34 Facts About Rimsky Yuen

Rimsky Yuen was the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 2007 to 2010, as well as a member of the Guangdong Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, prior to his appointment as Secretary for Justice.

Rimsky Yuen was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Rimsky Yuen lived in Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate during his early life.

Rimsky Yuen was educated at Queen Elizabeth School and the University of Hong Kong.

Rimsky Yuen was called to Bar in 1987 after serving pupillage under Mohan Tarachand Bharwaney and Lawrence Lok QC.

Rimsky Yuen specialised in civil litigation, especially commercial disputes including advisory and court works relating to contract disputes, shareholders and partners disputes, corporate and personal insolvency, trusts, banking and financial products disputes, international trade and arbitration.

Rimsky Yuen served as an arbitrator in international arbitrations and a mediator in commercial disputes.

In 2006 Yuen was appointed a Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, in which capacity he handled various civil litigations.

Rimsky Yuen became increasingly involved in public service: he served as a member of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, Non-Official Member of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Advisory Committee on Corruption, the Chairman of the Transport Advisory Committee, and a Non-executive Director of Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and Council Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

In 2007, Rimsky Yuen was elected chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

Ronny Tong, who had declined a similar offer of appointment to the Guangdong CPPCC during his tenure as Bar Association chairman, expressed his disappointment in Rimsky Yuen and expressed his concerns over the potential for conflicts of interest.

In contrast, legislator Kwong Chi-kin of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions supported Rimsky Yuen's appointment, stating that it would promote cooperation with mainland authorities; an editorial of Wen Wei Po argued that no conflict of interest arose by Rimsky Yuen's appointment.

In 2012, Rimsky Yuen was appointed by the Chief Executive-elect Leung Chun-ying as the Secretary for Justice.

On 25 September 2015, Rimsky Yuen was elected as an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple.

In December 2013, Rimsky Yuen was appointed by Leung Chun-ying as one of the three-member Task Force on Constitutional Development, alongside Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam, in relation to the consultation on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016.

Rimsky Yuen provided the legal opinion on the proposed constitutional reform.

Rimsky Yuen opposed the "civil nomination" proposal advanced by pro-democrats, arguing that it might bypass the nominating committee and "turn it into a plastic stamp".

On 21 October 2014 during the Occupy Central movement triggered by the NPCSC's August 31 Decision, the government and the HKFS held the first round of talks in a televised open debate in which Rimsky Yuen took part as one of the five government representatives.

On 25 April 2015 Rimsky Yuen participated in a territory-wide bus parade to appeal for public support for the city's constitutional reform package on an open-top double-decker bus.

Rimsky Yuen refused to resign and defended the NPSCSC interpretation, arguing that both judicial independence and interpretation of Basic Law could co-exist, adding the ruling by Beijing was not targeting the two legislators but instead setting out the general example as an aid to understanding Article 104.

In December 2016 Leung Chun-ying and Rimsky Yuen pursuing after other pro-democrat legislators by lodging another judicial review against four more pro-democracy legislators over their oaths, Lau Siu-lai, Nathan Law, Leung Kwok-hung and Yiu Chung-yim, who were already under legal challenge filed by pro-Beijing supporters.

Rimsky Yuen received criticism from activists for his prosecution against protesters and activists, including the Department of Justice's sentence review applications of 16 activists involved in two 2014 protests.

Rimsky Yuen declined to confirm or deny reports but rejected speculation about "political prosecutions".

Protesters focused their criticism on Rimsky Yuen, following reports that he ignored the advice of top prosecutors in pursuing the appeal.

On 1 October 2017, thousands of people joined a rally demanding Rimsky Yuen to resign, accusing him of damaging the city's human rights by pursuing sentencing reviews of activists.

In July 2017, Rimsky Yuen unveiled the proposal to resolve the border control conundrum by setting up joint immigration and customs facilities with mainland authorities in which travellers will have to abide by mainland laws within a designated area to be leased to the mainland for the creation of a port inside the terminal where mainland police officers can enforce mainland laws.

Rimsky Yuen countered the argument by claiming that the designated areas, once leased to the central government, will no longer be part of Hong Kong's territory and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Basic Law.

Rimsky Yuen invoked Article 20 of the Basic Law, which allows the Hong Kong government to enjoy new powers conferred to it by the NPCSC which the SAR government can seek a "new power" from the NPCSC, so that it can in turn authorise the mainland authorities to enforce national laws in the designated areas.

Rimsky Yuen stepped down on 6 January 2018 amid the National People's Congress Standing Committee's resolution on the joint checkpoint.

In November 2022, Rimsky Yuen represented Paul Lam on behalf of the Department of Justice, with the argument that Jimmy Lai should not be able to hire a UK lawyer.

Rimsky Yuen argued that overseas lawyers would have "limited if not negligible" contribution to cases relating to the national security law.

On 25 November 2022, Rimsky Yuen argued and said that the DoJ's position was that except for "exceptional circumstances," all national security cases should ban the use of foreign lawyers.

In January 2023, Rimsky Yuen, representing China Concrete, lost a case where he was fighting against the government's Environmental Protection Department.

In 2016, Rimsky Yuen was admitted to hospital with intestinal discomfort and was on leave for a few days.