Thomas Au Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable Mr Justice
Thomas Au Hing-cheung
Honorific-Suffix:JA
Native Name Lang:zh-hk
Office:Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong
Term Start:2019
Office2:President of the Lands Tribunal
Term Start2:2010
Term End2:2014
Predecessor2:Johnson Lam
Successor2:Louis Chan
Office3:Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong
Term Start3:2009
Term End3:2019
Office4:District Judge
Term Start4:2007
Term End4:2009
Birth Place:Hong Kong
Alma Mater:University of Oxford
University of Hong Kong

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.[1]

Biography

Early life

Born in Hong Kong in 1963, Au grew up in Hong Kong and received an LLB from the University of Hong Kong in 1996, the BCL from the University of Oxford in 1997, and a PCLL 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.[2]

In 2007, Au left private practice and joined the bench as a District Judge, before being promoted to the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2009.[3] He served as President of the Lands Tribunal from 2010 to 2014.[4] [5] 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.[6]

In 2019, Au was elevated to the Court of Appeal.[7]

Legal profile

Due to his young age, and relatively quick rate of promotion since joining the Judiciary, 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".[8]

Personal life

Au was a member of the Civic Party from 2003 to 2006, when he left the party prior to appointment as a full-time Judge.

References

  1. Web site: Judicial appointments. Government of Hong Kong. 11 January 2019.
  2. Web site: History Temple Chambers . . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20200307133809/https://www.templechambers.com/about . 7 March 2020.
  3. Web site: Judicial appointments . . 24 September 2009.
  4. https://www.gld.gov.hk/egazette/pdf/20101401/egn201014015.pdf "G.N. 5"
  5. https://www.gld.gov.hk/egazette/pdf/20141802/egn20141802132.pdf "G.N. 132"
  6. Web site: Judicial appointment . . 15 August 2012.
  7. Web site: Judicial appointment . . 11 January 2019.
  8. Web site: High Court judge in oath-taking case no stranger to thorny political issues. Ng. Joyce. 24 November 2016. South China Morning Post.