Law Society plans to reform lawyer disciplinary system
The outgoing head of the Law Society, CM Chan, has said the body would soon announce a reform package on disciplinary proceedings for solicitors.  During his tenure as head of the regulator for solicitors, the society handled a number of high-profile complaints, with some still unfinished. This includes 16 cases the national security police referred to the body for alleged professional misconduct regarding the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund - which provided legal and other support for people arrested during the 2019 protests. Another unsettled probe is one against a law firm taken over by the society in 2020, after it was accused of violating solicitor accounting rules. In an interview with the Ming Pao Daily newspaper published on Tuesday, Chan said the Law Society hasn't undertaken major reforms in decades and has to "move with the times and make improvements in many aspects." He said the aim is to improve efficiency and shorten the time needed for investigation. Chan said while some people "find the wording and red lines of the national security laws to be vague", he thinks the public should read relevant judgments more to understand the reasoning and not just the verdicts. Hong Kong is a co-host of the National Games next year and Chan told the Sing Tao Daily that the SAR could make use of this to develop sports arbitration and promote relevant legal work.