The Hong Kong Bar Association has warned that a proposed phased redevelopment of the High Court, which could span more than a decade, is “not workable” and risks deterring legal practitioners from joining the bench.

The association, the professional body for barristers, urged the government to consider faster alternatives, such as repurposing the existing District Court building.

In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post on Sunday, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet SC also said the authorities should consider offering judges an ex gratia pay rise, on top of keeping salaries in line with inflation, to attract top-tier practitioners from the private sector.

Maurellet identified a lack of courtrooms and manpower shortages as two major bottlenecks constraining judicial efficiency and trial turnaround times.

To expand courtroom capacity, the government has proposed an in situ redevelopment project under which the 41-year-old High Court Building in Admiralty will be merged with the adjacent Queensway Government Offices to form a new High Court complex.

The judiciary told the Legislative Council last Monday that it had started preparatory work for the project. Judicial administrator Esther Leung Yuet-yin said the whole redevelopment would take more than a decade to complete.

Under the phased plan, the Queensway offices will first be vacated and redeveloped before the High Court moves in. The current High Court Building will then be revamped and merged with the redeveloped Queensway offices as one large court complex.

Maurellet said the process could drag on for up to 20 years, as each stage could take several years.

“Whatever plan it is, it cannot be a plan that takes 15 to 20 years. I think it is not workable,” he said.

“This may affect a number of things, and first is judicial [manpower] shortage. Of course, if you are working in a 41-year-old building, it may not be the most attractive option.”

“What if we get deputy judges? You still need to find courtrooms for them.”Work on a new District Court building on Caroline Hill Road in Causeway Bay is set to be completed next year. District Court, Family Court and Lands Tribunal operations are expected to begin there in 2028.

Maurellet said a faster alternative would be to relocate the High Court to the existing District Court building in Wan Chai after the court moves to Caroline Hill Road.

“We certainly need something which is modern and fit for purpose. I think the people of Hong Kong deserve [a new, modern High Court building],” he said.

“I also think it matters if we want to develop Hong Kong as a dispute resolution centre.”He said investing in the judiciary was not “an expense of luxury”, as it could enhance the legal sector’s reputation, boosting its growth by attracting global demand and driving broader economic growth.

Beyond space constraints, Maurellet stressed that the bench faced a talent drain. According to the Legco secretariat’s database, the High Court had 44 judges compared with an establishment of 64 as of March 2026 – a shortfall of 20 posts. Only 36 of the District Court’s 53 establishment posts were filled.

Maurellet noted that a 2 per cent pay rise for judicial officers in the 2026-27 financial year was largely in line with inflation.

“If you recognise that there is a judicial shortage, you will need to do more than give the same in inflation-adjusted package to draw [talent],” he said, urging the authorities to consider offering judges an ex gratia pay rise.

Maurellet said some top practitioners might prefer to remain in the private sector because of better pay, a growing number of high-value dispute cases in Hong Kong and the lack of work-life balance in the judiciary.

He said judges had been scheduled back-to-back court cases, leaving them limited time to prepare for judgments and prompting them to work late into the night and at weekends.

A better pay package would help attract top talent to the judicial bench and encourage the international business community to settle disputes in Hong Kong, he argued.

Hong Kong’s courts recorded a caseload of about 537,000 in 2025, 4 per cent higher than the annual average in the preceding five years, the judiciary earlier told Legco.

The backlog was heavy among criminal cases waiting to be heard before the District Court. Such cases took on average 354 days to be heard, more than 3.5 times the target of 100 days.

Criminal cases in the Court of First Instance of the High Court waited 358 days on average, although the judiciary has not set a target for that list.

It attributed the backlog to the need to prioritise cases related to national security and the 2019 protests.

Although most such cases had been scheduled and disposed of, the waiting time could not fall quickly because of an influx of fraud and money-laundering cases, the judiciary said.