Globetrotting Advocates: Foreign Barristers in Hong Kong Courts

Abstract

Foreign barristers, typically King’s Counsel from the United Kingdom, can apply for admission on an ad hoc basis to argue cases before the Hong Kong courts. This Article presents a comprehensive account of this regime of ad hoc admissions, which has not yet been systematically examined by scholars. Building upon, and simultaneously challenging, the theory of market control in the sociology of the legal profession, this Article conceptualizes the system as initially an equilibrium between market demand for high-caliber legal services and market control by the local Bar. The transfer of sovereignty in 1997 prompted a shift in the underlying logic of the regime away from market control to politics. Under the new Chinese Special Administrative Region, the regime became integral to preserving Hong Kong’s global standing. A bundle of political factors, tied to the notion of “foreignness,” began to dictate its trajectory. Furthermore, this Article offers an empirical panorama of ad hoc admissions, documenting the trends and patterns over time, profiles of the foreign barristers, types of cases for which they were engaged, clients involved, and reasons for opposing individual admission applications by the Hong Kong Bar Association, Secretary for Justice, and the Court of First Instance. Last but not least, this Article assesses the ongoing criticisms, politicization, and securitization of the regime, while probing its future in light of changes in the underlying political incentive structure.