A Longlinear Analysis of Legal Representation Statistics on Hearings of Civil Cases in the District Court of Hong Kong

Abstract

Before 1 September 2000, the District Court's civil jurisdiction was limited to claims of up to HK$120,000. From 1 September 2000, the District Court's civil jurisdiction was extended to claims of up to HK$600,000. With effect from 1 December 2003, the civil jurisdiction of the District Court was further increased from HK$600,000 to HK$1 million. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the enlargement of the District Court's jurisdiction on the usage rates of barristers in the conduct of civil cases in the District Court. Having performed a loglinear analysis of the legal representation statistics on the hearings for civil claims in the Hong Kong District Court over a two-year period from 1 September 1999 to 31 August 2001, the authors discovered, inter alia, that the enlargement of the District Court's jurisdiction has resulted in less use of barristers (relative to the use of solicitors) when all other factors are being controlled.