GBA legal sectors gather at DoJ’s reception to call for expediting establishment of GBA lawyers’ platform (with photos)

     The Department of Justice (DoJ) today (November 7) hosted the first Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Lawyers Exchange Reception, bringing together more than 150 participants from the legal sectors of the Mainland, Macao and Hong Kong, including representatives from the Guangdong Lawyers Association, the lawyers associations of the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA, the Macao Lawyers Association, and Hong Kong legal professional bodies, as well as many GBA lawyers and various Legislative Council Members, to discuss the work of promoting the construction of rule of law in the GBA.

     The Director-General of the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province, Mr Chen Xudong, and the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau of Macao Special Administrative Region Government, Ms Leong Weng-in, also attended the event.

    The DoJ consulted various stakeholders on the work of the GBA. The GBA lawyers considered that it is necessary to establish a platform as soon as possible to facilitate exchanges and capacity building among them to enable the industry to better participate in the development of the GBA.

     The Deputy Secretary for Justice, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan, said that the establishment of the platform is not only an initiative in the Policy Address, but also an important measure in the DoJ's Action Plan on the Construction of Rule of Law in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The platform aims to consolidate the professional strengths of the legal services in the GBA and foster mutual capacity development by leveraging the strengths of the GBA, thereby giving full play to the unique strengths of GBA lawyers and contributing to the high-quality development of the GBA.

     Mr Cheung said it is an initial suggestion that the platform, with the GBA lawyers as key members, would serve three objectives:

(1) Promote training and professional exchanges among the GBA lawyers in a more systematic manner;
(2) Establish and develop the team of the GBA lawyers; and
(3) Build and promote the brand of GBA lawyers to contribute to the construction of foreign-related rule of law of the country.

     He emphasised that once the details of the establishment of the platform are finalised, the DoJ looks forward to implementing the setting up as early as possible in response to the industry's strong demands.

     He continued that the platform organisation, together with the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy to be launched shortly, will enable Hong Kong to fully harness the institutional strengths of the "one country, two systems" framework in response to the keen demands for the foreign-related legal talent in the region and beyond, and to grasp the opportunities in the GBA with a view to making greater contributions to the high-quality development of the country.

     The Exchange Reception is one of the events on the fourth day, themed "Joint Contribution to the Construction of Rule of Law in the GBA" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2024.