The Legal Officers Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2022 (Amendment Order) was gazetted today (September 30).

     The Amendment Order will substitute the list of legal officers under "Department of Justice" in Schedule 1 to the Legal Officers Ordinance (Chapter 87). The rank of the Deputy Secretary for Justice (DSJ) will be added while the list will be streamlined to include the ranks but not the posts of legal officers in the department. The amendments are technical in nature.

     Following the reorganisation of the government structure for the sixth-term Government, the DSJ was appointed on July 1, 2022. In order to put beyond doubt that the DSJ is able to exercise the full range of rights of both a barrister and a solicitor under the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Chapter 159) and is a legal officer whom the Secretary for Justice may authorise to exercise and discharge rights and duties as appropriate, it is necessary to amend Schedule 1 to include the DSJ in the list of legal officers under "Department of Justice".

     In addition, the current list of legal officers under "Department of Justice" in Schedule 1 making reference to both the ranks and some of the posts of legal officers will be streamlined to include the ranks but not the posts of legal officers in the department. It will be consistent with the lists of legal officers of other departments in the same Schedule, and minimise the need for amendments if there are any changes to the titles of specific posts of the legal officers of the department.

     The Amendment Order will be tabled before the Legislative Council on October 19, 2022, for negative vetting, and will come into operation on December 9, 2022.

Ends/Friday, September 30, 2022
Issued at HKT 11:00

NNNN