May 16 saw the appointment of six new senior counsel, meaning that the total number of practicing senior counsel will stand at 109. The institution of senior counsel – often called “silk” – existed before July 1, 1997. It is not a vestige of the past but an important institution in our constitutional order and society.
Barristers operate independently as sole practitioners. When faced with the need for representation in Court, litigants will always have access to barristers who, because of their modus of operation, face almost no conflicts of interest. Because barristers do not operate as partnerships, there is no pressure either commercial or otherwise that can be put. Whether you need to take on a major bank, a powerful person or even the government, a barrister can be found to represent you.
As an aside, out of the six, one hailed from London, whereas the others read law at the undergraduate level and received their schooling here.
In a bygone era, Hong Kong students often went abroad to boarding school in the United Kingdom and read law there. Hong Kong now has three excellent law schools, and given the premium on bilingualism it is inevitable that many of the best students would choose to stay and study at the universities here. For example, the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong has achieved 15th place in the 2025 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. This is not to say that one should retreat into parochialism; rather, Hong Kong and its premier institutions including its universities have reached maturity, not least because of a high-level of internationalism and institutional autonomy.
I am confident the new appointees will, as their predecessors have done, serve the public in various statutory bodies and the judiciary, and also take on other forms of public service. As one of my predecessors put it, paraphrasing Marvel comics and films of Spider-Man, “with great power comes great responsibility.”
José Antonio Maurellet SC is the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association
