CPD Course:
Procedural Impropriety
as Grounds for
Judicial Review

Dr. Stephen Thomson is a specialist in Hong Kong public law and is the author of the leading text ‘Administrative Law in Hong Kong’ (Cambridge University Press, 2018).  He is a Legal Adviser to the Ombudsman of Hong Kong, a member of the Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong, and an examiner on the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination, and was Associate Professor of Law and Director of Research Postgraduate Programmes at the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong.  He holds a Ph.D. in judicial review from the University of Edinburgh (UK), and has practical legal and commercial experience, having worked at a UK law firm and acted on a consultancy and advisory basis to law firms, private clients and public bodies in Hong Kong and the UK.

This is an intermediate level course on procedural impropriety as grounds for judicial review.  It will explore five main contexts in which procedural impropriety features.

1. Deviation from, or failure to observe, statutory procedure: how is this defined, and what are the consequences of non-compliance?
2. The right to a hearing: is there such a right at common law, and when might that right be activated?
3. The right to representation: is there a right at common law to be represented, and when might that right be activated?
4. The duty to give reasons for decisions: is there such a duty at common law, and if so, when (and how) does it apply? When reasons must be given, what are the legal requirements on the adequacy of reasons?
5. Bias: what circumstances can (and cannot) give rise to bias, how is bias defined, and what are the consequences of insufficient impartiality on the part of a decision-maker? When might bias be “excused”?

• What is procedural impropriety?
• Deviation from, or failure to observe, statutory procedure
• Right to a hearing
• Right to representation
• Duty to give reasons for decisions
• Bias