Push to extend Bay licensing scheme for lawyers

Deputy Secretary for Justice Horace Cheung said on Saturday that the Department of Justice would discuss with mainland counterparts the regularising of a pilot scheme that has licensed more than 600 local lawyers to practise in the Greater Bay Area. The six-year scheme, launched by the GBA Lawyers Organisation and set to expire in October, is part of the group's plan to fully leverage lawyers’ professional strengths to enable them to contribute to the GBA’s development. Speaking on an RTHK programme, Cheung said the department would be pushing for regularisation as the scheme had been well received by the SAR's legal industry, with the number of lawyers sitting for the licensing examination each year remaining stable. He also said more and more countries and regions were learning about, and joining, the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed), which was launched here in October. When asked whether IOMed could play a mediating role in the ongoing disputes in the Middle East, Cheung said it was up to the parties concerned. "It would be up to the US, Israel, and Iran to decide whether they would want to make use of the International Organization for Mediation," he said. "But I believe a lot of countries and regions around the world, when they encounter disputes with others in the future, they will be willing to make use of the organisation to deal with their problems." Cheung also said the Department of Justice would promote the Global Mediation Summit to be held here next month and that the event would help position the SAR as an international mediation centre. Edited by Robert Kemp