Anthony Neoh, SC will start off this Year’s series. In 1964, he started his working life as a high school Maths teacher. In 1966, he joined the Executive Service of the Hong Kong Government transferring to the Administrative Service in 1969, where he remained until 1980, leaving the Civil Service at the rank of Assistant Director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption where he served as part of its senior management in the formative years of that organisation. He was given a year of no-pay leave from 1975-76 to read for his Law Degree with London University which he obtained in 1976 and was called to the English Bar by Gray’s Inn that same year. Beginning his practice at the HK Bar 1980, he took silk in 1990. He spent part of this period in California practising as a Member of the California Bar. While serving as a public interest director of the HK Stock Exchange in 1992 he designed the legal framework for the listing of H Shares in Hong Kong. From 1975 to 1978 he was Chairman of the HK Securities and Futures Commission, during which time he was the first Asian to be appointed Chairman of the Technical Committee of IOSCO where he pioneered the Principles of Securities Regulation. After serving in the SFC he was invited by the then Premier Zhu Rongji to be Chief Advisor of the China Securities Regulatory Commission until 2004 when he returned to the HK Bar where he still practices. 

Though he had left the Civil Service, he continued to immerse himself in public service. He has served in many Government appointed committees and university councils. In particular, he served for 29 years in the Council of the Chinese University and was chair of the Planning Committee which gave birth to our Law School. He is currently the Chairman of the Asian Academy of International Law and Vice Chairman of the Governing Council of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration. He is an active international arbitrator. He has also taught as Visting or Adjunct Professor in many universities, including Peking, Tsinghua, and Harvard Universities.

Anthony will share his experience in his life’s work to date and will discuss what he believes to be the true nature of legal service, the current challenges facing lawyers and what will change in the next 50 years, but perhaps, importantly, what will not change!