This Report highlights the major developments and events of the Judiciary, provides the statistics on caseload and waiting time for various levels of court and gives other information about the operation of the Judiciary in the year of 2009.

2. The Civil Justice Reform was implemented on 2 April 2009 as scheduled. Progress has since been monitored under a new Civil Justice Reform Monitoring Committee set up under the Chairmanship of the Chief Judge, High Court, the Hon Mr Justice Ma. The Monitoring Committee draws contributions from Judges of different court levels, as well as members from the legal and mediation profession and members from the legal departments of the Administration. The objective of the Monitoring Committee is to oversee the working of the reformed system and to make suggestions to the Chief Justice to ensure the system’s effective operation.

3. An objective of the Civil Justice Reform is to facilitate the settlement of disputes. Courts have the duty as part of active case management to further this objective by encouraging and facilitating the use of alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediation.

4. To this effect, two Practice Directions on mediation in specific areas were implemented in 2009: Practice Direction 6.1 on the Construction and Arbitration List in April 2009 and LTPD: BM No. 1/2009 on Case Management and Mediation in Building Management Cases in July 2009.

5. On 1 January 2010, two new Practice Directions on mediation will be implemented: Practice Direction 31 on Mediation which aims to assist the courts as part of case management to facilitate the settlement of disputes by encouraging parties to use mediation; and Practice Direction 3.3 which is specifically for mediation in petitions presented under sections 168A and 177(1)(f) of the Companies Ordinance, Cap. 32.

6. In addition, to better assist the parties to understand the nature of mediation, a new Mediation Information Office will be launched on 4 January 2010 to provide relevant information. The Office will be located in the High Court Building.

7. A series of recruitment exercises were conducted this year with a view to reinforcing judicial manpower resources at various levels of court. On the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission and with the approval of the Chief Executive, 24 and 11 judicial appointments took effect on 28 September 2009 and 1 December 2009 respectively.

8. In April 2009, the Chief Executive announced that the Administration had agreed to hand over the Legislative Council Building to the Judiciary for the relocation of the Court of Final Appeal upon the move of the Legislative Council to the new Tamar site.

9. We welcome the Administration's agreement. The existing building of the Court of Final Appeal is manifestly inadequate for Judges and court users. The relocation will result in much improvement and enhance the smooth functioning of the Court. We will plan the relocation carefully and every effort will be made to ensure that the functioning of the Court will not be affected during the relocation.

10. The Judiciary Administration continues to strive to provide quality services in support of the administration of justice. We are delighted that the Registry of the Lands Tribunal obtained the ISO 9001:2000 re-certification for its Registry and Court Support Services in May while the General Offices of seven Magistrates' Courts, the Registries of the Small Claim Tribunal and the Bailiff Section also achieved good results in the 2009 surveillance audits for ISO certification.

11. We hope that you will enjoy reading this Report and gain a better understanding of our work.