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The Judiciary Administrator's Speaking Notes at the Special Meeting of Finance Committee on 13 April 2026

2026-27 Draft Estimate

         The Judiciary has the constitutional duty to ensure effective and efficient administration of justice. This is integral to upholding the rule of law and judicial independence in Hong Kong. Court business is an essential public service. While the demand for court services is entirely beyond our control, the Judiciary is obliged to handle and dispose of all court cases and proceedings in a fair, reasonable and efficient manner.

2.      In 2026-27, the estimated expenditure for the Judiciary is $2,906.3 million, representing an increase of 4.5% over the 2025-26 Revised Estimate. The additional financial resources required are mainly for filling vacancies of Judges and Judicial Officers (JJOs) and support staff at different ranks, as well as enhancing the efficiency of court operations through implementing various technology initiatives, and engaging more deputy JJOs.

Judicial Manpower

3.      To address the persistent shortfall of JJO manpower at different levels of court, particularly the High Court, the Judiciary has been taking pro-active efforts in conducting more frequent open recruitment exercises in recent years for filling judicial vacancies and retaining experienced senior Judges. Continual efforts are also being made to increase temporary judicial manpower including recorders and deputy JJOs from the legal profession.

Non-Judicial Manpower

4.      As regards non-judicial manpower (i.e. support staff), the Judiciary has been endeavouring to contain our civil service establishment through streamlining procedures and optimising the use of resources through internal re-deployment, in light of the Government’s overall fiscal constraints. The establishment of non-judicial manpower of the Judiciary is expected to be reduced by 18 civil service posts in 2026-27.

Overview of the Judiciary’s Work and Operation

Court Proceedings

5.      The Judiciary continued to cope with a persistently heavy caseload at various levels of court, driven mainly by an increasing number of complex civil and criminal proceedings. The total caseload of 2025 (around 536 600) was around 4% higher than the average in the past five years from 2020 to 2024. Through the concerted efforts of JJOs and support staff, we managed to clear an overall caseload of around 514 000 which was 96% of the caseload received and 4% higher than the average in the past five years.

6.      The Judiciary has been taking pro-active and multi-pronged measures to expedite court proceedings while steadfastly upholding the principles of justice. They include engaging additional judicial manpower, strengthening case management, promoting the use of mediation or other means of alternative dispute resolution, making greater use of technology, and enhancing court facilities. In overall terms, the majority of civil cases across all court levels continue to meet target waiting times and there are steady improvements in the average waiting times for criminal proceedings.

7.      The Judiciary has continued to accord priority to handling cases related to the 2019 anti-extradition amendment bill incidents (anti-EAB cases) and national security (NS cases). As of 2025, the Judiciary has cleared around 2 300 (or 97%) of over 2 370 anti-EAB cases and about 230 (or 88%) of about 260 NS cases. With the majority of the remaining cases scheduled for trial in 2026, the impact of these cases on the average waiting times for other proceedings is expected to subside gradually.

Leave application for Judicial Review (JR) relating to Non-refoulement claims

8.      In 2025-26, the Judiciary continued to cope with the continual influx of cases relating to non-refoulement claims. To expedite the disposal of the large number of JR leave applications, in addition to recruiting retired judges to serve as Deputy Judges of the Court of First Instance of the High Court (CFI), we launched a special scheme in February 2025 whereby eligible private practitioners from the legal sector are appointed as Deputy CFI Judges exclusively for the purpose of handling cases relating to non-refoulement claims. This, together with the streamlining of administrative procedures and presentation of the judgment/decision notice, has enhanced the efficiency of disposing these cases. In 2025, the number of such cases disposed of at the CFI was over 3 700, which exceeded around 2 500 new cases filed in the same year by over 1 000, and represented about 2.1 times the cases disposed of in 2024 (around 1 800 cases). If this pattern can be sustained, we expect to be able to clear off the backlog of cases at CFI level in a few years’ time.

