CUHK Lives and Legends

20 A mong the practising barristers in Hong Kong registered with the Hong Kong Bar Association, there are just about 100 senior counsels. William Wong  is one of this select group. He was impeccably dressed for the interview for this article, sporting tortoiseshell glasses and a bright red tie. The herringbone pattern on the tie, on closer inspection, turned out to be the ‘Glorious United Man’ insignia of United College. Adjusting his tie, he responded with a tinge of pride: ‘Smart, eh?’ As a United College business administration graduate, majoring in finance and minoring in economics over 20 years ago, how has he become a legal eagle? ‘In the business administration programme, two compulsory courses were related to law. One is company law and the other is business law. After getting to know what law is about, I found the subject to my liking and getting straight A’s was a piece of cake. So I made up my mind to pursue law instead,’ he said matter- of-factly. After receiving his BBA in 1994, William was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study law at the University of Oxford. A Rhodes Scholarship is regarded one of the hardest to get worldwide. Each year, there is only one Rhodes Scholar from Hong Kong. ‘It was a huge stroke of good luck!’ he recalled, still relishing the moment of glory after all these years. Before returning to Hong Kong in 1997, he had completed his three-year Oxford Jurisprudence programme in just two years. He qualified as a barrister after a year of pupillage and, in 2013, was appointed a senior counsel. Having fast-tracked from barrister to senior counsel in merely 15 years, William attributes his success to ‘preparation, preparation and preparation’. ‘When you see a barrister putting forth watertight arguments in court or cross- examining a defendant with precision and pertinence, you can be sure that he must have spent hours reading up on documents to grasp the gist of the case and precedent cases. If you take each and every case seriously and do your homework properly, you will impress the judge and the opposing counsel with your clear and coherent delivery. You will thus win your clients’ trust and build your reputation gradually.’ He made a name for himself with such high-profile cases as the prosecution of Tiger Asia Management LLC in relation to allegations of its insider dealing, and an application to freeze HK$1.6 billion in assets of Huang Guangyu , the former Chairman of GOME Electrical Appliances Holding. With such excellent track record ‘If the cyclist Sarah Lee can become an Olympic medalist, why can’t Hong Kong barristers make it big internationally?’