David Leung Cheuk-yin (, born on 15 December 1966) is a Hong Kong barrister and Senior Counsel, as well as the sixth Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong.

Early life and career

He was educated at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

, before becoming a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

in 1992. He joined the Prosecutions Division of the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in 1995, and subsequently was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1998 and held a number of senior roles in the Division, including serving as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in 2012. He became a Senior Counsel in 2015.

Director of Public Prosecutions

On 29 December 2017, David Leung - Lương Trách-nhiên became Director of Public Prosecutions. He was described by Rimsky Yuen, SC, Hong Kong's third

Secretary for Justice The secretary for justice () is the head of the Hong Kong Department of Justice, the chief legal advisor to the chief executive of Hong Kong and the government, and the chief law enforcement officer of the Government of Hong Kong. Before th ...

, as “the in-house expert on the law relating to public order events … and cost matters”. Leung was involved in a number of high-profile prosecutions, including those around the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...

2016 Mong Kok civil unrest Civil unrest occurred in Mong Kok, Hong Kong from the night of 8 February 2016 until the following morning. This incident occurred following the government's crackdown on unlicensed street hawkers during the Chinese New Year holidays. Eventua ...

, and the legality of

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's operation in Hong Kong. In July 2020, Leung quit as DPP, citing differences with his boss, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng. Despite leading some prosecutions, he was seen by pro-

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

politicians and the

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as being too cautious to charge some protesters. He was expected to remain in the role until 31 December 2020.

Controversy

District Court trial

In mid 2005, Leung was sued by university classmate and barrister Kevin Hon, with the trial lasting 8 days across 3 months in front of District Court Judge Marlene Ng May-ling (now a High Court Judge). During judgement in 2006, Judge Ng commented that Leung was "unconvincing", that she was "not persuaded that Leung's contention is reliable", and that his reasoning was a "poor attempt to justify his repudiatory decision to unilaterally pull out of the Investment". The case number was DCCJ3619/2002; Leung lost and was ordered to pay over HK$400,000 in damages to Hon. Leung did not appeal the case.

2019–20 Hong Kong Protests

In August 2019, a group of "at least 5" prosecutors (of which Leung is head) alleged that he had been "trampled" by the

Teresa Cheng and failed in his gatekeeping role. They said that he often only gave prepared answers to media when responding to controversial issues and did not stabilize the morale of prosecutors. Also in August 2019, a group of 3000 legal sector workers led by

Dennis Kwok Dennis Kwok Wing-hang (; born 15 April 1978) is a Canadian lawyer and former Hong Kong politician who represented the legal constituency in the Hong Kong Legislative Council from 2012 to 2020. He is a founding member of Civic Party. Once the ...

, and including legal heavyweights such as Denis Chang QC SC, demanded a face-to-face meeting with Cheng and Leung over alleged politically motivated prosecutions. In September 2019, William Wong, the Chairman of the Court Prosecutors Association, wrote to Cheng and Leung and urged them to speak out against allegedly political arrests by the police. On 31 July 2020, a recent email from Leung to his colleagues became public in which he said that he had tendered his resignation. In the email, Leung revealed that he had been sidelined by Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng in matters of the national security law.

Personal life

Leung's wife is also a senior prosecutor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leung, David 1966 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Hong Kong Senior Counsel Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Barristers of Hong Kong