Mr Peter Alan Lee Vine is a graduate of the University of London and a well-known Hong Kong solicitor and notary public who has been in practice here for many years. After completing two years of articles in 1941 he joined the Royal Marines and first came to Hong Kong on secondment as War Crimes Prosecutor in 1946 at the close of the Pacific War. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1947.
Mr Vine was for many years senior partner of Deacons and he remains consultant to that company. He is currently Chairman of the Chartered Bank Trustee Company and is also on the board of a large number of other important Hong Kong companies.
The University owes much to the period of Mr Vine's Presidency of the Law Society of Hong Kong (as it is now known) from 1962 to 1964, as it was during his term of office that the train of events which led ultimately to the establishment of a Department of Law within the University was set in motion. Mr Vine actively promoted the idea that Hong Kong should look to itself for the education of its future lawyers. This led swiftly to Government interest and action with the result that the University was asked in 1964 to commence formal teaching for the University of London External Bachelor of Laws examinations.
Mr Vine has remained a staunch ally of the University since that period. He continued to support the infant Law Department while it was working to establish its own law degree, and remained closely associated with the Department until his retirement last year. He served on the Board of Studies of the School of Law from 1978, the year of its creation, until 1984 when the School became a Faculty; he then became a member of the Board of the Faculty.
Mr Vine's public record is distinguished and has been recognised by his appointment as a Justice of the Peace and the award of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He has also received the Volunteer Reserve Decoration to mark his service as an officer in the Hong Kong Royal Naval Reserve from 1953 to 1962. He serves on the Investment and Endowment Committee of the Community Chest of Hong Kong and has also served on numerous other bodies, notably as Chairman of the Legal Committee of the General Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Public Services Commission, the Advisory Committee on Legal Education, the Committee of the Law Society, the Investment Advisory Committee of the Sir David Trench Fund for Recreation, and the governing committee of the Diocesan Boys' School. He has been quietly involved in a number of schemes of benefaction.
In recognition of his contribution to the development of legal education in Hong Kong and for his activity in charitable work, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
