Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (; born 18 November 1960, Hong Kong) is a barrister and Hong Kong
Legislative Councillor, representing the
Election Committee
The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...
since 2022. She previously represented the
Kowloon West constituency from 2008 to 2021. She was a member of
Kowloon City District Council
The Kowloon City District Council () is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Kowloon City District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Kowloon City District Council currently consists of 25 members, of which th ...
.
Legal career
Leung began her legal career in the China department at the law firm
Johnson Stokes & Master
Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM) was one of the oldest and largest law firms in Asia before it was combined into Mayer Brown on January 28, 2008 to become Mayer Brown JSM. JSM had offices in Hong Kong, where it was one of the leading law firms, an ...
. She is a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
and an
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
Overview
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...
at the
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is a world-class public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. Currently, CityU is ...
's School of Law, where her husband, Wang Guiguo, was the Dean. She has taught at the School of Law for the past 24 years and specialises in
Chinese Law
Chinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. The core of modern Chinese law is based on Germanic-style civil law, socialist law, and traditional Chinese approaches.
For most of the history of China, its legal system h ...
,
Hong Kong Basic Law
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ...
and conflict of laws between
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and
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 ...
.
Political career
![Priscilla Leung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Priscilla_Leung.jpg)
Leung has been a Legislative Councillor since 2008, currently representing the
Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong
The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) is a pro-business pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Lo Wai-kwok, the party is currently the second-largest party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, holding e ...
. The '
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
' label she first stood under was challenged by political opponents who accused her of having the support of the
Liaison Office of the Central People's Government and the
pro-Beijing
The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...
, which didn't have a candidate running in the constituency. Leung has been a supporter of most government bills and often crash with pro-democracy lawmakers.
She is chairman of the Legislative Council's Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services.
Leung was active in opposition to the pro-democracy
Occupy Central/
Umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...
movements that culminated in
widespread protests in 2014.
Controversies and views
On 13 January 2010, fellow legislator
Albert Chan
Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 1991 to 2016 except for the periods 1997–2 ...
said that some people "teach dog shit law" (教狗屎法律 in chinese meaning), in an apparent reference to Leung. Chan refused to withdraw his comment and LegCo president
Tsang Yok-sing
Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ( zh, t=曾鈺成; born 17 May 1947) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the founding member of the largest pro-Beijing party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) from 1992 to 2003 and ...
subsequently ruled that no LegCo rules had been violated. Leung, along with six other legislators, then protested against Tsang's decision, insisting that
Albert Chan
Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 1991 to 2016 except for the periods 1997–2 ...
had defamed her, and walked out of the chamber to boycott the meeting.
LegCo members' resignations and by-election
On 21 January 2010, in a response to the
quasi-referendum on universal suffrage, triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat members of LegCo, Leung announced she would introduce a private member's bill to forbid legislators who resign from running in elections in the same four-year term.
Ronny Tong
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, SC KC (; born 28 August 1950 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel and politician. He is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legis ...
criticised her move as a contravention of the Basic Law: he said such a bill would infringe the right to stand for elections protected under Article 26 and would be inconsistent with Article 74 which prohibits individual legislators from tabling bills that relate to the political structure.
A less-extreme government bill, imposing a six-month prohibition on running for election after resignation, was passed in May 2012, in the face of
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
ing efforts from legislators
Leung Kwok-hung
Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Legislative Council, representing the N ...
and
Albert Chan
Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 1991 to 2016 except for the periods 1997–2 ...
.
Scouts for Occupy Central Movement
In July 2014, she championed the Hong Kong Government's establishment of the "Voluntary Scouts".
Covid-19
On 24 December 2020, Leung criticized the Hong Kong government's response to
coronavirus disease 2019
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
, stating that it was "worse than that of the United Kingdom." On that day, the United Kingdom reported a cumulative total of 2,149,551 cases (3.233% of its total population), whereas Hong Kong reported a cumulative total of 8,353 cases (0.112% of its total population), a rate per capita of about 29 times less than that of the United Kingdom.
Primaries
In January 2021, following the
arrest of 53 pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong for organizing primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council, Leung stated that the government should investigate whether the primaries were a violation of the
National Security Law.
Dual citizenship
Leung has claimed that dual nationality is not allowed in Hong Kong, even though high-level government officials, including
Carrie Lam
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...
,
Tam Yiu-chung
Tam Yiu-chung, GBM, JP (; born 15 December 1949) is a pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kong. He is a current member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Leg ...
, and
Tung Chee-hwa
Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...
have children with foreign citizenship.
Electoral changes
In February 2021, Leung said that a special committee should be created to vet people who run for elections, claiming that some had been voted into office and then called for Hong Kong independence or self-determination.
Leung said that creating a "eligibility vetting committee" to filter out certain candidates would close the loophole.
Leung also called for the education system to be run by "patriots," stating that "We need to demonstrate 'patriots governing Hong Kong' in the city's education, politics and law."
