Andrew Cheung

Cheung was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1985 as a pupil of Audrey Eu SC and began private practice the following year in the chambers of Henry Litton QC; his practice was successful and mainly involved civil and commercial cases.[3][4][5] In 1995, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.[1]

Cheung was appointed to the bench in 2001 as a judge of the District Court of Hong Kong. Sitting first as a Deputy High Court Judge in December 2001, he was soon elevated to the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2003. He was then appointed as the Probate Judge in 2004, before becoming the Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List of the High Court in 2008.[1] His tenure was marked by a number of high-profile rulings relating to constitutional and human rights matters.[6][7]

In June 2011, Cheung succeeded Geoffrey Ma as the Chief Judge of the High Court and President of the Court of Appeal,[8][9] making him the fourth local judge to hold this position.

He was elected an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 2017.[10]

On 21 March 2018, the Judiciary announced his appointment as a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal with effect from 25 October 2018, succeeding Robert Tang. Cheung's appointment was accompanied by the appointments of Baroness Hale and Beverley McLachlin as Non-Permanent Judges of the city's top court.[11] He held the office of Chief Judge of the High Court for 7 years, 127 days – the longest serving of the four judges who had served in the role.

Cheung is a member of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, which makes recommendations to the Chief Executive on judicial appointments. He is a member of the Law Reform Commission and also chairs or is a member of various committees and working parties within the Judiciary.[12][13][14]

Cheung was announced as the 3rd Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal on 24 March 2020, succeeding Geoffrey Ma. His appointment took effect on 11 January 2021. He is the first local law graduate to be appointed Hong Kong's Chief Justice.[4]

On Cheung's appointment as Chief Judge, Donald Tsang praised Cheung as an outstanding lawyer, and a man of integrity who commands strong respect within and outside the judiciary.[15] Margaret Ng, who represented the legal sector as a Civic Party legislator, remarked that the appointment came as little surprise; whereas senior counsel Ronny Tong, who also served as a legislator with the Civic Party, similarly expressed his approval, observing that: 'He [Cheung] works well with his colleagues in the judiciary and has a nice temperament.' At the age of 49, Tong added that Cheung's appointment would be part of the judiciary's promotion of relatively young judges to senior positions.[16]

The appointment was also welcomed by Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma as well as the then Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung.[17] The Legislative Council Motion endorsing Cheung's appointment commended him as 'an outstanding lawyer [who] has the proven ability to handle difficult and complex cases... [as well as] the potential of being a good administrator... of the High Court'.[18] The Bar Association commended his 'well-earned reputation for his legal scholarship as well as his unfailing courtesy and fairness towards litigants and practitioners who appeared before him'.[19]

Following his announcement as permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, academic Eric Cheung commended Cheung as an intelligent and industrious judge.[20] Chief Executive Carrie Lam praised Cheung as "an outstanding lawyer" who has dealt with high-profile cases relating to administrative and constitutional law in recent years.[21]

The announcement on 24 March 2020 of Cheung's appointment as the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal was welcomed by the Hong Kong Bar Association, which released a statement that he 'commands the respect of the Bar' and 'will capably discharge the duties of the Chief Justice in accordance with the requirements of the Basic Law'.[22] Cheung's appointment was also welcomed by the Law Society of Hong Kong, which issued a statement that he 'has a distinguished record of judicial service on the Bench' and 'will continue with the good tradition of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma to head an independent Judiciary upholding the rule of law which is of cardinal importance to Hong Kong under the principle of One Country Two Systems'.[23] His appointment was also supported by former Chief Justices Andrew Li Kwok-nang and Geoffrey Ma.[24] At a farewell event, Ma commented: "“I would not have left this office at all if I thought that nobody was suitable to take over from me. Somebody suitable and good will be taking over, probably better than I, and I am confident of the future”.

However, not all reactions were overwhelmingly positive. Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok raised concerns on Cheung's previous comments regarding China's interference in Hong Kong's legal system, and other legal observers noted that Cheung is "competent but conservative".[25][26] At the same time, legal scholar Simon Young Ngai-man described him as a “highly intelligent judge who approaches the case conscientiously, patiently and with an open mind”. Regarding Cheung's conservative reputation, Young remarked, “People also said Ma … would be a conservative judge on the Court of Final Appeal but this did not prove to be the case entirely,” he said. “There is a special dynamic in the [Court of Final Appeal] where judges have more time to think about the legal issues with the benefit of the wisdom of the other four judges, including the foreign judge and the assistance from the best advocates in Hong Kong and sometimes the United Kingdom.”[27]