Andrew Cheung

The Honourable Mr Justice
Andrew Cheung
CJHC
張舉能
The Hon. Mr Justice Cheung speaking at a Mediation Conference in 2014
4th Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong
Assumed office
June 2011
Appointed by Donald Tsang
Preceded by Geoffrey Ma
Judge of the Court of First Instance
In office
2003–2011
Deputy High Court Judge
In office
2001–2003
Judge of the District Court
In office
2001–2003
Personal details
Born (1961-09-24) 24 September 1961
British Hong Kong
Nationality Hong Kong
Alma mater Harvard Law School
University of Hong Kong
Occupation Judge
Profession Barrister
Andrew Cheung
Traditional Chinese 張舉能
Simplified Chinese 张举能

The Honourable Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung CJHC (Chinese: 張舉能; born 24 September 1961) is a Hong Kong judge, who is the 4th and current Chief Judge of the High Court, and serves also as the President of the Court of Appeal. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was a barrister-at-law in private practice prior to his judicial career, and was qualified to practise in Hong Kong as well as Singapore.

On 21 March 2018, the judiciary announced his appointment as a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal with effect from 25 October 2018.

Early life

Born on 24 September 1961, Andrew Cheung Kui-nung attended Ying Wa College, before reading law at the University of Hong Kong, and taking a Master of Laws degree at Harvard Law School in the United States.[1] Cheung served briefly as a Lecturer and Demonstrator of the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong on a part-time basis after graduation.[2]

The Bar: 1985–2001

Cheung was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1985 and began private practice the following year; in 1995, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.[1]

The bench: 2001–

Cheung was appointed to the bench in 2001 as a judge of the District Court of Hong Kong. Sitting first as a Deputy High Court Judge in December 2001, he was soon elevated to the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2003. He was then appointed as the Probate Judge in 2004, before becoming the Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List of the High Court in 2008.[1] His tenure was marked by a number of high-profile rulings relating to constitutional and human rights matters.[3][4]

In June 2011, Cheung succeeded Geoffrey Ma as the Chief Judge of the High Court and President of the Court of Appeal,[5][6] making him the fourth local judge to hold this position.

Cheung is a member of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission.[7] He is the Chairman of the High Court Rules Committee, District Court Rules Committee, Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, Civil Justice Reform Monitoring Committee, and Working Group on Civil Matters and Working Group on Integrated Court Case Management System under the Committee on Information Technology. He is a member of the Chief Justice's Committee on Judicial Renumeration, Committee on Information Technology, Working Group on the use of Chinese, Governing Body of the Hong Kong Judicial Institute and the Chief Justice's Working Group on Retirement Ages of Judges and Judicial Officers.[8]

He was elected an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 2017.[9]

On 21 March 2018, the judiciary announced his appointment as a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal with effect from 25 October 2018. He succeeds Robert Tang, who will continue to sit as a non-permanent judge going forwards. Cheung's appointment was accompanied by the appointments of Baroness Hale and Beverley McLachlin as non-permanent judges of the city's top court.[10]

Reception

On Cheung's appointment as Chief Judge, Donald Tsang praised Cheung as an outstanding lawyer, and a man of integrity who commands strong respect within and outside the judiciary.[11] Margaret Ng, who represented the legal sector as a Civic Party legislator, remarked that the appointment came as little surprise; whereas senior counsel Ronny Tong, who also served as a legislator with the Civic Party, similarly expressed his approval, observing that: 'He [Cheung] works well with his colleagues in the judiciary and has a nice temperament.' At the age of 49, Tong added that Cheung's appointment would be part of the judiciary's promotion of relatively young judges to senior positions.[12] The appointment was also welcomed by Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma as well as the then Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung.[13] The Legislative Council Motion endorsing Cheung's appointment commended him as 'an outstanding lawyer [who] has the proven ability to handle difficult and complex cases... [as well as] the potential of being a good administrator... of the High Court'.[14] The Bar Association commended his 'well-earned reputation for his legal scholarship as well as his unfailing courtesy and fairness towards litigants and practitioners who appeared before him'.[15]

Following his announcement as permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, academic Eric Cheung commended Cheung as an intelligent and industrious judge.[16] He pointed out that, as a bilingual judge, Cheung would be able to handle Chinese cases on behalf of the court, just as his predecessor Robert Tang had done. Chief Executive Carrie Lam praised Cheung as "an outstanding lawyer" who has dealt with high-profile cases relating to administrative and constitutional law in recent years.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Annex Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Judicial Appointment". Government of Hong Kong. 21 August 2003. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Andrew Cheung named as new chief judge". www.scmp.com. SCMP.
  4. ↑ "Notable CFI Judgments" (PDF). Hong Kong Legco.
  5. ↑ "Cheung named next chief of High Court". The Standard. 12 April 2011. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Government Notice No.3932, Gazette 2011 Vol.15 No.25". Government of Hong Kong. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Civil And Miscellaneous Lists : Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  8. ↑ "JORC Report 2015" (PDF).
  9. ↑ eveb. "List of Benchers". www.lincolnsinn.org.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
  10. ↑ "Top court gets new judges". The Standard. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  11. ↑ "New Chief Judge named". rthk.hk. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  12. ↑ "Andrew Cheung named as new chief judge". Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  13. ↑ singtao.ca. "法律界讚年輕能幹人緣好 張舉能任高院首席法官_星島日報_加拿大多倫多中文新聞網。 Canada Toronto Chinese newspaper". news.singtao.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  14. ↑ "Speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration at the meeting of the Legislative Council on 8 June 2011" (PDF).
  15. ↑ "Hong Kong Bar Association Fax Cover Sheet" (PDF).
  16. ↑ "張舉能10月出任終院常任法官 料處理中文案件". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  17. ↑ "Chief Exec. Carrie Lam hails 'historic moment' as Hong Kong set to welcome first female judges to top court | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 2018-03-22. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Geoffrey Ma		 Chief Judge of the High Court
2011–present		 Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Lord Reed
Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal		 Hong Kong order of precedence
Chief Judge of the High Court		 Succeeded by
James To
Member of the Legislative Council
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