Derek Pang Wai-cheong (; born 1961) is a Hong Kong

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and has been serving as Justice of Appeal of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

of the High Court of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

since September 2015. He is President of the Friends of Scouting of Hong Kong.

Legal career

He was educated at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

(LLB, 1985), the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

(MPA, 1990), and

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

(LLB, 1995). He was called to the English and Hong Kong Bar in 1986 and 1987 respectively. He joined the Hong Kong Legal Department as

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Advo ...

in 1987, and was promoted to Deputy Principal Government Counsel in 1997.

Judicial career

In 2000, Pang was appointed a District Judge. He was subsequently appointed a Judge of the

Court of First Instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

of the High Court in 2009. He was made a Justice of Appeal of the

in 2015. On 21 September 2018, Pang was elected a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can ...

of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

. In May 2023, the

Congressional-Executive Commission on China The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government which monitors human rights and rule of law developments in the People's Republic of China. It was created in October 2001 under Title III of ...

(CECC) of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

suggested the United States government imposing sanctions on Pang to counter the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong over his handling of

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, link=no, t=黎智英, born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong busniessman and a politician. He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kong-listed me ...

's national security law case.

References

1961 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Peking University alumni Hong Kong judges {{HongKong-law-bio-stub