'Liberal' Lawyers To Vie For Law Society Seats

Some lawyers who provided pro-bono legal assistance to protesters arrested during last year's social unrest have thrown their hats into the ring as the Law Society heads for a key election at the end of this month.

Solicitors will vote in the annual election of their professional body's governing council amid criticism that the society has not been vocal enough about rule of law issues.

The election is to replace five members who are ending their four-year tenure in the 20-seat governing council.

Among the nominees who have filed their applications for the seats are solicitors considered to be liberal, including lawyers Kenneth Lam, Janet Pang and Michelle Tsoi.

They say they want to provide more diversity to the Law Society.

Lam said some lawyers are frustrated that the body hasn't been vocal enough about rule of law issues over the past year.

“We do expect the council to be more vocal in this area,” said Lam. “But as we can see from the 13 statements issued by the law council, all of them are one-sided, condemning the protesters. Which is not wrong, as it involved a lot of violence. We have no objection to that.”

“But to balance the voice and to represent the views of the members, we consider it is necessary to be vocal on the issue that public power needs to be constrained,” said the solicitor.

The deadline for nominations is Wednesday.