Secretary for Justice Highlights AI's Transformative Role in Legal Sector at Hong Kong Legal Week 2025

Speech by SJ at LawTech Conference "The AI Era: Shaping the Legal Landscape in the 21st Century" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2025 (with photo/video)

Following are the closing remarks by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at the LawTech Conference "The AI Era: Shaping the Legal Landscape in the 21st Century" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2025 today (December 5):

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

As we approach the end of Hong Kong Legal Week 2025, I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your active participation in the past few days despite the difficult circumstances in our community. We extend our deepest sympathies to all those affected by the tragic fire which took place last week and remain mindful of the gravity of the situation as we bring Hong Kong Legal Week 2025 to a close. This week has offered us a valuable platform to engage in meaningful dialogues on various international, regional and local hot topics. This afternoon, we have explored the burgeoning possibilities presented by lawtech and artificial intelligence (AI).

Importance of lawtech and AI in the 21st century

This is a meaningful year for the DoJ's (Department of Justice) annual flagship Hong Kong Legal Week, as we organised the inaugural Hong Kong LawTech Fest. Lawtech and AI are not only trends to observe but pivotal forces which are transforming the whole legal profession. During the Hong Kong LawTech Fest, we have explored how technological advancements are transforming the legal industry, enhancing not only efficiency but also accessibility and quality.

The significance oflawtech and AI cannot be overstated. The traditional methods we have relied on for long are now being complemented and, in some cases, supplanted by innovative technologies which help streamline workflow and enhance efficiency. AI-powered legal tools facilitate a wide variety of tasks including legal research, document review and drafting, contract lifecycle management and e-discovery, and are significantly changing the way legal practitioners engage with their work. These tools elevate legal services' quality by minimising human errors, speeding up administrative tasks, and ensuring more accurate and timely responses to clients.

Furthermore, the introduction of these technologies opens the door to a more inclusive legal landscape. The use of AI tools could facilitate access to justice through reducing the overall costs of legal services and making legal resources more easily accessible to individuals, regardless of their financial background. At the institutional level, they enable law firms, courts, and organisations to scale services, optimise resource allocation, and bridge gaps in access to justice.

Nevertheless, there are two sides to every coin. As we embrace these technological innovations, we must not neglect the associated risks and ethical considerations. Throughout the discussions and the LexGoTech Roundtables Report released today, we have acknowledged the dual nature of technology: whilst it holds the promise of efficiency and accuracy, it carries the risks of bias, challenges to data privacy, accountability and transparency, etc. In light of these risks, maintaining human-in-the-loop is critical. We should not forget that while AI can process vast amounts of data with remarkable speed, advocacy, ethical judgment, commercial acumen, critical decision-making, emotional intelligence and relationship building and management cannot be fully automated. It is therefore pertinent for us to adopt a "Human+AI" approach when embracing the use of AI so that we can harness the benefits of technology while safeguarding against its potential risks.

DoJ's work in the promotion of AI in the legal industry

It is imperative that we approach the implementation of lawtech and AI in legal practice in a cautious and step-by-step manner. In this connection, the DoJ has embraced the recommendation of the Consultation Group on LawTech Development to promote the use of technology in the legal industry progressively in three stages. In Phase 1, we aim to change certain ingrained mindsets and practices within the legal profession by raising awareness. To this end, the DoJ launched the LexGoTech Roundtable Series to raise the profession's understanding of lawtech and to facilitate the exchange and sharing of information between the profession and lawtech experts to enable them to plan for the viable adoption of lawtech. Moving to Phase 2, we aim to promote the profession's engagement with lawtech products. We hope that through the Hong Kong LawTech Fest, the legal sector could have a better understanding of and access to thelawtech products which are available in the market, and to empower them to make informed choices on the adoption approach that best suits their individual needs. In Phase 3, we would accelerate the widespread adoption of lawtech in the legal profession by encouraging local and overseas lawtech enterprises to establish and grow in the local market, thereby fostering Hong Kong's lawtech ecosystem.

Policy Address 2025 and the National "AI+" Initiative

The Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address emphasises the Government's strong commitment to step up the promotion of AI as a core industry for Hong Kong's development. In this connection, apart from actively promoting the integration of lawtech and AI in the legal sector, the DoJ has taken on a pivotal role in shaping the broader legal regime for AI governance. In particular, we will establish an interdepartmental working group by the end of this year to co-ordinate the responsible bureaux in reviewing the relevant legislation, so as to support and complement the development of and need for wider application of AI in Hong Kong.

The emphasis of AI in Policy Address 2025 resonates with the national "AI+" Initiative. The 10-year blueprint for integrating AI into China's economy and society aims to maximise the technology's benefits for domestic development and international competitiveness. By aligning ourselves with this national strategy, and with Hong Kong being the springboard for Mainland enterprises going global, we would strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness as a global hub for AI development as well as contribute to national development by powering up our legal services.

As legal practitioners, it is our responsibility to harness the potential of lawtech and AI, not merely to enhance our practices but also to contribute to the overall development of our society. Embracing AI complements our vision of a forward-looking, dynamic legal system which is well prepared to tackle the challenges of the digital age. As we consider the implications of these goals for the legal profession, we must commit ourselves to continuous learning, adaptation, and collaboration. We should work together to ensure that the legal sector evolves alongside technological advancements while adhering to key principles such as accuracy and reliability, compliance with laws and regulations, security and transparency, etc.

The AI revolution offers us an unprecedented opportunity to redefine the legal profession and sharpen our skills. By embracing these changes with an open and cautious mindset, we can create a legal system which is not only swifter and smarter, but also fairer and more accessible for all. Let us ride the wave of this AI revolution together and seize the opportunities to enhance our practices and serve our community with greater impact. Together, we can keep Hong Kong at the vanguard of legal innovation in the 21st century.

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all those who are eligible to exercise your right to vote in the Legislative Council General Election on Sunday. Your active participation is more than a constitutional duty - it is a pivotal choice which will shape the future of our legal system, uphold the rule of law, and secure the well-being of our society.

Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the supporting organisations, exhibitors of the Hong Kong LawTech Fest, moderators, speakers, my colleagues and all participants. None of the events of Hong Kong Legal Week 2025 would have been possible without your support, dedication, and hard work. On behalf of the Department, I extend our deepest thanks. Thank you.

Speech by SJ at LawTech Conference "The AI Era: Shaping the Legal Landscape in the 21st Century" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2025 (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference

Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):

Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,

Good evening.

Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.

That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.

The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.

Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.

Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.

To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.

This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.

First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.

Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.

Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.

These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.

Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.

Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.

Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.

History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.

In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.

Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.

This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.

We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.

That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.

For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.

Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.

All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.

I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.

So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.

Thank you very much.

Source: AI-found images

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Source: AI-found images