Ma's the word in CFA chase

Court of Appeal judge Maria Yuen Ka-ning, the wife of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, is a candidate for the SAR's highest court.

Because Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, a permanent judge at the Court of Final Appeal, will succeed Ma as the next chief justice after he retires at 65 on January 11 that will leave a vacancy at the top court.

The Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission is considering several candidates, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor will name the final choice from its list.

That Yuen is among those candidates has been learned by Sing Tao Daily, The Standard's sister newspaper.

In terms of seniority, there are three vice-presidents at the Court of Appeal - Johnson Lam Man-hon, Susan Kwan Shuk-hing and Andrew Colin Macrae.

There are eight other justices.

Besides Yuen they are Peter Cheung Chak-yau, Carlye Chu Fun-ling, Aarif Barma, Ian McWalters, Derek Pang Wai-cheong, Kevin Zervos and Au Hing-cheung. Yuen was appointed as a judge of the Court of First Instance in 1997.

But Yuen has specialized in civil rather than criminal cases, so some in the legal sector have reservations about her going to the CFA as two of its present permanent judges are specialists in civil law.

To avoid any conflict of interest, Ma does not handle appeals that have involved Yuen.

Yuen, 67, obtained a bachelor of law from the University of Hong Kong in 1975 and a master of law from the University of London in 1976.

She was called to the Inner Temple Bar and the Hong Kong Bar in 1975.

She was also admitted as a barrister in Victoria, Australia in 1982 and as barrister and solicitor in Singapore in 1990.

Ma and Yuen have a daughter.

Also retiring soon is vice-president of the Court of Appeal Wally Yeung Chun-kuen.

He will join the office of the Commissioner on Interception of Communications and Surveillance.

Godfrey Lam Wan-ho, now in the Court of First Instance, will succeed Yeung. One of the two Court of First Instance female judges, Maggie Poon Man-kay and Anthea Pang Po-kam, could also be promoted to the Court of Appeal.