A Chinese government white paper has led to an unusual silent march of Hong Kong lawyers last Friday to protest what they see as a threat to the city’s rule of law.
On June 27 more than 850 attorneys, judges and law students took to the streets, dressed in black, to protest a June 10 white paper that emphasized the Chinese legislature’s ability to influence Hong Kong court rulings and said that Hong Kong judges have an obligation to be patriotic toward China. Among the participants The Asian Lawyer spoke with at the 30-minute rally—the first public protest of the Hong Kong legal community in nearly a decade—were attorneys from international firms that included Clifford Chance, Mayer Brown JSM and Hogan Lovells.
