TALENT DEVELOPMENT – Tim Parker and Geoffrey Yeung serve as judge and mentor for the 10th Hong Kong Human Rights Moot Final

Finalist teams from three Universities competed in hypothetical appeals before a moot Court of Final Appeal during the Final Round of the 10^th Hong Kong Human Rights Moot. Tim Parker, who sat on the judges’ panel, co-drafted the moot problem which touched on highly topical issues including government quarantine requirements during a pandemic and the privacy concerns in “track and trace” procedures. The organisers, Vidler & Co. Solicitors and the Public Law and Human Rights Forum at the City University of Hong Kong, also invited Geoffrey Yeung to act as a mentor for one of the participating finalist teams.

On 27 March 2021, finalist teams from the City University of Hong Kong (“CityU”), University of Hong Kong (“HKU”) and Chinese University of Hong Kong (“CUHK”) submitted their arguments in three simulated appeals before the Court of Final Appeal.

Tim Parker was invited to sit on the panel of judges alongside The Hon Mr Justice Kevin Zervos, JA (Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court) and Mr. Abraham Chan, SC of Temple Chambers.

The moot problem, co-drafted by Tim Parker, required the students to present arguments on human rights issues relating to government quarantine requirements imposed in response to “Cupid-21” (a dangerous virus that has spread worldwide); privacy issues arising from the secret use of facial recognition technology as part of “track and trace” procedures; protection of a confidential journalistic “whistle-blower” source; and the tort of misfeasance in public office by police in ignoring independent legal advice that the surveillance system was unlawful.

The competition was fierce, but support and guidance were in abundance. Geoffrey Yeung served as mentor for the HKU team, whose member Jill Lam won the “Best Oralist Award”.  The CUHK team, consisting of members Kerry Poon and Thomas Wong, proudly won the competition, while the “Best Skeleton Argument Award” was given to Garnet Li and Marcus Wong from CityU. Congratulations to all the finalists!

 

 

Denis Chang’s Chambers would like to express our sincere thanks to the organisers, Vidler & Co. Solicitors and the Public Law and Human Rights Forum at the City University of Hong Kong, for inviting Tim and Geoffrey to support the next generation of legal talent in this important event and help future lawyers engage with important and topical human rights issues.

The 10th Hong Kong Human Rights Moot is co-organised by the Public Law and Human Rights Forum (CPLR) of CityU Law School and Vidler & Co. Solicitors and co-hosted by HKU and CUHK. This inter-university competition was first launched in 2010 by Vidler & Co. Solicitors to raise awareness amongst law students of human rights issues in Hong Kong. This year, a total of 178 students participated in the Preliminary Rounds.

 

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	Tim Parker Tim Parker’s practice spans advocacy and advisory work in public international law, constitutional and administrative law, competition, and civil / commercial matters. He practices both in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, where he is a member of Blackstone Chambers. Tim has acted in a number of landmark constitutional and administrative law cases before the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the Privy Council, including QT v Director of Immigration (2018) 21 HKCFAR 324 (striking down the Immigration Department’s exclusion of same-sex couples from its dependant visa policy). He is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers and Partners 2021 and Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2021.
	Geoffrey Yeung Geoffrey Yeung, a Bar Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar, was called to the Bar in 2018. He has a broad practice in general civil and commercial litigation, as well as in constitutional and administrative law, land law, insolvency, companies, probate, discrimination law, and criminal law. Geoffrey acted (with Tim Parker) for the applicant in Infinger, Nick v Hong Kong Housing Authority [2020] 1 HKLRD 1188, where the Court of First Instance allowed a judicial review application in respect of public rental housing policies which discriminated against same-sex couples. Find out more