19 Oct Hong Kong Legal Aid Eligibility
If you are unable to obtain legal aid because you are over the funding threshold, you must provide a brief explanation of your financial resources (income/savings/expenses) and those of your family or others who can reasonably be expected to seek help in your application. In determining the financial eligibility of an applicant for young children, only the financial resources of the infant are taken into account. The financial resources of the adult applying on behalf of an infant are not considered. If you pass the resource test and are offered legal aid, you may have to pay a contribution to costs and expenses based on your financial resources. Legal aid is granted if there are no longer sufficient grounds for the assisted person to have recourse to the proceedings, defend himself or herself or be a party to the proceedings, or if it is not reasonable for the assisted person to continue to receive legal aid. Under this plan, legal aid is available for claims in the following types of cases where the claim is expected to exceed $75,000: If your application for legal aid is accepted, the Director of Legal Aid will hire a lawyer, in-house or in private practice, to represent you. If your file is assigned, the LAD will monitor the merits of your file and its progress. The administrative wing of the Office of the Secretary-General for Administration has launched a programme of free legal advice in civil proceedings for parties involved in legal proceedings before district or higher courts that have not benefited from legal aid. For more details, please click here. The main purpose of the “merits test” is to determine whether an applicant has a reasonable claim or defence, or whether legal aid to an applicant is justified. To this end, the applicant must provide all information relevant to his or her case. In assessing the merits of an application, the Director may request substantive information from other sources, including considerations.
For example, they may be required to receive transcripts of hearings or records of decisions or medical records. On the basis of the information and related law, the Director must be satisfied that the case or defence has a reasonable chance of success. If the facts or related legal issues are complicated, he or she may seek the advice of lawyers or lawyers in private practice before making a decision. The free legal aid system provides free preliminary legal advice to the public regarding their legal status in real cases. The purpose of this system is to enable members of the public who have real legal problems to obtain preliminary advice on their legal status. The program does not provide legal representation to clients. There is no resource test (assessment of your financial situation) and the service is absolutely free. In addition to the fact that the DLA has a reasonable chance of success, it must also ensure that the application for legal aid is appropriate. As such, legal aid may not be granted if the applicant would derive only a negligible benefit from the proposed procedure; or the procedure provided for is such that a lawyer would not normally be employed. However, if you want legal representation for a later court appearance, you must go through the means test and complete an affidavit. You may need to provide documentation of your financial situation, such as: Free legal advice or representation is given by a lawyer in private practice by a group of lawyers who have volunteered to participate in the program. The panel is composed of lawyers with varied experience and specializations.
Each of them offered their services free of charge for 3 days or 20 hours a year. Volunteer counsel may (1) give written or oral advice on a legal issue at a conference; or (2) represent the plaintiff in court. It is generally desirable that you have a lawyer, even if you intend to plead guilty to criminal charges. First, you can seek legal advice from the lawyer appointed by Legal Aid before making a final decision about whether to plead guilty. Second, if you plead guilty, the designated lawyer can represent you in court to argue for mitigation on your behalf. Answer 2: Yes, Mr. Zhang can apply for legal aid, which is administered by the Legal Aid Department. Legal aid allows eligible applicants to be represented by a lawyer and, where appropriate, a lawyer in civil proceedings. M.
Zhang does not need to be a permanent resident of Hong Kong. Legal aid is available to any person in Hong Kong, whether resident or not, resident in Hong Kong. Legal aid is normally granted if the applicant is able to meet the financial resources and merits test. The duty counsel program, administered by the service, provides qualified accused persons who appear before all trial, juvenile and coroners` courts through qualified lawyers in the private sector. You can view the details of the duty counsel program via the following link:The duty counsel program Important: The law and procedure in this area are very specialized and complicated. This article is only a very general overview for reference and cannot be used as legal advice in an individual case. If you need advice or assistance, please contact our lawyers.