HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Paul Fok (, born 24 September 1962) is a Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. At 51 years and 28 days, he is the third youngest-ever judge to be appointed to the Court of Final Appeal, behind only
Kemal Bokhary Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary ( ur, , ; born 25 October 1947) is a judge in Hong Kong. He was one of three Permanent Judges of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal from its inception in 1997 until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in Oc ...
and Andrew Li (Andrew Li was appointed directly to the Chief Justice position).


Early life

Fok is one of five children of Dr Alison Bell and Dr Peter Fok Hin-tak. Fok obtained a
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...
with honours from
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...
in the United Kingdom in 1984. He attended the
Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They ha ...
School of Law and passed the Bar Examination in 1985. He was called to the English Bar in 1985 and to the Hong Kong Bar in 1986.


Legal career

Fok was in private practice in Hong Kong from January 1987, and on a part-time ad hoc basis in Singapore between March 2002 and March 2006. He was appointed
Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...
in 1999. He was a member of
Temple Chambers Temple Chambers is a set of barristers' chambers based in Admiralty, Hong Kong. It is widely considered to be the leading set of chambers in Hong Kong given its high ratio of senior counsel to juniors, as well as a strong history of appointments ...
.


Judicial career

Fok was appointed a Recorder 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 accordan ...
of the High Court from 2003 to 2009. On 1 July 2006, Fok was appointed a
justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission (letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same ...
. He joined the Judiciary as 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 accordan ...
of the High Court on 1 February 2010. Fok was appointed a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court on 1 February 2011. He was appointed a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal in 2013, replacing Mr Justice
Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the men's and team events, a three–time World c ...
. On 25 September 2015, Fok 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 ca ...
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 ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fok, Joseph Hong Kong judges Hong Kong people of Scottish descent 1962 births Living people