High Court judge Wilson Chan found to have again copied lawyers’ submissions

High Court judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun, also a designated national security law judge, was again found to have copied lawyers’ submissions in his judgment when ruling a civil appeal, the Court of Appeal said. 

The appeal was filed by Lo Kai-shui, the youngest son of Great Eagles Holdings’ founder Lo Ying-shek; it listed HSBC International Trustee Ltd, Lo Ka-shui, Nine Law Wai-duen, KSL Management Ltd, and HSBC Trustee (HK) Ltd as the respondents. 

Lo Kai-shui’s side said Judge Chan didn’t apply an independent mind by “reproducing substantial portions of the submissions on costs of HSBC Int’t Trustee and Lo Ka-shui.” 

They also argued that Chan “was wrong in adopting verbatim, certain submissions of HSBC Int’l Trustee.” 

In court today, Vice President of the Court of Appeal Susan Kwan Shuk-hing said the issue of Chan copying lawyers’ submissions was recently dealt with in a trademark dispute related to Wong To Yick Wood Lock Medicated Balm, which resulted in a retrial. 

Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung and Chief Judge of the High Court had given Chan a solemn admonition for the judicial copying. Chan expressed his understanding and agreement. 

Kwan said the court won’t stop the plaintiff from using Chan’s judicial copying as a ground to support his case but expressed wishes for the court to focus on other grounds. 

Kwan also said this case is different from the Wong To Yick case as the latter had undergone a trial already, which was why a retrial could be ordered. 

She added that the court would consider relevant evidence independently and decide on the ruling without weighing in Chan’s previous judgment. 

The president of the Law Society of Hong Kong Chan Chak-ming described the incident as "unacceptable" and detrimental to public confidence in the administration of justice.

He also welcomed the improvement measures taken by the judiciary, including strengthening relevant training for the judges and judicial officers to avoid similar incident recurrence.

Victor Dawes, chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, refused to comment on the individual case but added that the workload of the city's judiciary is higher than that of neighbouring countries, and judges face heavy workload and pressure.