A veteran pro-democracy barrister has questioned a government proposal to appoint rising stars in the bureaucracy as senior counsel, saying those who aspire to wear silk must also have a good reputation as well as a sense of justice.

The doubts raised by Audrey Eu cut no ice with Hong Kong’s justice minister, who said her proposal was not a “political reward” and anyone who resigned from the government would not retain the title.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng told lawmakers on Wednesday that the recommended change would not affect the standards required of senior counsel under the law. She said that senior counsel would still be expected to command sufficient ability and reputation as well as knowledge and experience of the law.

Under the proposal, she added, if a legal officer left the job at the Department of Justice, that person would also lose the status of senior counsel.

When asked what prompted her to come up with the idea, Cheng pointed to the promotion of Vinci Lam, who became a senior counsel in May, just one year after qualifying as a barrister. Cheng said she believed her department’s legal officers have performed just as well, if not better, than other barristers when handling cases in the Court of Final Appeal.

Eu, a founding member of the pan-democratic Civic Party and also a senior counsel, said on a Commercial Radio program that someone who had been a barrister for 10 years or more and had done well in court many times could apply to become a senior counsel.

But she questioned the government plan, saying it would take more than advocacy skills alone to qualify for the status.

She pointed out that Lam had to apply to become a barrister instead of a solicitor in order to pursue her application as senior counsel. Eu believed Lam’s successful move prompted the government to seek a change in the appointment requirements so that more employees of the department could get promoted to senior counsel on the basis of their work performance.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai linked the proposed change to what he called a “wave of resignations” in the department, a phrase that the justice secretary called inappropriate.

He suggested that the change stemmed from a desire to retain talent, and asked the justice secretary to reveal how many employees had left the department since 2014.

In reply, Teresa Cheng said that the rate of departure in 2020-21 was 4.8%, with retirement being the main reason. She added that the average rate of departure over the previous four years was 5%, amounting to around 60 people each year.

It was simply a matter of personnel turnover and society must view the departures in a levelheaded way, she said, adding that it was inappropriate to label this as a “wave of resignations.”

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