The SCMP reports
Authorities may sever ties with Hong Kong’s largest association of lawyers if it puts politics above professionalism, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has warned, raising the stakes ahead of the group’s closely watched leadership election.
Lam cautioned on Tuesday that the Law Society risked the same fate as the recently ostracised and disbanded Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU, a week before the solicitors’ group is due to hold its key election for five open seats on its council.
“If the Law Society’s professional role is overridden by politics, the government will consider severing our relationship with it,” Lam said at her weekly press briefing.
The 12,000-strong body’s annual election comes at a time when the government is taking aim at unions seen as actively opposing it.
The composition of the Law Society’s 20-member council has come under scrutiny in recent years as it has a bearing on how vocal the influential body can be on a raft of legal and political issues.
Among those running for election next Tuesday are five candidates who are seen as conservatives with ties to Beijing’s liaison office, and have warned of the consequences of professionalism being overridden by politicking in the solicitors’ body.
