'Meaningful' talks for Law Society chief during hectic US visit

Meeting with US State Department officials responsible for Hong Kong and Macau affairs was a rare opportunity for the legal sector to clarify misunderstandings about SAR legal and judicial systems, says Law Society president Chan Chak-ming.

Chan, who started a visit to the United States from Thursday last week, held an unofficial meeting with Gareth Collins, a foreign service officer at the US Department of State, and other Americans responsible for Hong Kong and Macau on Tuesday in Washington.

They discussed the rule of law in Hong Kong, judicial independence and the national security law.

Although it was an unofficial meeting, Chan said it was especially meaningful as the China-US geopolitical scene is becoming intense. And China might be subject to more trade and investment limitations.

Chan also met Elizabeth Anderson, executive director of World Justice Project and her team on the same day.

He also attended the American Bar Association annual meeting in Denver where he provided an overview of the one country, two systems principle and the national security law to its outgoing president, Deborah Enix-Ross, and the incoming Mary Smith.

Chan also met the presidents and representatives of lawyer associations.

They included the current president of the New York State Bar Association, Richard Lewis, and incoming Domenick Napoletano, and Jeremy Evans of the California Lawyers Association. Topics included holding webinars.

On Monday Chan visited the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Washington to exchange views on how to strengthen the role played by Hong Kong legal professionals in promoting business ties between Hong Kong and the United States.

Chan also met with US-China Business Council chairman Craig Allen during which he promoted the advantages of doing business in Hong Kong.

Other issues that have occupied Chan include expressing his wish to Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain to strengthen cooperation between their legal professions on the basis of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Mongolian Bar Association in 2017.