End of line for law firm that defended protesters

A law firm founded by a human rights lawyer and which represented protesters in the anti-fugitive bill unrest has announced it will cease operation from June 3.

The Law Society of Hong Kong, in an internal circular to members, said it has received a "notice of intention to cease practice" from Vidler and Co Solicitors.

Michael Vidler confirmed the development, but declined The Standard's request for comment on why his firm is folding after 19 years and whether he is going back to the United Kingdom.

Vidler founded the firm in 2003. It specializes in litigation cases, primarily in the areas of criminal law, administrative and civil rights law, while it also covers cases of immigration, employment and matrimonial law.

The firm took on a number of high-profile cases during the anti-fugitive bill protests which started in June 2019 - including representing an 18-year-old girl who alleged she was gang raped by police her during her detention at Tsuen Wan police station in 2019. The force denied the allegation.

Vidler's firm successfully challenged police's search warrant to seize the teenager's private medical records and CCTV footage from the clinic of her private doctor.

In another case, the firm represented Indonesian journalist Veby Indah, who became permanently blind in her right eye after allegedly being hit by police officer's rubber bullet while covering a protest in Wan Chai.

He has also represented Joshua Wong Chi-fung, cofounder of the defunct Scholarism, who was charged for his roles in a protest that triggered the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement in 2014.

Others that Vidler represented include Civic Party protester Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, who was beaten by several police officers in a dark corner in Admiralty, and former lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick from the Land Justice League, after he received a death threat.

Apart from his involvement in protest-related cases, Vidler successfully challenged a law that bans anal sex under 21 years of age and vaginal sex under 16. The higher age of consent was ruled discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.

Another landmark case involved a transexual woman, who was denied to marry her boyfriend since she was listed as a male on her birth certificate. The Court of Final Appeal eventually ruled in her favor in 2013.

Vidler, also a part-time lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's department of professional legal education, started his legal career in the UK in 1990. He was admitted as a solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong two years later.

Vidler was a member of human rights group Amnesty International's (Hong Kong) board of directors in 2007 and a legal adviser for an LGBT rights group Pink Alliance for five years from 2008. He has served in several committees under the Law Society, including its criminal law and procedure committee from 2004 until last year [2021], as well as its legal aid committee since 2016.

In addition, Vidler is on the panel of solicitors for the Legal Aid Department, the Duty Lawyer Scheme and is an approved solicitor for a number of consulates in Hong Kong.

He was twice elected in 2011 and 2017 as a representative of the legal functional constituency on the 1,200-member Election Committee, which is tasked with nominating and choosing Hong Kong's chief executive.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com