Rimsky Yuen

The Honourable Rimsky Yuen
袁國強
Secretary for Justice
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2012
Preceded by	Wong Yan-lung
Member of the Guangdong committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office March 2008 – March 2012
Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association
In office 2007–2010
Preceded by	Philip Dykes SC
Succeeded by	Russell Coleman SC
Personal details
Born	Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung 1964 (age 52)
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong City University of Hong Kong

Rimsky Yuen
Traditional Chinese	袁國強
Simplified Chinese	袁国强
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yuán Guóqiáng Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yùhn Gwok-kèuhng Jyutping Jyun4 Gwok3 -koeng4

Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung (born 1964) is a lawyer and the third and current Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong. He took office on 1 July 2012.

Education and early career

Yuen studied law as an undergraduate at the University of Hong Kong and as a master's student at the City University of Hong Kong. He was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1987. In 1995, he became qualified as a solicitor and advocate in Singapore. He held a temporary position as deputy registrar of the High Court of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2003; afterwards, he was appointed as a Senior Counsel.^[1] He later became chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

In politics

In 2008, Yuen accepted a position as a member of the Guangdong committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in a widely criticised decision; a number of legislators in the pan-democratic camp, including Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho and Civic Party member Audrey Eu, called on Yuen to step down. Ronny Tong, who had declined a similar offer of appointment to the Guangdong CPPCC during his tenure as Bar Association head, also expressed his disappointment in Yuen and expressed his concerns over the potential for conflict of interest. In contrast, legislator Kwong Chi-kin of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions supported Yuen's appointment, stating that it would promote cooperation with mainland authorities; pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po also came out with an editorial denying that any conflict of interest arose by Yuen's appointment.^[2][3]

In his undergraduate law studies, Yuen was a classmate of his contemporary Director of Public Prosecutions, Keith Yeung, and also of Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao who suffered a vicious knife attack in February 2014, a combination of facts that led to Yuen delegating authority to handle that case to Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Wesley Wong.^[4]

References

1. "Judicial appointments". Info.gov.hk. Government Information Centre, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 2005-12-30. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
2. Patel, Nishika; Diana Lee (2008-01-17). "Bar chief under fire for accepting CPPCC seat". The Standard. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
3. Cheung, Chi-kong (2008-01-18). "袁國強任政協並無利益衝突 (No conflict of interest in Rimsky Yuen's membership in the CPPCC)". Wen Wei Po. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
4. Wesley Wong to study assault case, HK Government Information Services Dept, 14 March 2014