Dr Stephen Thomson

Stephen Thomson is a public lawyer whose work spans administrative law, constitutional law and civil justice in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia. He is the author of Administrative Law: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press), Administrative Law in Hong Kong (Cambridge University Press) and The Nobile Officium: The Extraordinary Equitable Jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts of Scotland (Avizandum / Edinburgh University Press); co-editor of Administrative Tribunals in the Common Law World (Hart) and of the Administrative Law title of The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia (LexisNexis); and General Editor of the Federal Law Review.

He has held faculty appointments in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia, including as Director of Research Postgraduate Programmes at the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, and as a Herbert Smith Freehills Visitor at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. Stephen was a Legal Adviser to the Ombudsman of Hong Kong by statutory appointment, a member of the Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong, and is a longstanding examiner on Hong Kong's professional examinations for entry to the profession. He has delivered many Continuing Professional Development seminars, accredited by the Law Society of Hong Kong, to government departments, public bodies, NGOs and law firms. Clients have included the Hong Kong Department of Justice, Equal Opportunities Commission, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Slaughter & May, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance.

Stephen has advised the Private Office of the Lord President of the Court of Session, writing the Discussion Paper on Petition and Summons Procedure which was published as an annex to the New Civil Procedure Rules First Report. His work has been cited in the judgments of the Inner House of the Court of Session, the Scottish Land Court, the High Court of England & Wales, and the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. His articles appear in a range of leading journals including Public Law, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Civil Justice Quarterly, the American Journal of Public Health, the Canadian Journal of Public Health, the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, the Melbourne University Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology. Stephen was also the Rapporteur for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to COVID-19 project run by University College London, King's College London and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Stephen accepts instructions in administrative and constitutional law across the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia, including expert reports on Hong Kong public law.