The Honourable
Lam San-keung
林新強
Lam in 2023
Member of the Legislative Council
Assumed office
1 January 2022
Preceded byDennis Kwok (2020)
ConstituencyLegal
President of the Law Society of Hong Kong
In office
21 May 2013[1] – 19 August 2014[2]
Preceded byDieter Yih
Succeeded byStephen Hung
Personal details
BornAugust 1961 (age 62)
CitizenshipChinese
British
ResidenceHong Kong
OccupationSolicitor
President of the
Law Society of Hong Kong

Ambrose Lam San-keung (Chinese: 林新強; born August 1961[3]) is a Hong Kong solicitor who served as the member of Legislative Council, representing Legal constituency. He previously served as president of the Law Society of Hong Kong from 2013 until his resignation in 2014.[2][4] He is known for his pro-Beijing political stance.[5] He gained widespread attention from the Hong Kong media in 2014, when he made numerous controversial comments supporting the 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform consultation and the Chinese Communist Party.[6] He resigned as the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong on 19 August 2014[7] after a motion of no confidence was passed against him by members of the Law Society Council on 14 August 2014.[5][8]

Lam has served as a member of the Law Society Council since 2004. He also led 12 candidates to participate in the 2011 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector elections, all of which are council members, though all of them failed to get a seat.[1]

Controversial remarks

As president of the Society of Hong Kong, Lam made some controversial remarks which are said to have angered many members of the Council.[8]

Views towards the Chinese Communist Party

When asked his views on the Chinese Communist Party, the sole governing and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China, Lam expressed his admiration towards the party, describing it as "great",[8][9] citing the party's ability in "guiding China into a new era"[10][11] and transforming mainland China into one of the world's superpowers over the last few decades.[12] His views sparked widespread criticism from the legal sector.[12]

Views towards Beijing's controversial White Paper

When asked his views on the controversial White Paper issued by the Central People's Government, which called for Hong Kong judges to be patriotic and included judges as "administrators" of the HKSAR,[13] Lam stated that the requirement for judges to be patriotic did not undermine the rule of law, and that he saw no problem in regarding the judiciary as being part of the government's "administrators".[14] His views sparked widespread criticism from the legal sector, of which many believed that the judiciary should not be counted as part of the administration due to Hong Kong's separation of powers. Hong Kong's former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Andrew Li, expressed "great concern" towards Lam's comments, commenting that judges should not be pro or anti anyone under the principle of judicial independence.[6] In response to this allegation, Lam stated that judicial independence will not be compromised if judges are required to be patriotic.[13]

Other controversies

Refusal to answer questions in English

On 5 May 2014, in a press conference on 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform consultation, then-President of the Law Society Ambrose Lam was asked about the Council's views towards the “love your country” requirement for Chief Executive Candidates in the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election by a TVB Pearl News reporter in English. Lam, however, refused to answer the reporter's question in English, saying that "he already provided the answer in Chinese", and that "the reporters can translate it (his answers in Chinese) into English".[15] His refusal to answer questions in English despite his fluency in English[15] has resulted in widespread criticism. As a result of the incident, Lam was nicknamed "clown" by some of his critics,[16] and has led to questions about Hong Kong's status as an Asia’s World City.[17]

Legislative Council

Lam said that there should be a blanket ban on all overseas lawyers from taking part in national security cases, after Jimmy Lai was blocked from hiring Tim Owen.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 林新強任律師會會長 (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Apple Daily. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 律師會會長林新強請辭 (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Apple Daily. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "中華人民共和國香港特別行政區第十三屆全國人民代表大會代表候選人簡介" (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Wenweipo. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  4. ↑ 香港律师会长林新强"不信任"动议后首度发声：坚持当初立场 (in Chinese). China: news.163.com. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Hong Kong legal body votes to oust its pro-Beijing president". AFP. Hong Kong: Yahoo News. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 Rose, Adam; Greg Torode (15 August 2014). "Hong Kong lawyers take stand for independence from Beijing". Hong Kong: Reuters. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Law Society president Ambrose Lam resigns following Historic No". Hong Kong: South China Morning Post. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 "Solicitors send signal to Beijing on professional independence". Hong Kong: Ejinsight. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "Society chief refuses to back down". Hong Kong: South China Morning Post. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "CY dinner off the menu after Legco protests". Hong Kong: South China Morning Post. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Lawyers to hold 'silent march'". Hong Kong: The Standard. 18 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Mainland tabloid lashes Law Soc members". Hong Kong: RTHK. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  13. 1 2 Wong, Hilary (17 June 2014). "Law Society defends white paper on 'patriotic' judges". Hong Kong: The Standard. Archived from the original on 2014-08-18. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Law Society chairman urged to step down". Hong Kong: RTHK. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  15. 1 2 Grundy, Tom (May 6, 2014). "BLOG – Newsreaders Call Out Law Society President for Refusing to Answer in English". Hong Kong: Hongwrong.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  16. ↑ Chugani, Michael (13 May 2014). "又中又英—— An arrogant fool". Hong Kong: Headlines HK. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  17. ↑ Basti (6 May 2014). "Hong Kong – Asia's World City. But we don't speak English…". China: Basti in China. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  18. ↑ "Legal change to overseas lawyers' role in Hong Kong cases not retrospective". South China Morning Post. 2023-03-17. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
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