Hong Kong Lawyers Spar Over Wigs

choi

Te-Ping Chen and Allison Morrow, Wigged Out: Hong Kong's Lawyers Bristle Over Horsehair Headpieces; Holdover from British rule causes legal split;  'It's magical.'  Wall Street Journal, Apr 30, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 44422350608136.html

Quote:

"As in the UK and some former British colonies, Hong Kong's lawyers are split between solicitors, who work directly with clients, and barristers, who represent those clients in court. The difference has historically been easy to spot: Barristers, like judges, work in an elaborate uniform of robes topped with hand-woven hairpieces.

"Other former British colonies from Barbados to Kenya to India have either completely retired or scaled back use of judicial wigs.

"Even the Cantonese translation for barrister is 大律师 'big lawyer,' while the term for solicitor is simply 律师 'lawyer.'

"Barristers go decades without washing them and will pass them down to younger colleagues upon retirement. A yellowed hue is often prized over the original pearly sheen. 'The older it looks, the more experienced you are,' [Hong Kong barrister Kevin] Tang says.

Note:
(a) wigged out (adj; First Known Use 1970):
"mentally or emotionally discomposed : UPSET, CRAZY"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wigged-out
(b) "The city's lawyers are among the last in the world to wear judicial wigs, those curly, horsehair headpieces that are a legacy of more than 150 years of British colonial rule."


wig
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wig
(section 3 Current usage: In Britain, most Commonwealth nations, and the Republic of Ireland special wigs are also worn by barristers, judges, and certain parliamentary and municipal or civic officials as a symbol of the office)
(b) barrister
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrister
(Barristers are rarely hired by clients directly but instead are retained (or instructed) by solicitors to act on behalf of clients; A barrister is not an attorney; The United States does not draw a distinction between lawyers as pleaders (barristers) and lawyers as agents (or solicitors))
(c)  Dieter YIH, president of the Law Society of Hong Kong, an organization that represents the city's solicitors

會 長 葉 禮德/ 香港律师会
www.hklawsoc.org.hk/pub_e/default.asp