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Amanda Whitfort

Department of Professional Legal Education

Associate Professor
Director of Knowledge Exchange & Impact

BA (Hons) Monash, LLB Monash, LLM London, MSc International Animal Welfare Science, Law and Ethics (Edinburgh) Solicitor and Barrister 
Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia
Barrister of the High Court of Hong Kong SAR

Biography

Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort BA(Hons)(Monash), LLB(Monash), LLM(London), MSc (Edinburgh) was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Australia, and has extensive practical experience in criminal law and prosecutions. After becoming the first local resident of Hong Kong to pass the Overseas Bar Qualification Examination in 2005, she was admitted to the Hong Kong Bar. Ms Whitfort currently leads the Criminal Litigation course on the PCLL programme and teaches Animal Law on the LLB, the first internationally-focused animal law programme in Asia.

Ms Whitfort has published and presented internationally on Criminal and Animal Law and is the leading authority on Animal Welfare Law in Hong Kong. She is the recipient of two government funded public policy research grants focused on improving animal protection legislation and her research and knowledge exchange on animal related laws have resulted in significant legislative and policy change for Hong Kong. In 2017, she was awarded the University’s Knowledge Exchange Excellence Award (video) in recognition of her work’s outstanding societal impact. She currently sits on the Hong Kong government’s Legal Sub-committee advising the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department on animal related law and policy.  

Ms Whitfort has received ongoing competitive funding to examine illegal wildlife trade in greater-China and her research in this area is used to train prosecutors and judges across Asia. She is the founder of the SVIS Initiative which provides law enforcement authorities worldwide with reliable scientific data assessing the ecological harms caused by wildlife crimes, in form of Species Victim Impact Statements (SVIS). Her research examining loopholes in Hong Kong’s capacity to effectively combat illegal wildlife trade led to the inclusion of wildlife offences in the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance in 2021.

She is a long standing contributor to Archbold Hong Kong (Sweet and Maxwell, Asia) and Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong: Vol 1: Animals (Butterworths) and is the author of Criminal Procedure in Hong Kong: A Guide for Students and Practitioners (LexisNexis, 3rd ed. 2020, with Jacky Yeung).

Research Area

  • Animal Law
  • Criminal Law and Procedure
  • Trial Practice and Advocacy
  • Environmental Law
  • Green Crimes
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Selected Publications

Research Profile

Recent Publications

Amanda Sarah Whitfort, Associate Professor, has been the Criminal Litigation Course Cordinator on the PCLL in the Department of Professional Legal Education since she joined the Faculty of Law in 2001. Her research specialization focuses on comparative criminal justice and administration in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China. She also conducts research focusing on the environmental laws of Hong Kong.

Her refereed articles include The Chinese Criminal Defence System: “A Comparative Study of a System in Reform”, 2006; Muddying the Waters? The Water Pollution Control Ordinance and Defining Pollution of Rivers and Streams in Hong Kong (with Professor David Dudgeon; Head; Department of Ecology and Biodiversity; 2 005); Determining an Indeterminate Sentence (2004); and The Proposed Offence of Persistent Sexual Abuse of a Child (2002).

She has acted as examiner on Professional Conduct for the Law Society of Hong Kong since 2000. In 2001 the University of London awarded her a Master of Laws (Criminology and Criminal Justice) and the Brigid Cotter prize for achieving the highest aggregate on the University’s External Master of Laws. 

Ms. Whitfort holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Philosophy from the University of Monash, Australia, along with a Bachelor in Laws from Monash University and a Master of Laws from the University of London. She has been admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor in Victoria, Australia, since 1995 and has extensive practical experience in criminal law and prosecutions in that jurisdiction. Before joining the HKU Law Faculty in 2001, she was the Course Director of the PCLL programme of HKU’s School of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2005 she was invited to act as the External Examiner on the SPACE Law Division’s courses. She has participated in the design of the new PCLL curriculum, and in teaching Criminal Procedure, Professional Practice and Criminal Advocacy and Trial Advocacy on the PCLL. In 2005 she was invited to teach Environmental Law on the Masters of Science program conducted by the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, Faculty of Science, the University of Hong Kong.

A Retrospective Analysis of Typologies of Animal Abuse Recorded by the SPCA, Hong Kong (2021) Animals.

COVID-19 and Wildlife Farming in China: Legislating to Protect Wild Animal Health and Welfare in the Wake of a Global Pandemic (2021) Journal of Environmental Law.

China and CITES: Strange Bedfellows or Willing Partners? (2019) 22(4) Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy.

Wildlife Crime and Animal Victims: Improving Access to Environmental Justice in Hong Kong (2019) 22(3) Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy

Animal Welfare Law, Policy and the Threat of Ag-gag: One step forward, to steps back (2019) 3 Food Ethics.

Justice and the Vulnerable: Extending the Duty to Prevent Serious Crimes Against Children to the Protection of Agricultural and Research Animals (2018) 39 Adelaide Law Review.