Chief Justice Andrew Li today appointed Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal Justice Bokhary as the chairman of the Working Party on Solicitors' Rights of Audience. Ten other members of the working party were also appointed.

The party's terms of reference are to consider whether solicitors' existing rights of audience should be extended and if so, the mechanism for dealing with the grant of extended rights of audience to solicitors.

Announcing the appointments, Mr Li said the party's work is very important for the administration of justice. He is confident that under the leadership of Justice Bokhary, and with the contribution of the other members, the party's work will command public respect and confidence.

The membership list: Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal Justice Bokhary (Chairman), Chief Judge of the High Court Justice Ma, Judge of the Court of First Instance Justice Pang, Judge of the Court of First Instance Justice Andrew Cheung, Judge of the Court of First Instance Justice Tang, Benjamin Yu, Joseph Tse, Denis Brock, Peter Barnes, Robert Allcock, Eleanor Ling, and Stuart Stoker (Secretary).