周至偉

English

Chow Chi-wai is a magistrate in Hong Kong, born in Hong Kong in 1969. He obtained an LL.B. and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the City University of Hong Kong in 1992 and 1993 respectively and an LL.M. from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom in 1994. He was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1995 and has been in private practice since 1996, and on 20 November 2014 was appointed a Permanent Magistrate, by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. Chow later became a coroner, responsible for the work of the Coroner's Court. The Coroner's Court inquires into the causes and circumstances of certain deaths, and the coroner may order an inquest; where necessary the inquest is held with a jury, at which witness and expert evidence is heard and a finding is returned, such as death by natural causes, death by accident or death by misadventure. He has conducted several closely followed inquests, including one into the death of an infant on the day after birth and one into the death of a teenager who developed myocarditis after vaccination, in which he guided the jury to weigh the expert evidence and the various possible causes. Within the magistracy system the coroner is one of the specialist posts, requiring both criminal trial experience and the ability to handle sensitive death cases. All judges and judicial officers are appointed by the Chief Executive on the independent recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, under the Basic Law. Chow came from the Bar, joining the Judiciary after some eighteen years in private practice and later specialising in death inquests, one of the few judicial officers to focus on this field.