Hong Kong barristers reject granting senior counsel status to solicitors

Hong Kong's Bar Association has rejected proposals to grant solicitors access to senior counsel designation and expanded courtroom rights, calling the push "premature and largely academic".

The clash emerged as lawmakers review omnibus legislative amendments, with the Law Society pressing for its members to secure higher professional status and the right to represent clients in senior courts. The society has argued that appointments should be merit-based.

Bar cites low usage of existing rights

The Bar Association challenged the case for reform by pointing to underutilisation of powers already held by solicitor advocates. Hong Kong currently has approximately 100 solicitor advocates entitled to higher court representation rights, but the majority have not used that privilege over the past two years, the barristers' body noted.

"A review of judgments handed down from the beginning of 2024 to the end of 2025 shows that the number of judgments where a solicitor advocate has exercised higher rights of audience in open court as lead or sole advocate is fewer than 15 cases," the association said.

The dispute highlights a long-standing divide between the city's two branches of the legal profession over access to elite professional recognition and the scope of courtroom practice.

Source: South China Morning Post