Staff establishment of the Department
of Justice
(as at 31 December 2007)
| DIVISION | Directorate
Counsel | Non-directorate Counsel | Para-legal
Staff # | Other
staff | Total |
| Secretary for Justice's Office | - | 1 | - |
12 | 13 | | Civil | 16 | 100 | 19 | 95 | 230 |
| International Law | 7 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 32 |
| Law Drafting | 15 | 23 | 15 | 53 | 106 |
| Legal Policy | 9 | 23 | 7 | 28 | 67 |
| Prosecutions | 19+1* | 100 | 133 | 201 | 453+1* |
| Administration & Development | - | 1 | - | 173 | 174 |
| Total number of posts | 66 +1* | 260 | 176 | 573 |
1,075+1* | # Court Prosecutors, Law Translation Officers and
Law Clerks
* supernumerary post
Rank and post title of senior
legal staff
|
|
Civil Division |
International Law Division |
Law Drafting Division |
Legal Policy Division |
Prosecutions Division | |
Law Officer | Law
Officer (Civil Law) | Law
Officer (International Law) | Law
Draftsman | Solicitor
General | Director of
Public Prosecutions | | Principal
Government Counsel | Deputy
Law Officer | Deputy Law
Officer | Deputy Law
Draftsman | Deputy Solicitor
General | Deputy Director
of Public Prosecutions | | Deputy
Principal Government Counsel | Senior
Assistant Law Officer | Deputy
Principal Government Counsel | Senior
Assistant Law Draftsman | Senior
Assistant Solicitor General | Senior
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions |
Total
expenditure on departmental activities
| |
2006 (HK$ million) |
2007 (HK$ million) | | Personal
emoluments and personnel related expenses | 502.7 |
522.0 | | Departmental expenses |
59.9 | 65.6 |
| Court costs | 66.3 |
74.8 | | Hire of legal services
and related professional fees | 178.0 |
181.0 | | General non-recurrent
account | 1.5 |
0.5 | Training (a) Courses
attended by Department of Justice staff |
Number of participants (2006) |
Number of participants (2007) |
| Law-related training and conferences | | |
| Legal trainee scheme | 10 |
17 | | Courses on criminal
law, evidence, procedure & advocacy | 271 |
317 | | Workshops and in-house
seminars for Court Prosecutors | 297 |
164 | | Workshops on the
use of plain language | 79 |
- | | Seminar
on drafting of legislation in Chinese | - |
30 | | Seminar on preparing
legal reports to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress |
- | 30 |
| Law seminars/talks organized by divisions |
655 | 245 |
| International law conferences | 42 |
32 | | Law courses and attachments
outside Hong Kong | 19 |
20 | | Legal courses and
workshops by the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Advocacy Institute and other local
institutes | 300 |
331 | | Part-time law studies
sponsored by the department | 10 |
10 | | Workshops on drafting
of court documents in Chinese | 8 |
9 | | Mock trials in Chinese |
9 | 9 |
| Mock appeals in Chinese | 6 |
6 | | Total |
1,706 | 1,220 |
| | Number
of participants (2006) | Number
of participants (2007) | | National
Studies, Foreign Affairs Studies and China Law | | |
| National Studies courses for senior staff at Peking University,
Tsinghua University and the National School of Administration and thematic study
programmes in the Mainland | 14 |
11 | | National
Studies programme and special programme for expatriate officers at the National
School of Administration and Peking University, Beijing |
4 | - |
| Foreign Affairs Studies programme at China Foreign
Affairs University, Beijing | 2 |
- | | National Studies courses
for middle managers at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, and Peking University,
Shenzhen | 2 |
11 | | China Law course
for para-legal officers at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou |
18 | 18 |
| National Studies seminars | 53
| 42 | |
Total | 93 |
82 |
| | Number
of participants (2006) | Number
of participants (2007) | Management
