David Leung
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Maggie Yang
David Leung | |
|---|---|
梁卓然 | |
| Director of Public Prosecutions | |
| In office 29 December 2017 – 31 December 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Keith Yeung |
| Succeeded by | William Tam, SC (acting) Maggie Yang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 15, 1966 |
| Spouse | Ng Wing-huen 吳榮軒 |
| Alma mater | University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL) |
| David Leung Cheuk-yin | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 梁卓然 | ||||||||||||
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David Leung Cheuk-yin SC (Chinese: 梁卓然, born on 15 December 1966) is a Hong Kong barrister who served as the sixth Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong.[1]
He was educated at the University of Hong Kong, before becoming a solicitor in 1992. He joined the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice in 1995, and subsequently was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1998 and held a number of senior roles in the Division, including serving as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in 2012. He became a Senior Counsel in 2015.[1]
Director of Public Prosecutions
On 29 December 2017, Leung was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions. He was described by Rimsky Yuen, SC, the Secretary for Justice at the time, as “the in-house expert on the law relating to public order events … and cost matters”. Leung was involved in a number of high-profile prosecutions, including those around the 2014 Hong Kong protests, 2016 Mong Kok civil unrest, and the legality of Uber's operation in Hong Kong.[2]
In July 2020, Leung resigned from the Department of Justice, citing differences with his minister, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng, and stated that he had been excluded from handling national security cases.[3][4] Despite leading some prosecutions, he was seen by pro-Beijing politicians and the police as being too cautious to charge some protesters.[5] He left office on 31 December 2020.[6][7]
Later career
After leaving the Department of Justice in 2020, Leung was appointed to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge for six months from 4 October 2021 to March 2022, but the appointment was rescinded by Chief Justice Andrew Cheung in September 2021. Leung had previously unsuccessfully sought to become a District Court judge. Given Leung's seniority and the convention that retired DPPs be appointed High Court judges after leaving office, it was speculated in local media that the cancellation of the appointment was due to the numerous controversies that arose during his tenure.[8] Sing Tao Daily and the Bastille Post cited the ongoing furore over the miscarriage of justice in the Ma Ka-kin case as a contributing factor.
Following Leung's lack of success in joining the bench, there was speculation that he would enter private practice as a barrister, as a member of Bernacchi Chambers.[9] It was later reported by Sing Tao Daily that Leung had joined Liberty Chambers as a tenant after serving a 3-month pupillage at Temple Chambers.[10]