory-wide event Law Week 2017, which was launched by The Law Society of Hong Kong at Hong Kong Science Park on 25 November 2017. The Opening Ceremony was attended by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Honourable Chief Justice, Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma; Legislative Council Member, the Honourable Mr Dennis Kwok; the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, Mr Thomas So, and the Chairlady of Law Week 2017 Organising Committee, Ms Nancy Leung and the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong.



	The Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong (third left, second row on right side of the stage) officiated at the opening ceremony of Law Week 2017 at Science Park on 25 November 2017. Also officiating at the opening ceremony were the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam and the Legislative Councillor, Mr Dennis Kwok (first and fourth from right, second row on left side of the stage); the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, Mr Thomas So, the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, the Hon Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma, and the Chairlady of Law Week 2017 Organising Committee, Ms Nancy Leung (first, second and fifth from left, second row on right side of the stage).

	In September 2017, the Department set up a booth in a “Free Legal Advice Programme” at the covered piazza of Times Square in Causeway Bay organised by the Law Society. 13 professional officers participated and answered enquires on legal aid services from the public.

	Promotion of Legal Aid Services through the media In January 2017, the Director of Legal Aid gave an interview to TVB on legal aid related issues including judicial review. The interview was broadcasted in the programme “A Closer Look” at TVB iNews as well as in TVB-Jade’s main newscast. The feedback was very positive.



	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 Principal Legal Aid Counsel (Legal and Management Support), Mrs Christina Hadiwibawa, delivered a CPD course on the update on Legal Aid Schemes in September 2017. The course was attended by 180 legal practitioners.

	Promotion of Legal Aid Services to External Bodies/Organizations In 2017, 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 January 2017, the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Litigation), Ms Juliana Chan and Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Development), Ms Doris Lui received Mr Wang Xie, Deputy Director General of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and Mr Xin Feng from Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice to exchange views on the provision of legal aid in Hong Kong.



	In June 2017, the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong, Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Litigation), Ms Sherman Cheung and Assistant Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Development), Ms Doris Lui met with Ms Tania Chin, Deputy Consul General (New Zealand), Ms Liliane Khadour, Consul (Canada), Mr Steven Hodge, Consul (Australia) and Mr Michael Cheng, Consular Officer (Canada) to introduce to them the parameters of the services provided by the Department.



	In December 2017, the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Thomas Kwong, the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Administration), Mr Chris Chong, the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Litigation), Ms Juliana Chan and Acting Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Application and Processing), Ms Y W Mo received a seven-member delegation led by Mr Liu Zhiqiang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice of the Central People’s Government to discuss and exchange views on the provision of legal aid services in Hong Kong.



	The Department received the following delegations/groups in 2017:



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

	Reaching out to the Community In June 2017, Senior Legal Aid Counsel (Civil Litigation 2), Ms Janet Fung, introduced to over 200 social workers and frontline staff of the Social Welfare Department as well as other non-governmental organisations the work and services of the Department relating to family issues including divorce, maintenance, child custody and guardianship of minor. In November 2017, Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel (Application and Processing 1), Miss Ada Wong, Legal Aid Counsel (Kowloon Branch Office), Mr James Yeung, and Senior Law Clerk I (Information and Application Services Unit), Mr Ivan Lee, hosted a talk to offer advice to injured workers on how to apply legal aid. The talk was organised by the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims.



	The Department delivered talks to educational institutions and arranged special briefings for students from youth programmes including non-Chinese speaking students with a view to strengthening career and life planning education for youths. Four special briefings each comprised a court hearing were arranged for the CLAP for Youth @JC Programme in April 2017 and the Caritas Youth & Community Service's Mentorship Alliance of “Multicultural Dream Pursuit Project” in November 2017 respectively. The Department was awarded the “Outstanding Mentorship Alliance Award 2016/17” by the Education Bureau and Caritas Youth & Community Service. In addition, the Department arranged three career talks - two for University students and one for students from three secondary schools - to introduce the operation of the Department and the daily work of Legal Aid Counsel and Law Clerks.





	Furthermore, the Department provides hands-on experience for students who joined the Post-secondary Students Summer Internship Programme and Sunnyway Programme. The participants under the Post-secondary Students Summer Internship Programme joined the Department for about two months and learned about legal aid work. On the other hand, the Sunnyway Programme enhanced the employment of persons with disabilities through proactive training provided by the Department over a 3-month period. In 2017, the Department recruited 6 summer interns under the Post-secondary Students Summer Internship Programme and 3 trainees under the Sunnyway Programme.

	Updating of Departmental Leaflets The Department designed and published a QR-code poster on leaflets of “How to Apply Legal Aid” series, providing an easy and environmental friendly access to information on legal aid services. The poster was arranged to be displayed at the venues of the Department, public hospitals, government offices, community centres and community halls. Other publications such as the Financial Information Sheet, which contained comprehensive information on financial eligibility, deductible personal allowances, 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 2017. 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 the TV API on anti-touting activities produced by the Department of Justice to be broadcast in three waiting areas of the Department from 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018, including Information & Application Services (IASU) of Application & Processing Division and Crime Section of Litigation Division on 25/F of Queensway Government Offices; and IASU of Kowloon Branch Office. The same TV API was also broadcasted at venues of the Home Affairs Department. The Department produced an updated version of the poster on anti-touting activities in 2017 and arranged the poster to be displayed at Accident & Emergency Departments of 18 public hospitals, District Social Welfare Offices of Social Welfare Department, offices of Labour Department’s Employees’ Compensation Division, Home Affairs Enquiry Centres, community centres and community halls.

	Website The Department regularly updates the contents of its website to provide comprehensive and timely information to the public and legal aid practitioners. The Department continued enhancing the homepage to meet with the latest requirements of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.

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