training
(including training courses outside Hong Kong) | | |
| General management courses | 162 |
132 | | Directorate seminars |
24 | 30 |
| Leadership in Action Programme | 2 |
4 | | Leadership Enhancement
and Development Programme | 3 |
- | | Total |
191 | 166 |
| |
Number of participants (2006) |
Number of participants (2007) |
| Communication and language training | | |
| Putonghua courses | 79 |
56 | | Written Chinese
courses | 41 |
28 | | English and communication
courses | 52 |
41 | | Total |
172 | 125 |
| | Number
of participants (2006) | Number
of participants (2007) | | Others | | |
| Induction courses for Government Counsel and Legal Trainees
| 8 |
42 | | Computer training courses |
152 | 226 |
| Visits to government departments and organisations |
46 | 52 |
| Vocational/induction training for non-counsel grades |
34 | 8 |
| Total |
240 | 328 |
| Grand Total |
2,402 | 1,921 |
(b) Courses
provided by Department of Justice staff to others
| Legal training seminars arranged
by divisions for other Government departments |
Number of participants (2006) |
Number of participants (2007) | | Civil
Division | 20 |
149 | | International Law
Division | 97 |
30 | | Law Drafting Division |
233 | 253 |
| Legal Policy Division | 781 |
1,322 | | Prosecutions Division |
3,106 | 3,011 |
| Secretary for Justice's Office | 160 |
107 | | Total |
4,397 | 4,872 |
Description 
Description 
Description 
Description Civil
Division Advisory
Units | Number
of pieces of legal advice given | 2006 |
2007 | | (a)
Planning, Environment, Lands and Housing Unit | 1,756 |
1,747 | | (b)
Civil Advisory Unit | 11,053 |
9,587 | | (c)
Commercial Unit | 3,013 |
2,886 |
| | 2006 |
2007 | | Number of
commercial tenders, consultancy briefs, contracts, licences and franchises drafted
/ vetted by the Commercial Unit | 476 |
394 | | Number of tenders,
contracts and permits drafted / vetted by the Civil Advisory Unit |
38 | 33 |
| Number of contract documents drafted / vetted by the Planning,
Environment, Lands and Housing Unit | 24 |
14 |
Civil Litigation Unit | |
2006 | 2007 |
| Number (and percentage) of civil litigation cases in respect
of which one or more outside professionals were briefed | 547
(3.2%) | 708 (3.8%) |
| Total number of current civil litigation cases |
17,270 | 18,561 |
| Selected categories of current civil litigation cases |
2006 | 2007 |
| Tax, Stamp Duty, Estate Duty, Rating & Government
rent appeals | 4,568 |
4,811 | | Judicial review
/ habeas corpus proceedings | 498 |
546 | | Building, planning,
environmental appeals | 197 |
222 | Personal injuries
proceedings
| 379 |
340 | | Medical Council,
Dental Council, Supplementary Medical Professions Council, Veterinary Surgeons
Board and Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board |
260 | 267 | |
Land related cases (other than land resumption) |
51 | 60 | |
Land resumption | 235 |
227 |
| | 2006 |
2007 | | Number of
civil proceedings instituted by Government | 1,305 |
1,247 | Amount claimed
/ involved
| $203 million |
$227 million | | Number of
civil proceedings instituted against Government | 919 |
886 | | Amount claimed /
involved | $483 million |
$1,210 million |
| | 2006 |
2007 | Number of
Court of Appeal cases with substantive hearings
| 42 |
35 | | Number of Court of
Final Appeal cases with substantive hearings | 8 |
10 |
International Law Division
| |
2006 | 2007 |
Number of international agreements initialled
|
4 | 4 |
| Number of pieces of legal advice provided |
7,809 | 7,326 |
| Number of new requests dealt with in various categories of
mutual legal assistance | 227 |
206 |
Law Drafting Division
| Legislative drafting work |
2006 |
2007 | Drafts of
legislation released1 | 3,264 |
2,663 | | Number of pieces
of legal/professional advice given (including written and oral advice) |
