朱婉儀

English

Miss Chu Yuen-yee is a magistrate in Hong Kong, born in Hong Kong in 1971. She obtained an LL.B. from the University of Glamorgan in the United Kingdom in 1994 and completed the Bar Vocational Course at the University of Westminster in 1995, and was called to the Hong Kong Bar the same year. She 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. Chu came from the Bar, joining the Judiciary after some eighteen years in private practice. She completed her legal education and bar vocational training in the United Kingdom, giving her a training background under the English common law system, before returning to Hong Kong to practise and later becoming a magistrate. She is currently a magistrate on the Judiciary's list of judges and judicial officers, handling criminal and other cases in the magistracy. The magistracy is Hong Kong's court of first instance for criminal matters, handling the great majority of criminal cases, from summary offences to offences triable on indictment, and magistrates also deal with bail, pleas and sentencing. All judges and judicial officers of the courts of the HKSAR are appointed by the Chief Executive on the independent recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, under the Basic Law. Article 88 provides that judges shall be appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of an independent commission, and Article 92 provides that they shall be chosen on the basis of their judicial and professional qualities and may be recruited from other common law jurisdictions, ensuring that appointments are based on professional ability. Having qualified overseas and returned to practise in Hong Kong before becoming a magistrate, Chu illustrates how the appointment mechanism draws on legal talent of different backgrounds.