### Legal Practitioners Ordinance 《法律執業者條例》

24. Society’s general right of audience
The Society shall have a general right of audience by any member of the Society appointed for that purpose by the Society or by any counsel, before—
(a) a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal; and (Amended 61 of 1992 s. 6) 
(b) the Court on the hearing of any matter under this Ordinance that does not solely affect barristers, (Replaced 60 of 1994 s. 24) 
and in any such case, whether the Society has or is seeking audience or not, the Society shall be served with a copy of every necessary document filed with the Registrar.

25. Expenses of Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and of Society
(1) The expenses incurred by—
(a) a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal; and
(b) the Society, in connection with proceedings before a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal,
may be paid to the Society out of general revenue upon a certificate issued by the Secretary for Justice.
(2) The Secretary for Justice shall only issue a certificate under subsection (1) if he is satisfied that—
(a) the expenses were necessarily incurred by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal or the Society, as the case may be, in exercise of the powers or duties conferred or imposed by this Ordinance;
(b) the amount of such expenses is reasonable; and
(c) the expenses could not reasonably be recovered from the person whose conduct is the subject of the proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the Court of Appeal or the Court of Final Appeal, as the case may be. (Amended 92 of 1975 s. 59; 46 of 1989 s. 6)
(3) In this section, expenses (開支) includes witnesses’ expenses and fees, counsel’s fees, solicitor’s fees, auditor’s fees and other charges and disbursements.
(Amended 61 of 1992 s. 6; L.N. 362 of 1997; 26 of 2012 s. 6)

26. Statutory provisions to prevail over Society’s articles
In the case of any inconsistency between the provisions of this Ordinance and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Society the provisions of this Ordinance shall prevail.

### Legal Practitioners Ordinance 《法律執業者條例》

26B. Death of sole solicitor or foreign lawyer
On the death of a solicitor or foreign lawyer who practises as a solicitor in his own name or as a sole solicitor or foreign lawyer under a firm name sections 2, 3 and 4 of Schedule 2 shall apply to the client accounts of his practice. 

26C. Undue delay by solicitors or foreign lawyers in connection with clients’ instructions
The powers conferred by Schedule 2 shall also be exercisable, subject to sections 1(4) and 8(3) of that Schedule, where—
(a) a complaint is made to the Council that there has been undue delay on the part of a solicitor or foreign lawyer in connection with any matter in which the solicitor or his firm or the foreign lawyer or his firm was instructed on behalf of a client or with any controlled trust; and 
(b) the Council by notice in writing invites the solicitor or foreign lawyer to give an explanation within a period of not less than 8 days specified in the notice; and 
(c) the solicitor or foreign lawyer fails within that period to give an explanation which the Council regards as satisfactory; and 
(d) the Council gives notice of the failure to the solicitor or foreign lawyer and (at the same or any later time) notice that the powers conferred by Schedule 2 are accordingly exercisable. 

26D. Powers conferred by Schedule 2 exercisable after death of solicitor
(1) Where the powers conferred by Schedule 2 are exercisable in relation to a solicitor or foreign lawyer, they shall continue to be exercisable after his death or after his name has been removed from or struck off the roll (in the case of a solicitor) or his registration is cancelled or suspended (in the case of a foreign lawyer). 
(2) The references to the solicitor or his firm or the foreign lawyer or his firm in sections 1(1), 2(2) and (3), 3, 7(1) and (5) and 8(1) of Schedule 2 include, in any case where the solicitor or foreign lawyer has died, references to his personal representatives. 
[cf. 1974 c. 47 Sch. 1 Pt. I U.K. as amended by 1990 c. 41 s. 91 U.K.] 

### Legal Practitioners Ordinance 《法律執業者條例》

27AA. Interpretation (Part III)
(1) In this Part—
Admission Rules (《認許規則》) means the Barristers (Admission) Rules (Cap. 159 sub. leg. AA);
CE certificate (行政長官證明書) means a certificate issued by the Chief Executive under Article 47 of the HK National Security Law;
HK National Security Law (《香港國安法》) means the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (a translation of “《中華人民共和國香港特別行政區維護國家安全法》”), as applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Promulgation of National Law 2020 (L.N. 136 of 2020)*;
notice of permission to proceed (准許進行申請通知書) means a notice of permission to proceed issued by the Chief Executive, as referred to in section 27C(5).
(2) To avoid doubt, for sections 27B, 27C, 27D and 27E—
(a) a reference to a case is a reference to a case of any nature, whether criminal, civil or otherwise; and
(b) a reference to a case concerning national security includes, but is not limited to—
(i) a case in connection with an offence under the HK National Security Law or any other offence endangering national security; and
(ii) a case in connection with any measures taken for, or in connection with, safeguarding national security, whether under the HK National Security Law or any other law.
(Added 7 of 2023 s. 3) Editorial Note:

* See Promulgation of National Law 2020—The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Instrument A302).