Mr Patrick Yu Shuk Siu is a celebrated Hong Kong trial and appellate lawyer.
He was born in Hong Kong and attended Wah Yan College Hong Kong. In 1938, at age sixteen, he was admitted to the University of Hong Kong on a Government Scholarship. In 1941, Mr Yu served with the British Naval Intelligence and was commissioned as an officer in the Intelligence Corps of the Army of the Republic of China. Mr Yu began his studies at Merton College, Oxford in 1945 on a Hong Kong Government Victory Scholarship, and passed the bar exam of England and Wales in 1949.
In 1951, he became the first Chinese person to be appointed Crown Counsel in Hong Kong. Mr Yu started his own practice in 1953, and by the mid-1960s had established himself as the top criminal lawyer in the territory. It was also during this time that he helped to establish the HKU Faculty of Law, Hong Kong's first law school.
In the 1970s, Yu was offered a judgeship on the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, an invitation he declined. Two similar offers were subsequently made and declined on the grounds of the discriminatory employment terms. Yu was also known and respected for his refusal to apply to become Queen's Counsel.
Mr Yu retired in 1983 and became a Life Member of the Hong Kong Bar Association in 1994.
In recognition of his contributions to legal education and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
