Rules & Regulations

1. Life Membership

(a) The Bar Association may, in General Meeting, confer on any Member the title of Life Member and such person, whilst he is in Hong Kong, shall have all the privileges of a Member.
(b) The Bar Association may, in General Meeting, confer on any barrister (not being a Member) or any former or present member of the Judiciary of Hong Kong the title of Honorary Life Member.
(c) Life Membership and Honorary Life Membership shall only be conferred by the Bar Association on persons who, in the opinion of the Bar Association, have rendered outstanding service to the Bar Association or to the administration of justice in Hong Kong.
(d) No person shall have conferred upon him the title of Life Member or Honorary Life Member unless notice of a proposal to confer such title (which proposal shall be made in writing signed by at least twenty Members of whom at least ten shall be Senior Counsel) has been given to the Honorary Secretary who shall then, subject to any direction of the Bar Council, include in the business of the first General Meeting of the Bar Association convened or to be convened for a date not less than twenty-one clear days after the receipt of the proposal a proposed resolution for the conferral of the title of Life Member or Honorary Life Member as proposed.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of (d) immediately above, the first Life Member of the Bar Association shall be Mr. Leo d'Almada e Castro, C.B.E., LL.D, Q.C.
(f) Life Members and Honorary Life Members shall not be required to pay any subscriptions or other fee to the Bar Association.

2. Resolutions [deleted]

3. Subscriptions

(1) The Bar Council is authorized to raise funds for the general purposes of the Bar Association by way of subscriptions from Members, Associate Members, Mess Members, Academic Members and Student Members as hereinafter provided.
(2) For the year 1998 such subscriptions shall be in the following amounts, namely:-

Members
Senior Counsel $16,500
Juniors over 12 years' standing $ 7,150
Juniors 7 to 12 years' standing $ 5,280
Juniors 3 to 7 years' standing $ 3,255
Juniors under 3 years' standing $ 1,000

Associate Members (Senior Counsel) $ 5,000
Associate Members $ 1,000
Associate Members $ 300
(previously judges of High Court & District Court)

Mess Members $ 300

(2A) For the year 2000, subscriptions for Student Members shall be in the amount of $100 each and subscriptions for Academic Members shall be in the amount of $345 each.
(3) In each subsequent year, the Bar Council shall be authorized to increase the then current rates of subscription by not more than 15 per cent without reference to the Bar Association in General Meeting.
(4) Every Member, Associate Member, Mess Member, Academic Member and Student Member shall:-

(a) in respect of subscriptions for the calendar year commencing 1st January 1995, pay to the Honorary Secretary his subscription no later than the 10th day of November 1994; and,
(b) in respect of all subsequent years, no later than the 1st day of November in each year, pay to the Honorary Secretary his subscription for the following calendar year;

in the above mentioned amounts or in such other amounts as the Bar Council or the Bar Association in General Meeting may, from time to time, prescribe, provided that in the case of new Members, Associate Members, Mess Members, Academic Members and Student Members, first payment of subscription may be made within 21 days of their application to join.

(5) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this By-Law, the Bar Council may at its absolute discretion reduce or waive the amount of such subscriptions payable by any barrister applying for membership of the Bar Association.
(6) The subscriptions payable by junior members under 3 years’ standing for the year 2008 be retrospectively reduced to $500 and the Bar Council shall be authorized to refund to such members $550 each from the subscriptions already collected.

4. Appointments and Co-options

Every candidate for co-option by the Bar Council as an Additional Member under Regulation 20 or for appointment to fill a vacancy in the Elected Members under Regulation 14F or for co-option of a person honoris causa under Regulation 22 shall be proposed and seconded by Members of the Bar Council who shall be responsible for obtaining the consent of such person. The fact that an appointment or co-option is to take place must appear on the Agenda Paper.

5. Meetings of the Bar Council

The place and time of meetings of the Bar Council shall be fixed by the Chairman and not less than four days' notice of each meeting shall be given by the Honorary Secretary to each Member of the Bar Council, unless the Chairman, in any case of emergency, shall otherwise direct, or all the Members of the Bar Council agree.

6. Notice of any matter to be placed on the Agenda Paper shall be sent to the Honorary Secretary at least three days before the meeting, together with the name of the sender provided that if half the Elected Members present and entitled to vote agree, and the Chairman of the meeting consents, any other business may be discussed and, if thought fit, resolved at such meeting. The Agenda Paper shall be circulated to all Members of the Bar Council at least one day before each meeting of the Bar Council.

7. No previous resolution of the Bar Council shall be rescinded or amended except by a resolution passed by the Bar Council by a majority of two thirds of the Members of the Bar Council present and voting.

8. Standing Committees

[paras. 8 to 16 - deleted]

17. Powers and Proceedings of Standing Committees

[paras. 17 to 23 - deleted]

24. Disqualification of Members of Standing Committees

[paras 24 and 25 - deleted]

26. Receipts and Payments

The Honorary Secretary shall keep a bank account in the name of the Bar Association to which all monies received from the Bar Association shall be paid.

27. All payments shall be made, so far as possible, by cheque.

28. Operation of these By-Laws

These By-Laws came into force on the 1st March, 1968 with amendments up to the 14th day of November, 2018.

29. Alteration of By-Laws

No By-Law shall be rescinded or amended and no new By-Law shall be enacted except by a resolution passed by a majority of two-thirds of the Members as, being present in person or by proxy and entitled so to do, vote at a General Meeting of the Bar Association of which fourteen clear days' notice shall have been given specifying the resolution.