Insurance Law and Regulation

Who is a lawyer? Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys, Ayinde v Haringey LBC and more beside

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The Legal Practitioners’ Ordinance (Cap 159) defines a ‘solicitor’ as ‘a person who is enrolled on the roll of solicitors’ and a barrister as ‘a person who is enrolled as a barrister on the roll of barristers’. Behind these rudimentary definitions lies a body of statutes, regulations, judgments, conventions and customs on the role, rights and duties of legal professionals. To put it another way, on the question ‘Who is a lawyer?’

This seminar will examine recent developments on this question, including the English Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys, which concerned those tasks which only legal professionals may undertake on their clients’ behalf and those which may be delegated to others. It also addresses the decision in Ayinde v Haringey LBC and other cases on legal professionals’ use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their work. Finally, it will consider the shift from traditional partnerships to other business models such as limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and corporations and how this has changed the perception and reality of legal practice.

The seminar draws on the speaker’s research for his book Wilkinson’s Professional Conduct of Lawyers in Hong Kong.

Speaker:
Gary Meggitt, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

Gary was admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and spent over a decade in practice with several leading UK law firms. He is also Called to the Bar in England & Wales. After leaving private practice, Gary taught at BPP Law School in London and was the Course Director of its Full-Time Bar Vocational Course (BVC). He joined the Law Faculty at HKU in 2007 and teaches civil litigation, commercial dispute resolution, professional conduct and insurance law. He is the author of Wilkinson’s Professional Conduct of Lawyers in Hong Kong (Seventh Desk Edition, LexisNexis, 2026) and other publications. Gary is a member of the Hong Kong Law Society’s Insurance Law Committee and serves as Co-Convener for Head IV (Accounts & Professional Conduct) of the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination.

Chair:
Albert T. da Rosa, Jr. BBS. Consultant Solicitor, Raymond Siu & Lawyers. Member, Standing Committee on Standards and Development, The Law Society of Hong Kong. External Examiner, Head IV (Accounts & Professional Conduct) of the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination. Member of International Association of Tax Judges and Former Convenor of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in Hong Kong.