Legal Services

Home to a wide variety of legal services professionals and eminent international and regional organisations specialising in legal and dispute resolution services, Hong Kong’s deep and broad pool of local and international legal talent contributes to the city’s status as a location of choice for deal making and dispute resolution.

Hong Kong has a well-established common law heritage and a world-class legal system that is renowned for being transparent, trustworthy, and fair, underpinning Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the safest cities in the world. The city’s mature legal infrastructure, key to the robust protection of private property rights (including intellectual property rights), is integral to Hong Kong’s success as a business and financial hub in Asia.

The Basic Law preserves Hong Kong’s common law system, which is different from the legal system practised in Mainland China. Under the Basic Law, Hong Kong courts exercise independent judicial power including the power of final adjudication. Hong Kong is ranked No.1 in Asia for judicial independence according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18.

Download our Hong Kong's Legal system fact sheet for more information

Learn more:
Hong Kong’s Legal Service
Leaflet - Hong Kong's Legal System
Leaflet - Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law
Leaflet - Hong Kong's Court System
Policy Address 2018 – Good Governance
Speeches at Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2019 - Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Secretary for Justice, President of the Law Society of HK, Chairman of the HK Bar Association
New liberalisation measures of CEPA in the legal services and the testing and certification sectors (starting from 1 March 2019)
HKIAC Press Release - New HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules to come into force on 1 November 2018