Use of Mediation in Court Proceedings

9.      Over the past years, the Judiciary has been making continual efforts in promoting the wider use of mediation at different levels of court as an important means of resolving disputes for court cases in lieu of litigation.

10.     In 2025, the overall success rate of cases considered suitable for referral to mediation by various levels of court was about 60%. In the Family Court, the Family Court-annexed Mediation Scheme, involving the engagement of accredited freelance family mediators for suitable cases, continued to achieve a high success rate of 89%. In the District Court, the Case Settlement Conference scheme which was regularised in 2025 has proved effective in facilitating the settlement of general civil cases with a notable success rate of 56%, saving litigation time and costs, and reducing the adversarial nature of proceedings.

Greater Use of Technology

11.     The Judiciary is committed to making greater use of technology for enhancing the efficiency of court operations. We have been proceeding at full steam with the implementation of a series of major technology initiatives.

12.     The integrated Court Case Management System (iCMS) is being implemented across all court levels for handling court-related documents and payments electronically, including the civil proceedings of the High Court since June 2025. In response to the Judiciary’s continual promotion efforts, the registration rate of law firms has recently reached 80%. The Judiciary is planning to start mandating the use of the iCMS for all legally represented litigants in respect of case types where the electronic mode has been made available by phases starting from the second half of 2026. We have been engaging the legal profession on the preparatory measures as from mid-2026 and the mandatory regime later in the year. Meanwhile, we will continue with our out-reaching efforts in promotion and training with a view to encouraging more registered users (particularly the law firms) to migrate to the electronic mode, in preparation for the mandatory requirement.

13.     Remote hearing is another major technology initiative. So far, about 2 610 remote hearings have been conducted with positive experience. In January 2026, pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Courts (Remote Hearing) Ordinance, the Judiciary extended the use of remote hearing to non-trial criminal proceedings, starting with bail applications. This arrangement allows the persons in custody to attend from penal institutions instead of travelling to court, saving time and resources while avoiding transport-related risks. We will continue to make wider use of remote hearing in suitable proceedings.

14.     As regards the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in court operations, the Judiciary has been making active use of voice-to-text (VTT) to enhance the efficiency in recording court proceedings and production of transcripts. Since December 2023, the Judiciary has been using its VTT system for JJOs’ real-time note-taking during court hearings. In November 2025, we launched a pilot arrangement of producing transcripts using texts generated by the Judiciary’s VTT system for selected court hearings in the Court of Final Appeal Building and High Court Building. We will review its effectiveness at an appropriate juncture, keeping abreast of developments of the VTT technology, optimising its use and exploring new modes of operation.

15.     In parallel, we have been exploring the use of generative AI in work of the Judiciary. In July 2024, the Judiciary promulgated its first set of guidelines to allow prudent and responsible use of generative AI for the JJOs and support staff. Separately, the Judiciary is drawing up guidelines on the use of generative AI for legal practitioners and other court users for consultation with the legal profession later this year. The Judiciary will continue to keep abreast of developments in AI and consider its potential applications in judicial and non-judicial work.

16.     To meet the new challenges brought about by rapid developments and increasing use of information technology (IT) in the work environment, the Judiciary has continually been updating the IT security policy and strengthening IT security measures, in accordance with the relevant IT security standards and requirements stipulated by the Government. The IT infrastructure facilities of the new District Court Building have been designed on the basis of the highest level of IT security stipulated by the Government.

Court Security

17.     Given court premises are part of Hong Kong’s critical infrastructure, the Judiciary has been making continual efforts to ensure the security of law courts buildings and safety of court users, through appropriate crowd management and security measures. These include ticketing arrangement, use of closed-circuit television recording, and deployment of appropriate security manpower.

Conclusion

18.     The Judiciary will make continual efforts in exploring feasible ways and means of enhancing the efficiency of judiciary administration, and providing better quality services to court users and members of the public.

19.     Thank you.