Thomas Au Hing-cheung (; born 1963) is a Hong Kong judge, currently serving as a Justice of Appeal of the
Court of Appeal of Hong Kong
The Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong is the second most senior court in the Hong Kong legal system. It deals with appeals on all civil and criminal cases from the Court of First Instance and the District Court. It is one of t ...
.
Biography
Early life
Born in Hong Kong in 1963, Au grew up in Hong Kong and 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 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 f ...
in 1996, the
BCL from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 1997, and a
PCLL
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 ...
from the University of Hong Kong in 1998.
Legal career
Au was
called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1998, and was in private practice between 1999 and 2007 as 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 ...
.
In 2007, Au left private practice and joined the bench as a
District Judge, before being promoted to 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 accorda ...
of the
High Court in 2009. He served as President of the
Lands Tribunal from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the Judge in charge of the Construction and Arbitration List from 2011 until 2 September 2012, when he was appointed as the
Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List.
In 2019, Au was elevated to the
Court of Appeal.
Legal profile
Due to his young age, and relatively quick rate of promotion since joining the
Judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, he has been described as a "high flyer" within the Judiciary. He has also described as a judge “with a great sense of humour when not commenting on the law”, but who adopted a “technical” approach to his cases".
Personal life
Au was a member of the
Civic Party
The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong.
The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the ...
from 2003 to 2006, when he left the party prior to appointment as a full-time Judge.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Au, Thomas
1963 births
Hong Kong judges
Barristers of Hong Kong
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Living people