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Eva Sit

The heartbreaking fire in Tai Po last week has deeply affected everyone in Hong Kong. The Bar shares the grief of the community and stands with the city during this difficult time.
When the immediate aftermath is addressed and the affected residents’ safety and well-being are attended to, there will no doubt be questions of legal claims and liability.
The Bar is ready and willing to offer its litigation expertise to provide legal advice to those who may need help through its pro bono scheme.
Last week, the Bar stepped up its pro bono efforts by reinforcing its engagement with existing non-governmental organisation partners on cases relating to Tai Po. It is liaising with the Social Welfare Department to expand the reach of frontline referrals, and is calling on more of its members to join the pro bono roster to increase manpower for handling cases referred.
The Bar has a long history of providing pro bono legal services. For many years, the Bar operated the Bar Free Legal Service Scheme (BFLSS), which provided pro bono legal advice and representation. Although the BFLSS generally accepted applications relating to criminal, civil and public law matters, the pro bono work it performed over the years mainly focused on criminal appeals.
The programme was run administratively by the Bar, which meant that as well-intended as it was, there were limits on the number of cases that could be taken on.
For pro bono legal advice, it was more straightforward. A barrister on the pro bono roster would be directed to a case, and the barrister would then provide advice based on the information submitted by the applicant.
As for pro bono legal representation, a process of vetting would first be performed, and only cases with sufficient merit would be considered for pairing with barristers on the pro bono roster.
However, as court proceedings involve different work streams – many of which barristers do not engage in or are not allowed to engage in (for example, conducting discovery of documents for clients or handling client money) – typically pro bono court representation would only be possible for appeals or stand-alone court applications.
When I acted as junior counsel in a Court of Final Appeal case relating to the Home Ownership Scheme under the BFLSS in 2012, in addition to preparing all the court documents, legal submissions and assisting in advocacy in court, I was also responsible for all the administrative work, including tracking down the applicant and serving all the documents to be used in court and corresponding with him.

Barristers typically do not have the manpower or ability to perform these administrative tasks well.
Thus, with a view to increasing both its pro bono capability and coverage, the Bar recently relaunched its pro bono scheme. This new scheme seeks to develop stronger partnerships with more participating NGOs, which will act as feeder platforms and also arrange for their own supporting law firms to work together with the Bar to offer seamless pro bono court representation services.
The new approach seeks to leverage the local networks and expertise of a number of local NGOs to increase pro bono legal representation before the courts with the help of solicitors. In addition, it allows more barristers to help on more cases since the “client-facing” tasks, including administration, will be handled by the NGOs.
In this way, the Bar will be able to take on more pro bono legal advice and pro bono legal representation matters, ensuring wider access to justice for everyone.
The link to the Bar’s new pro bono scheme can be found here. It can also be accessed via the government’s dedicated website providing support services in the aftermath of the Tai Po fire.
Eva Sit SC is the current vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association and a commercial litigator.
Legal Tales is a new weekly column by senior members of the Hong Kong Bar Association presenting their perspectives on current affairs.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Bar has a long history of offering free services, but the new scheme leverages NGO partnerships to ensure there is wider access to justice

The Bar has a long history of offering free services, but the new scheme leverages NGO partnerships to ensure there is wider access to justice