Andrew Li

Andrew Li Kwok-nang, CBE (simplified Chinese: 李国能; traditional Chinese: 李國能, born December, 1948) is a judge in Hong Kong, and is currently Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR) - a position second only to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Precedence list. He was appointed after the 1997 Hong Kong hand-over.

Born into an illustrious aristocratic family in Hong Kong, Li received his early education at St. Paul's Co-educational College, and then at Repton School in Derbyshire, England. After obtaining an M.A. and an LL.B. from the University of Cambridge, where he was a scholar at Fitzwilliam College, he passed his bar finals in 1973 and commenced his practice of law in Hong Kong.

He was appointed a Deputy (part time) Judge of the District Court of Hong Kong in 1982, a Justice of the Peace in 1985, Queen's Counsel in 1988 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 1991.

In 1992, he was appointed at-large member of the Executive Council of Chris Patten (later Lord Patten), last British governor of Hong Kong, and was appointed Commander of the Order of British Empire the same year.

In 1997, Li was elevated to Chief Justiceship by Tung Chee-Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong after the British hand-over of the territory to the People's Republic of China. He has since developed a moderate jurisprudence, a coalition builder of the Court of Final Appeal.

Aside from discharging his judicial duties, Chief Justice Li was also a steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. He is known to actively socialize with senior members of the Hong Kong and Chinese government and was recently featured in a portrait to celebrate the Hong Kong hand-over, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and other political leaders from mainland China.