Former Law Society president CM Chan told RTHK that having the International Organisation for Mediation in Hong Kong would be beneficial to the SAR’s image and pool of legal professionals.
“It gives a very good perception to the world that Hong Kong remains very open, remains very international, and we are all welcoming international visitors and, more importantly, to bring their disputes to Hong Kong to have them mediated in Hong Kong,” Chan said.
“We need to hire staff for this organisation, and [there will be] more work for lawyers and supporting staff, and many of them may be from overseas.
“From a very practical point of view, we have more international lawyers flying into Hong Kong or even basing in Hong Kong to work on cases.”
Chan noted that the city has “all the required expertise” needed for the mediation centre, along with its common law practice.
“We have a whole host of legal experts, including an international legal network working in the public international law arena and also the private international law arena,” he said.
Chan also pointed to the rise of mediation as a dispute resolution method focused on reaching a mutually agreeable solution to a problem without a third party imposing a decision on the two sides.
“The last thing we want is using violence to resolve the disputes…” he said.
“All the leaders in the world understand that mediation is a very efficient way to resolve their disputes.”