# Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal

The Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal are full-time judges sitting on Hong Kong's final appellate court, the Court of Final Appeal. They are called Permanent Judges because they are required to sit on every appeal committee and court case relating to the Court of Final Appeal, and to distinguish them from other part-time jurists who also sit on the top court, known as Non-Permanent Judges.

## History

At the founding of the court on 1 July 1997, as the Permanent Judges were all sworn in on the same day, they were sorted by seniority (whichever year they took Silk). The Chief Justice sat in the middle; Henry Litton, being the most senior judge and would sit on the Chief Justice's right, with Charles Ching being the second most senior judge (sitting on the Chief Justice's left) and Kemal Bokhary being the least senior Permanent Judge, sitting on the right of Henry Litton.

## Eligibility

According to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Permanent Judges are recommended by the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, and officially appointed by the Chief Executive. People may be eligible to become a Permanent Judge by being the Chief Judge of the High Court, a High Court judge, or practiced as a barrister or solicitor in Hong Kong for over 10 years.
In practice, every Permanent Judge appointed has been at least a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal or above (Vice-President, Chief Judge, or Non-Permanent Judge); no practicing barrister has ever been appointed directly as a Permanent Judge without full time judicial experience.

## Length of Service

Permanent Judges are required to retire by age 70, but this can be extended by up to two three-year terms, so final retirement age may be 76. This came into effect in late 2019, whereas previously the retirement age was 65 (from 1997 to late 2019), also with two three-year extensions possible for a final retirement age of 71.

## List of Permanent Judges

There are to be at least three Permanent Judges on the top court at any given time, with the current Judges in bold in the list below.
| No. | Name | Place of birth | Age at start | Replacing | Took office | Left office | Tenure length | Previous judicial offices | Higher education | Nationality (if known) | Silk | Appointed by |
| 1 | Henry Denis Litton, GBM (Born 7 August 1934; age 90) | Hong Kong | 62 years and 329 days | Inaugural | 1 July 1997 | 13 September 2000 | 3 years and 75 days | Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1992–95) Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (1995–97) | University of Oxford (MA) | British | QC (1970) | Tung Chee-hwa |
| 2 | Charles Arthur Ching, GBM (7 October 1935 – 30 November 2000; aged 65) | Hong Kong | 61 years and 268 days | Inaugural | 1 July 1997 | 6 October 2000 | 3 years and 98 days | Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1995–97) | University of Oxford (MA) | Australian | QC (1974) | Tung Chee-hwa |
| 3 | Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary, GBM (Born 25 October 1947; age 77) | Hong Kong | 49 years and 250 days | Inaugural | 1 July 1997 | 24 October 2012 | 15 years and 116 days | Judge of the High Court of Justice (1989–93) Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1993–97) | City Law School | British | QC (1983) | Tung Chee-hwa |
| 4 | Patrick Chan Siu-oi, GBM (Born 21 October 1948; age 76) | Hong Kong | 51 years and 317 days | Litton | 1 September 2000 | 20 October 2013 | 13 years and 50 days | District Judge (1987–91) Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court (1991–92) Judge of the High Court of Justice (1992–97) Chief Judge of the High Court (1997–2000) | University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL) | Hong Kong | | Tung Chee-hwa |
| 5 | Roberto Alexandre Vieira Ribeiro, GBM (Born 20 March 1949; age 75) | Hong Kong | 51 years and 166 days | Ching | 1 September 2000 | Incumbent | 24 years and 126 days | Recorder of the Court of First Instance (1997–99) Judge of the Court of First Instance (1999–2000) Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2000) | London School of Economics (LLB, LLM) | British | QC (1990) | Tung Chee-hwa |
| 6 | Robert Tang Kwok-ching, GBM, SBS (Born 7 January 1947; age 77) | Shanghai, China | 65 years and 293 days | Bokhary | 25 October 2012 | 24 October 2018 | 6 years and 0 days | Deputy District Judge (1982) Deputy High Court Judge (1986) Recorder of the High Court of Justice/Court of First Instance (1995–2004) Judge of the Court of First Instance (2004–05) Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2005–06) Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (2006–12) Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal (2010–12) | University of Birmingham (LLB) | British | QC (1986) | Leung Chun-ying |
| 7 | Joseph Paul Fok (Born 24 September 1962; age 62) | Hong Kong | 51 years and 28 days | Chan | 21 October 2013 | Incumbent | 11 years and 76 days | Recorder of the Court of First Instance (2003–09) Judge of the Court of First Instance (2010–11) Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2011–13) | University College London (LLB) City Law School | British | SC (1999) | Leung Chun-ying |
| 8 | Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, GBM (Born 24 September 1961; age 63) | Hong Kong | 57 years and 32 days | Tang | 25 October 2018 | 10 January 2021 | 2 years and 78 days | District Judge (2001–03) Deputy High Court Judge (2001–03) Judge of the Court of First Instance (2003–11) Chief Judge of the High Court (2011–18) | University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL) Harvard Law School (LLM) | Hong Kong | | Carrie Lam |
| 9 | Johnson Lam Man-hon (Born August 1961; age 63) | Hong Kong | 59 years and 11 months (exact birth date not known) | Cheung | 30 July 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years and 159 days | District Judge (2001–03) Judge of the Court of First Instance (2003–12) Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2012–13) Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (2013–21) | University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL) | | | Carrie Lam |

## Education
### By graduate degree(s)

Note: Judges may have more than one graduate degree, and hence may be counted twice on this list
* University of Hong Kong (3) – Chan, Cheung, Lam
* Harvard University (1) – Cheung
* London School of Economics (1) – Ribeiro

### By undergraduate degree

* University of Hong Kong (3) – Chan, Cheung, Lam
* University of Oxford (2) – Litton, Ching
* London School of Economics (1) – Ribeiro
* University of Birmingham (1) – Tang
* University College London (1) – Fok

## Length of tenure

| Rank | Justice | Length served (in days) |
| 1 | Roberto Ribeiro | 8,891 (incumbent, continuing) |
| 2 | Kemal Bokhary | 5,594 |
| 3 | Patrick Chan | 4,797 |
| 4 | Joseph Fok | 4,093 (incumbent, continuing) |
| 5 | Robert Tang | 2,190 |
| 6 | Charles Ching | 1,193 |
| 7 | Henry Litton | 1,170 |
| 8 | Andrew Cheung | 808 |
| 9 | Johnson Lam | 1,254 (incumbent, continuing) |