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Legal
法律界
Legal; 法律界
Functional constituency; for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Country	Hong Kong
Electorate	7,549 (2021)
Current constituency
Created	1985
Number of members	One
Member(s)	Ambrose Lam (Nonpartisan)

The Legal functional constituency (Chinese: 法律界功能界別) is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was one of the 12 original functional constituency seats created for the first ever Legislative Council election in 1985.

As of 2021, there were 7,549 registered voters, including the members of the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association, and the officers in the government's judicial departments. It is one of the few strongholds of the pro-democracy camp in functional constituencies, having been held by pro-democrats since 1995, was held by Civic Party's Dennis Kwok until he was disqualified from his office in 2020.^[2] Following electoral overhaul, the seat was controlled by the Beijing loyalist for the first time.

Composition

The Legal functional constituency is composed of—^[3]

members of The Law Society of Hong Kong entitled to vote at general meetings of the Society; and
members of the Hong Kong Bar Association entitled to vote at general meetings of the Association; and
legal officers within the meaning of the Legal Officers Ordinance (Cap. 87); and
persons appointed under section 3 of the Legal Aid Ordinance (Cap. 91; and
persons deemed to be legal officers for the purpose of the Legal Officers Ordinance (Cap. 87) by section 75(3) of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) or section 3(3) of the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance (Cap. 412); and
the Legal Adviser of the Legislative Council Secretariat and his or her assistants who are in the full-time employment of The Legislative Council Commission and are barristers or solicitors as defined in the Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Cap. 159).

Return members

Election		Member	Party
	1985	Martin Lee	Independent
	1988	Martin Lee	Independent
	1991	Simon Ip	Independent
	1995	Margaret Ng	Independent
Not represented in the PLC (1997–1998)
	1998	Margaret Ng	Independent
	2000		Independent
	2004		Independent→Civic
	2008		Civic
	2012	Dennis Kwok	Civic
	2016	Dennis Kwok	Civic
	2021	Ambrose Lam	Nonpartisan

Electoral results

2020s

2021 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Ambrose Lam San-keung	1,637	70.84
	Nonpartisan	Chen Xiaofeng	674	29.16
Majority			963	41.68
Total valid votes			2,311	100.00
Rejected ballots			225
Turnout			2,536	33.59
Registered electors			7,549
	Nonpartisan gain from Civic		Swing

2010s

^[4]

2016 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Civic	Dennis Kwok Wing-hang	3,405	69.48	+13.28
	Independent	Catherine Mun Lee-ming	1,496	30.52
Majority			1,909	38.96	+26.61
Total valid votes			4,901	100.00
Rejected ballots			129
Turnout			5,030	74.27	+2.84
Registered electors			6,773
	Civic hold		Swing

^[5]

2012 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Civic	Dennis Kwok Wing-hang	2,528	56.20	–9.54
	Independent	Albert Wong Kwai-huen	1,970	43.85
Majority			558	12.35
Total valid votes			4,498	100.00
Rejected ballots			132
Turnout			4,630	71.43
Registered electors			6,482
	Civic hold		Swing

2000s

^[6]

2008 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Civic	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee	2,468	65.74	−8.99
	Independent	Junius Ho Kwan-yiu	1,286	34.26
Majority			182	6.60
Total valid votes			3,745	100.00
Rejected ballots			127
Turnout			3,872	63.36
Registered electors			6,111
	Civic hold		Swing

^[7]

2004 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent (A45CG)	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee	2,597	74.73	+13.98
	Independent	Kwong Ka-yin	598	17.21
	Independent	Tong Kei-yuk	280	8.06
Majority			1,999	57.52
Total valid votes			3,475	100.00
Rejected ballots			127
Turnout			3,666	72.26
Registered electors			5,073
	Independent hold		Swing

^[8]

2000 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee	1,520	60.75	−15.84
	Independent	Anthony Chow Wing-kin	982	39.25
Majority			538	21.50
Total valid votes			2,502	100.00
Rejected ballots			37
Turnout			2,539	61.15
Registered electors			4,152
	Independent hold		Swing

1990s

^[8]

1998 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee	1,741	76.59	+22.07
	Independent	Siu Wing-yee	394	17.33
	Independent	Chong Wing-charn	138	6.07
Majority			1,347	59.26
Total valid votes			2,273	100.00
Rejected ballots			47
Turnout			2,320	65.56
Registered electors			3,539
	Independent hold		Swing

1995 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee	723	54.52
	Independent	Ip Tim-yeung	444	33.48
	Independent	Lee Wai-ip	159	12.00
Majority			279	21.04
Total valid votes			1,326	100.00
Rejected ballots			33
Turnout			1,359	69.98
Registered electors			1,942
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

1991 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Ip Sik-on	542	77.43
	Independent	Man Yit-loi	158	22.57
Majority			384	54.86
Total valid votes			700	100.00
Rejected ballots			14
Turnout			714	57.58
Registered electors			1,240
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

1980s

1988 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nonpartisan	Martin Lee Chu-ming	Unopposed
	Nonpartisan hold		Swing

1985 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Martin Lee Chu-ming	488	57.89
	Nonpartisan	Henry Denis Litton	312	37.01
	Civic	Edmund Chow Wai-hung	43	5.10
Majority			176	20.88
Total valid votes			843	100.00
	Nonpartisan win (new seat)