According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), an amendment bill to the Legal Practitioners Ordinance will be handed to the Legislative Council tomorrow to introduce legislation requiring Hong Kong courts to obtain certificates from the Chief Executive to judge whether a foreign lawyer could participate in local cases involving National Security Law.

Besides, according to the bill, the decision of the Chief Executive in handling these kinds of cases cannot be challenged by anyone in any court nor by any form of litigation.

This amendment bill came after the jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai filed an appeal to the High Court, requiring the Department of Justice to declare the legitimacy for him to seek defense from a London-based barrister or obtain a certificate from the Chief Executive to decide whether the British lawyer would be allowed to be his representative in court.

According to the current articles of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance, an overseas lawyer can be admitted, on an ad-hoc basis, as a barrister to appear in Hong Kong's courts under the court's approval.

However, the bill gazetted today provided an "overriding principle," which refrained an overseas lawyer from any actions in a national security case unless the city’s leader believed the lawyer’s move would not involve or endanger national security.

The Chief Executive would also have decisive rights to "review" an application of an overseas lawyer issued for engaging in a national security law case "if there is a change of circumstances" even though the lawyer was granted an ad hoc admission.

In addition, local cases involving National Security Law will be dealt with on a "case by case" process, DoJ added.