Homosexuality
Leung is a social conservative, opposed to
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
and equal rights for same-sex couples. In 2019, she criticised the
Airport Authority
An airport authority is an independent entity charged with the operation and oversight of an airport or group of airports. These authorities are often governed by a group of airport commissioners, who are appointed to lead the authority by a govern ...
and the
MTR Corporation
MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hong ...
for reversing their decision to ban a
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
ad featuring a same-sex couple holding hands. Former lawmaker
Cyd Ho
Cyd Ho Sau-lan () is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island constituency.
She is a founding member of the Labour Party, since December 2011, and currently holds the position of vice-chairwoman ...
remarked, "People like Priscilla Leung, who dare to teach law at university and get enough votes to sit in Legco, have no idea about human rights or equality."
Leung said the government should not help secure venues for the
2022 Gay Games in Hong Kong, and claimed that most people in Hong Kong would want to "protect the heterosexual marriage system".
English
Though Hong Kong medical schools teach in English, Leung in July 2022 criticized the requirement that English be the language of instruction for a program that recruits doctors from medical schools outside of Hong Kong.
British Hong Kong
In July 2022, Leung claimed that "Hong Kong was never a
colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
" was nothing new.
Walk out
In October 2022, during a Legislative Council Panel on Health Services, Leung was warned 4 times not to keep switching between English and Cantonese; Leung then flung the document from her hands and left the meeting.
Jimmy Lai
In November 2022, Leung said that if Hong Kong courts allow
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 med ...
to hire
Tim Owen
Timothy Francis Owen (born 29 October 1955) is a former Australian politician and a former deputy commander of the Australian Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the elector ...
, then Beijing may get involved to block the hiring of Owen. In contrast,
Ronny Tong
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, SC KC (; born 28 August 1950 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel and politician. He is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legis ...
said that it was inappropriate to comment on cases before rulings were issued. Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, former law dean of HKU, said that the
NPCSC
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...
interpretation "may severely compromise Hong Kong as an international city," and that calls to have the NPCSC intervene before the court had issued its decision were "disturbing" and could undermine the rule of law and judicial independence in the city.
Leung was earlier one of the most vocal supporters of having the NPCSC intervene in the matter, but in December 2022, backtracked and said that there was a "strong chance" the NPCSC would not step in, and said "Apart from interpreting the law, the issue can also be resolved by looking at other articles in the legislation and considering other solutions."
In January 2023, after the NPCSC interpreted the law and gave the Chief Executive power to ban foreign lawyers, Leung echoed
Tam Yiu-chung's opinion that it would only benefit the city.
Education
*
St. Paul's Co-educational College
* BSSc
Social Sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
(Government and
Public Administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...
),
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university and ...
*
Common Professional Examination
The Common Professional Examination/Postgraduate Diploma in Law (CPE/PGDL) is a postgraduate law course in England and Wales that is taken by non-law graduates (graduates who have a degree in a discipline that is not law or not a qualifying law ...
,
HKU SPACE
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 fir ...
&
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...
*
Postgraduate Certificate in Laws
The Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL; 法學專業證書) is an intensive one-year full-time (or two-year part-time) professional legal qualification programme in Hong Kong. It allows graduates to proceed to legal training before qualifyi ...
,
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 ...
*
LLM
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
,
Renmin University of China
The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government.
RUC ...
*
Doctor of Juridical Science
A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of Science of Law (JSD; ), is a research doctorate in law equivalent to the more commonly awarded Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Australia
The S.J.D. is offered by the Australian National Unive ...
,
Renmin University of China
The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government.
RUC ...
Family
In March 2022, Leung revealed that her brother passed away from Covid-19 after earlier receiving one vaccine dose in February 2022, though the government recommended that citizens receive 3 doses.
Leung criticized the government for supposedly not allocating medical resources properly.
Publications
Leung published different articles and books, in English and Chinese, on the areas of Chinese Law, Hong Kong Basic Law and conflict of laws between mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
* China Law Reports. Butterworths Asia. (1992–94)
* Legal Reform of China (co-ed). Joint Publishing Hong Kong. (1994)
* China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Awards. Sweet & Maxwell Asia.(1998)
* Comparative Studies of Family Law between mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Joint Publishing Hong Kong. (2003)
* The Hong Kong Basic Law: Hybrid of Chinese Law and Common Law. LexisNexis. (2007)
Awards
Leung was awarded the
Ten Outstanding Young Persons
Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) program serves to formally recognize young people who excel in their chosen fields and exemplify the best attributes of the world's young people. The program is sponsored by Junior Chamber Intern ...
award for the year 2000 by the Christian group Junior Chamber International Hong Kong who, in 2015, claimed membership of about 2,000.
References
External links
Official site of Priscilla LeungPriscilla Leung M.F.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leung, Priscilla
1960 births
People from Zhaoqing
Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Barristers of Hong Kong
District councillors of Kowloon City District
City University of Hong Kong faculty
Hong Kong educators
Hong Kong evangelicals
Living people
Professional Forum politicians
Kowloon West New Dynamic politicians
Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong politicians
HK LegCo Members 2008–2012
HK LegCo Members 2012–2016
HK LegCo Members 2016–2021
HK LegCo Members 2022–2025
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026
Hong Kong pro-Beijing politicians
Hong Kong women lawyers
Conflict of laws scholars
Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star
Women legal scholars
Alumni of St. Paul's Co-educational College
21st-century Hong Kong women politicians