Hong Kong, 7 August 2024: Former Justice of Appeal Ian McWalters will deliver the sixth annual HKU-Boase Cohen & Collins Criminal Law Lecture next month. His talk, “The Exercise of Discretion in the Criminal Justice System”, will be given at the University of Hong Kong on Friday 27 September, starting at 7:00pm.

“We are delighted that Ian has accepted our invitation to deliver this year’s Criminal Law Lecture. Given his significant standing in the legal world, we are certain his talk will be hugely popular with law students, a large cross-section of the legal profession and the general public,” says BC&C Senior Partner Colin Cohen.

The lecture, to be held in the Philip KH Wong Theatre at HKU’s Pokfulam campus, is free of charge and open to all. Anyone wishing to attend should register here. Two evenings before the lecture, Ian will conduct a “fireside chat” with Colin before a small audience during a private dinner at the China Club.

Looking forward to the HKU event, Ian says: “In being asked to deliver this year’s lecture, I’m honoured to be following in the footsteps of some highly esteemed speakers including, of course, Hong Kong’s former Chief Justice, the Honourable Geoffrey Ma. In my talk, I will discuss discretionary decision making by law enforcement, prosecutors and judicial officers and how it contributes to the fairness of the criminal justice system. I hope the audience will find it interesting and helpful.”

Ian served as a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court from 2014-21, having previously been Director of Public Prosecutions from 2009-11. He currently sits as a Chairman of the Market Misconduct Tribunal and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal.

The first four editions of the lecture were delivered by a quartet the most renowned King’s Counsel in England and Wales, namely Clare Montgomery, Edward Fitzgerald CBE, Geoffrey Robertson and the former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald.