Ian Charles McWalters (; born 1951) is Chairman of the

Market Misconduct Tribunal The Market Misconduct Tribunal () is an independent body in Hong Kong which is established under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) (SFO), and is chaired by a judge or former judge of the High Court who sits with two members. Back ...

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He is a retired

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and former

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

Legal career

McWalters graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

with a BA in 1972 and subsequently obtained an LLB in 1975. He was admitted as

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 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, in 1975 and as

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and solicitor in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

in the same year. He was admitted as barrister and solicitor in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

in 1994 and as barrister in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in 2001. McWalters was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 2001. He

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in 2005. In 2009, McWalters was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions of

. On 1 July 2010, McWalters was appointed as a justice of the peace.

Judicial career

In 2011, McWalters was appointed a Judge of the

Court of First Instance A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). ...

of the

High Court of Hong Kong The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the legal system of Hong Kong. It consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance; it deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the ...

. As he was the DPP in the Department of Justice prior to the appointment, he could not, for six months after joining the Judiciary, deal with any criminal trials or appeals or any civil cases involving the Government. In 2014, he was appointed Justice of Appeal of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

of the

. In February 2016, on reaching the retirement age of 65, on the recommendation of the

Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission The Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission (JORC, ) is a statutory body in Hong Kong responsible for advising and making recommendations to the Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing d ...

, his term of office was extended for 3 years. In February 2019, his term of office was extended for another 2 years. In February 2021, he retired from the bench. McWalters sat as a Deputy Judge of the

from April to September 2021. On 1 July 2021, McWalters was awarded the

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the Order (distinction), honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the Handover of Hong Kong, transfer of sovere ...

in recognition of his dedicated and distinguished service in the Judiciary during the past ten years. On 30 July 2021, McWalters was appointed as Chairman of the

and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal for a 3-year term from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024."G.N. 4558"

Hong Kong Government Gazette ''The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Gazette'' (formerly and still widely known as ''The Hong Kong Government Gazette'') is the government gazette, official publication of the Government of Hong Kong. Published by the Go ...

(No. 30, Vol. 25, 30 July 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McWalters, Ian 1951 births Living people University of Sydney alumni Australian judges on the courts of Hong Kong Australian emigrants to Hong Kong Hong Kong judges Hong Kong Senior Counsel