7,439 | 7,808 |
Papers prepared2 |
113 | 128 |
Papers commented on3 |
1,583 | 1,528 |
| Drafting conferences attended | 424 |
348 | | ExCo and LegCo attendances |
531 | 454 |
| Volume
of legislation gazetted | 2006 |
2007 | Number of
Bills gazetted
| 19 |
28 | Number of pages of
bilingual text (as gazetted)
| 1,120 |
1,184 | | Number of pieces
of subsidiary legislation | 291 |
241 | | Number of pages
of bilingual text (as gazetted) | 4,132 |
2,194 |
| Volume
of legislation enacted |
2006 |
2007 | | Number of
Bills enacted | 23 |
21 | | Number of pages of
bilingual text of Committee Stage Amendments incorporated in legislation |
978 | 586 |
| | |
| 1 | This
includes all drafts of legislation (whether gazetted or not), including draft
Committee Stage Amendments. | | | |
| 2 | This
includes all drafts (other than legislation) prepared by LDD counsel (whether
issued in the name of individual counsel or
otherwise) for consideration
by parties outside the Administration. Examples are papers explaining legal points
submitted to Bills
Committees, legal reports to NPCSC and LD's certificates
for private bills, etc. | | | |
| 3 | This
includes all documents sent to LDD by parties outside DoJ for consideration and
comments. Examples are ExCo Memos,
LegCo Briefs, speeches by bureau secretaries,
private bills, draft replies, press releases, papers submitted to Bills committees
or LegCo's panels or ExCo's subcommittees, etc. | | |
Legal Policy Division
| Visits (and visitors) to and from
the Mainland handled by the division |
2006 |
2007 | | Number of
visits (and visitors) from the Mainland | 44
(634) | 28 (382) |
| Number of visits (and visitors) to the Mainland |
5 (9) | 4 (12) |
| Total | 49
(643) | 32 (394) |
| Number
of pieces of legal advice given | 2006 |
2007 | | General legal
policy | 680 |
660 | | Basic Law and constitutional
matters | 1,444 |
1,349 | | Human rights |
1,438 | 1,173 |
| Mainland law | 396 |
434 | | Total |
3,958 | 3,616 |
Prosecutions Division
| |
2006 | 2007 |
|---|
| Number of pieces of legal advice given |
14,895 | 14,404 |
| Criminal
cases / appeals at all levels of court |
2006 | 2007 |
Court of Final Appeal and related applications
Number of appeals concluded
(including number of prosecution appeals) |
121
(7) | 111
(6) | Court of Appeal
Number of
appeals heard
(including number of prosecution appeals - case stated)
(Including number of prosecution appeals - review of sentence) |
401
(1)
(13) |
486
(1)
(12) | Court
of First Instance (Magistracy Appeals)
Number of appeals heard
(including
number of prosecution appeals - case stated) |
981
(2) | 1,009
(4) | | Court of First Instance
Number of indictments | 171 |
190 | | District Court
Number of charge sheets | 1,177 |
1,242 | | Magistrates
Court
Number of applications for review under section 104 of the Magistrates
Ordinance (Cap.227)
Caseload of Court Prosecutors |
81
177,034
|
70
179,161
| |
High Court
Number of bail applications |
668 | 775 |
| Death Inquests
Number of inquests |
75 | 32 |
| Percentage
of criminal cases conducted in Chinese |
2006 | 2007 |
| Court of Final Appeal and related applications |
14.0% | 30.6% |
| Court of Appeal (criminal appeals) | 26.4% |
27.4% | | Court of First
Instance (Magistracy appeals) | 63.2% |
71.4% | | Court of First
Instance (criminal trials) | 23.5% |
24.7% | | District Court
(criminal trials) | 37.1% |
31.9% | | Magistrates
Courts (criminal trials) | 75.2% |
83.6% |
| Briefing
out (number of court days) | 2006 |
2007 | Appeals
Court of Final Appeal and related appeals
Other appeals |
16
14 | 3
12 | | Court of First Instance (criminal trials) |
744 | 529 |
| District Court (criminal trials) | 2,902 |
2,881 | | Magistrates
Court (criminal trials)
In place of Government Counsel
In place of Court
Prosecutor | 720
969 | 1,189
1,493 |
 |
