John Calvert Griffiths CMG KC SC was the Attorney General of Hong Kong from 1979 to 1983.

Early life

Griffiths was born in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, now

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, on 16 January 1931. He is the son of Oswald Hardy Griffiths and Christina Flora Griffiths (née Littlejohn). He was educated at

St. Peter's School, York St Peter's School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school (also referred to as a public school), in the English City of York, with extensive grounds on the banks of the River Ouse. Founded by St Paulinus of York in AD 627, ...

where he was a scholar. He then did his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

from 1949 to 1950 and held the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. He then attended

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

where he obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1955 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1960.

Legal Practice in England

Griffiths was called to the bar 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 1956. He was appointed a

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

in 1972, a position he held until 1990. He was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1972. He was a member of the executive committee of the Inns of Court and the Bar from 1973 to 1977 and a member of the Senate between 1984 and 1986.

Attorney General of Hong Kong

Griffiths first came to Hong Kong in 1976 to prosecute the Ma brothers for importing heroin in a triad case which garnered the involvement of the CIA. Three years later, in 1979, Griffiths was appointed

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

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 ...

. In his capacity as Attorney General, he served on the Hong Kong Executive Council and Legislative Council. He also served as Chairman of the Hong Kong

Law Reform Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

. He served as Attorney General until 1983 and was succeeded by Michael Thomas QC.

Post AG practice

After stepping down as Attorney General, Griffiths entered private practice as a barrister in Hong Kong and England, handling both civil and criminal matters. He succeeded Neil Kaplan Q.C. as Head of Chambers of

Des Voeux Chambers Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

in 1990. He retired from full-time practice in 2012, but still remains a door tenant at

. In 1984 and 1985 he headed an inquiry in England into the membership of the

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

. In Hong Kong, he defended

Chim Pui-Chung Chim Pui-chung (born 1946 in Chaozhou, Guangdong, China) was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco), representing the financial services, Financial Services Functional constituency (Hong Kong), Functional Constituency. He is exec ...

in a costly, 131-day-long trial in the late 1990s. He also represented Lucille Fung, wife of retired judge Miles Henry Jackson-Lipkin, but withdrew when her state of mind made discussions with her difficult. He acted for Nancy Kissel when she was charged with the murder of her husband. Griffiths also acted in the following cases:taken from Griffiths Des Voeux Chambers CV, January 2012 *Representing a leading firm of developers against the Housing Authority, in relation to the Private Sector Participation Scheme. *Representing New World Development Co. Ltd to apply for leave for

Judicial Review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

about arguments regarding the proposed listing on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...

. *advising a leading property firm against the Government about work conditions regarding Times Square. *advising the Oriental Daily News in respect of a libel claim. *representing a famous Cantonese singer in a claim involving tax.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, John Calvert 1931 births Living people Attorneys General of Hong Kong Hong Kong Senior Counsel English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Hong Kong Queen's Counsel Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong