CPD Course:
Decision-Making
Procedures:
Getting Them Right
(and What to Do
When They Go Wrong)

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.

From applying for a licence, to challenging a regulator's decision, a planning approval or an immigration refusal, the decision-making procedures of public bodies regularly affect our and our clients' daily lives.  For those in the private sector, your clients want to be sure that you are fully up-to-date with the law on procedural impropriety so that they know when and how to challenge an unlawful decision-making procedure.  For those in the government or public sector, your department or organisation needs to ensure that it is acting in full compliance with the legal duties to which its decision-making procedures are subject.

This seminar will take you through the main aspects of the law on procedural impropriety including the right to be heard, the right to be represented, the duty to give reasons for a decision, and bias.  Real cases will be used to explain and illustrate the main points and your seminar leader will be delighted to answer your questions on the day.  The session will be useful for solicitors in both the public and private sector; and to those who both seek to launch a judicial review application or who may find themselves on the receiving end of one.  Don't be left behind!

• Up-to-date coverage of procedural impropriety as a ground of judicial review
• Explanation of the key aspects of procedural impropriety: the right to be heard, the right to be represented, the duty to give reasons for a decision, and bias
• Aimed at applicants and respondents; those working in private practice, and those working in government and the public sector
• Use of real cases to explain and illustrate the main points