Eric Cheung 張達明
Department of Law
Principal Lecturer and Director of Clinical Legal Education;
Solicitor, CEDR Accredited Mediator
Biography
Eric Tat Ming CHEUNG (張達明) was born and educated in Hong Kong. Upon his admission as a solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong in October 1989, he worked as a litigation solicitor at Johnson Stokes & Master (now known as Mayor Brown JSM), the largest law firm in Hong Kong. He was admitted as a partner of the same firm in October 1994. He has been teaching law at the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong since December 1996. He is also a part-time consultant of ONC Lawyers.
He is currently the Director of Clinical Legal Education in the Faculty and has been in charge of the Clinical Legal Education Course since its introduction in January 2010. Apart from his services through a great number of public and professional bodies, he has contributed significantly to the promotion of the Rule of Law and legal education to the public. He is frequently invited to speak on legal issues by television and radio programmes as well as in newspapers as a recognised legal scholar on the Basic Law and Rule of Law issues. He has acted on a pro bono basis for the defendants in a number of criminal cases.
Research Area
- Civil and Criminal Litigation
- Buildings and Town Planning
more details
Public Services
Research Profile
Chairman, Appeal Panel (Housing) (April 2013 to present)
Member, Independent Police Complaints Council (Jan 2009 to present)
Member, Election Committee for the Election of the Chief Executive (2006-2007; 2007-2012; and 2012-2017)
Member, Hong Kong Law Reform Commission’s Sub-committee on Review of Sexual Offences (2006 to present)
Examiner, Bar Qualification Examination (Civil Procedure and Civil Evidence) (2004 to present)
Member, Law Society’s Pro Bono Committee (2010 to present)
Honorary Secretary, Executive Committee of The Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society (2012 to present)
Chairman, Buildings Appeal Tribunal (2000 to 2006)
Member, Judicial Studies Board (2003 to 2012)
Member, Hong Kong Law Reform Commission (1994 to 2000)
Member, Law Society’s Constitutional Affairs Committee (1999 to 2012)
Member, Law Society’s Bilingualism Committee (1997 to 2006)
Member, Law Society’s Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination Panel (1998 to 2007)
Member, Law Society’s Continuing Professional Development Committee (1999 to 2006)
Member, Law Society’s Working Party on the Development of a Proposal for a Specialist Accreditation Scheme (1999 to 2001)
Eric Tat-ming Cheung, Assistant Professor, joined the Department of Professional Legal Education in December 1996. He was qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong in 1989 and became a litigation partner of Johnson Stokes & Master in 1994. When he was in full practice, his main areas of work included building and town planning appeals, judicial reviews, professional negligence claims, building and construction litigation, and general banking and commercial litigation. He is the course coordinator of the subject of Civil Procedure in the PCLL course at HKU.
Mr. Cheung is the co-author of The Student Guide to Civil Procedure in Hong Kong, (Lexis-Nexis Butterworths: 2nd Edition, 2005). His other publications include:Interlocutory or Final Orders: Pouring New Wine into Old Wineskins (Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol 36 Part 1 2006), The Modern Application of the Medieval Law of Maintenance and Champerty (Law Lectures for Practitioner 2005, Sweet & Maxwell Asia), °]The Prospect of Legal Bilingnalism in Hong Kong) (香港法律雙語化前景初探) published in (Legal Translation in Practice, Law Press, China, 2003) (法律翻譯：從實踐出發) and Settlement Without Tears: Practical Advice for Negotiating Settlements of Civil Claims (Law Lectures for Practitioners 2001, Sweet & Maxwell Asia). He has also written various Chinese articles on the Basic Law and Rule of Law issues in the Mingpao Forum.
His current research includes Civil Procedure, the laws of Maintenance and Champerty, and Basic Law and Rule of Law issues.
Mr. Cheung is a chairman of the Buildings Appeal Tribunal. He served on the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission from 1994 to 2000, its Sub-Committee on Supply of Goods from 1998 to 2002. He also serves actively on various committees of the Hong Kong Law Society (including the Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Bilingualism Committee, Continuing Professional Development Committee and Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination Panel), the Hong Kong Bar Association’s Bar Qualification Examination Panel (Civil Procedure and Civil Evidence), the Judicial Studies Board and the Consultative Committee on the Resource Centre for Unrepresented Litigants run by the Judiciary.
Apart from his services through the public and professional bodies, Mr. Cheung has also contributed significantly to the promotion of the Rule of Law and legal education to the public. He is frequently invited to speak on legal issues by television and radio programmes as well as in newspapers as a legal scholar. He was elected by members of the legal profession in April 1998 and in May 2005 to be one of its 20 representatives in the 800-member Election Committee. He has assisted some defendants on a pro bono basis in a few criminal cases.