梁雅忻

English

Frances Leung is a magistrate of the Magistrates' Courts of Hong Kong, born in Hong Kong in 1976. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University in Canada in 2000, an LL.B. and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the City University of Hong Kong in 2003 and 2004 respectively, and became an accredited mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in 2010. She was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 2005 and practised privately from that year until she was appointed a Special Magistrate in 2014. On 6 January 2020, Leung was appointed a Permanent Magistrate, taking office with Lau Suk-han, Mok Tsz-chung and Lam Hei-wai; the appointment was made by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. Having moved from the Bar to the post of Special Magistrate and then to Permanent Magistrate, she has accumulated years of trial experience in the Magistrates' Courts. The Magistrates' Courts are Hong Kong's court of first instance for criminal matters, and magistrates must handle a large volume of cases at a fast pace, as well as dealing with bail applications and the issue of warrants. Leung has served at, among others, the West Kowloon and Fanling Magistrates' Courts and has heard a variety of criminal cases. According to press reports, she has dealt with a number of voyeurism and indecent assault cases, including one involving a taxi driver who used a telescopic pole to touch a female passenger while driving, and one involving an ambulance service officer and intimate images of a former girlfriend; she also heard a case in which an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University accessed a rival's research in applying for a grant. She tends to explain her sentencing considerations in detail, and her decisions have frequently been reported in the court press. Coming from the Bar, she combines experience in private practice and on the bench, and she remained on the list of serving magistrates as at 2026.