Michael John Hartmann GBS () is a senior judge. He is Chairman of the

Market Misconduct Tribunal The Market Misconduct Tribunal () is an independent body in Hong Kong which is established under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) (SFO), and is chaired by a judge or former judge of the High Court who sits with two members. Back ...

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal in

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 ...

Early life and education

Hartmann was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India on 24 July 1944 to a British father and an Australian mother. He was raised near

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, 3 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He holds

Australian citizenship Australian nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds Australian legal nationality. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applic ...

. Hartmann moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the age of nine. After obtaining his

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s in

, he moved to

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

(now Zimbabwe). He received an

LLB 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 Chi ...

from the University of London through the

University College of Rhodesia The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University o ...

in 1967. After university, he completed

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 ...

in the

Rhodesian Army The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel ...

Legal career

Hartmann was admitted as an attorney in Rhodesia in 1971 and practised in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. In 1983, he left

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and moved to Hong Kong to join the

Legal Department The Legal Department, headed by the Attorney General, was the department responsible for the laws of Hong Kong until 1997, when Hong Kong ceased to be a British crown colony. The department was responsible for dealing with criminal cases an ...

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 ...

. He was promoted to Senior Crown Counsel in 1984 and became a Deputy Principal Crown Counsel in 1989.

Judicial career

Hartmann left the

and was appointed a District Judge in 1991. In 1998, Hartmann was appointed 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 accordance w ...

of the

High Court of Hong Kong The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the legal system of Hong Kong. It consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance; it deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond th ...

. From 1998 to 2000, Hartmann served as Chairman of the Insider Dealing Tribunal. From 2000 to 2008, Hartmann was Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List in the

of the

. In 2008, Hartmann was appointed as a 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 ...

. In 2010, Hartmann was appointed as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal. From 2010 to 2012, Hartmann primarily sat in the

and heard two cases in the Court of Final Appeal. In 2011, Hartmann was appointed as Chairman of the

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal for a 3-year term from December 2011 to November 2014. In 2012, Hartmann retired from the

. He was awarded the

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest Bauhinia Star rank in the honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system of the Order of the British Empire after the transfer of sovereignty to People's Republic of ...

by the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. He continued to serve as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal until 2016. In 2013, Hartmann sat as a

Deputy High Court Judge The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

. In 2014, Hartmann was re-appointed as Chairman of the

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal for another 3-year term until November 2017. In 2017, his appointment was extended for a further 3-year term until November 2020. In 2018, Hartmann was appointed as Chairman and Commissioner of the Commission of Inquiry into the Diaphragm Wall and Platform Slab Construction Works at the Hung Hom Station Extension under the Shatin to Central Link Project. In 2020, Hartmann's appointment as Chairman of the

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal was extended again for another 3-year term until November 2023."G.N. 3802"

Hong Kong Government Gazette ''Hong Kong Government Gazette'' is the official publication of the Government of Hong Kong and publishes laws, ordinances and other regulations. It is managed under the Government Logistics Department (GLD). The Director of the GLD reports to ...

(No. 28, Vol. 24, 10 July 2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartmann, Michael John 1944 births Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent Australian judges on the courts of Hong Kong British Hong Kong judges Zimbabwean emigrants to Hong Kong Hong Kong people of Zimbabwean descent Hong Kong people of Australian descent Indian emigrants to Rhodesia Living people Rhodesian lawyers White Rhodesian people Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star