The
Duty Lawyer Scheme provides legal
representation by qualified lawyers in private practice to eligible defendants appearing in all Magistrates' Courts, Juvenile Courts
and to any person who is at risk of criminal prosecution as a result of giving incriminating evidence in Coroner's inquest. To be
eligible for the Duty Lawyer representation, one has to pass
the merits test and means
test and pay a fixed handling charge
of $640. The Scheme also assigns lawyers to advise defendants
facing extradition and to undertake
representation of hawkers upon their
appeals to the Municipal Services Appeals Board.
The Legal Advice Scheme provides
free preliminary legal advice to members of the public as to
their legal position in genuine cases at various Home Affairs Enquiry Centres
in the evenings.
The Tel-Law Scheme provides
members of the public with free taped legal information by telephone.
It is a 24 hours automatic answering service which provides
tapes on more than 80
topics in Cantonese, Putonghua and English.
The Legal Assistance Scheme for Non-refoulement Claimants provides legal assistance to the claimants who have made claims under:
(1) torture risk under Part VIIC of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115);
(2) risk of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment ("CIDTP") under Article 3 of section 8 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap.383) ("BOR3");
(3) risk to a person's right to life under Article 2 of section 8 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap.383) ("BOR 2"); and
(4) persecution risk with reference to the non-refoulement claims principle under Article 33 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees ("persecution").
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