Code of Conduct for family lawyers?

Dennis Ho (CIF Organising Committee) joined a panel discussion on 8 September 2018 at the Conference on Safeguarding Children’s Best Interests.  Dennis shared his perspective as a family lawyer practising in Hong Kong with the multidisciplinary audience. 

In response to a question from the audience about the interaction between children’s rights and parental rights, Dennis made two key observations:

• even though typically a family lawyer will represent one parent, it is key for family lawyers to bear in mind their duty to act in children’s best interests. Dennis expressed a hope that a code of conduct for family lawyers could be implemented to highlight this underlying duty 
• the Children’s Bill introduced by the Government in 2015 at CIF3 would if enacted represent a paradigm shift away from parental rights in family separation cases towards children’s rights.  Dennis noted his understanding that the Government will seek to reintroduce the Children’s Bill in a year or two when more social services are in place in Hong Kong