Johnson Lam Man-hon () is a Permanent Judge of the

Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Priv ...

Biography

Early life and education

Lam was born in Hong Kong in 1961. He obtained an LL.B. and P.C.LL. from 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 ...

in 1983 and 1984 respectively. Among his graduating class was his future judicial colleague

Andrew Cheung Andrew Cheung Kui-nung (; born 24 September 1961) is a Hong Kong judge who serves as the 3rd Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal. He previously served as a Permanent Judge of the same court. He was the 4th and longest-serving Chief ...

Legal career

Lam 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 Hong Kong in 1984 and was in private practice since 1985. Lam joined the

Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

District Judge District Judge may refer to: * A United States federal judge, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate * A judge in a state court (United States), where the state is divided into judicial districts * * A judge in the district courts ...

in 2001. Lam was appointed as 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 in 2003. He served as President of the Lands Tribunal from 2003 to 2009. In 2011, he was appointed as the Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List. In 2012, Lam was elevated to 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 ...

. He continued to serve as Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List until he was appointed as Vice President of the Court of Appeal on 2 September 2013. He is currently Chairman of the Judiciary's Working Party on Mediation, as well as a member of the Steering Committee on Mediation and the Accreditation Sub-committee set up by the Secretary for Justice. On 12 May 2021, it was announced that the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

had accepted the recommendation of the independent

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 ...

to appoint Lam as a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal (a post which had become vacant upon the appointment of

Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal The chief justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, sometimes informally known as the chief justice of Hong Kong, is the head of the Judiciary of Hong Kong and the President of the Court of Final Appeal. The chief justice is one of fo ...

on 11 January 2021), subject to the endorsement of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in accordance with Article 90 of the

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

. Lam's appointment took effect on 30 July 2021. Lam was appointed by the

as a member of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong for 3 years with effect from 1 September 2021. In May 2023, the

Congressional-Executive Commission on China The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government which monitors human rights and rule of law developments in the People's Republic of China. The commission was given the mandate by the U.S. C ...

(CECC) of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

suggested the United States government imposing sanctions on Lam to counter the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong over his handling of

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...

's national security law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lam, Johnson Alumni of King's College, Hong Kong Living people Hong Kong judges 1961 births