Joseph Fok

Joseph Paul Fok (, born 24 September 1962) is a Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

Early life Fok is one of five children of Dr Alison Bell and Dr Peter Fok Hin-tak.

Fok obtained a Bachelor of Laws with honours from University College London in the United Kingdom in 1984. He attended the Inns of Court School of Law and passed the Bar Examination in 1985. He was called to the English Bar in 1985 and to the Hong Kong Bar in 1986.

Legal career Fok was in private practice in Hong Kong from January 1987, and on a part-time ad hoc basis in Singapore between March 2002 and March 2006. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 1999. He was a member of Temple Chambers.

Judicial career Fok was appointed a Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court from 2003 to 2009.

On 1 July 2006, Fok was appointed a justice of the peace.

He joined the Judiciary as a Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court on 1 February 2010. Fok was appointed a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court on 1 February 2011.

He was appointed a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal in 2013, replacing Mr Justice Patrick Chan. At 51 years and 28 days, he was the third youngest-ever judge to be appointed to the Court of Final Appeal, behind Kemal Bokhary and Andrew Li.

On 25 September 2015, Fok was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

In May 2023, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) of the United States Congress suggested the United States government imposing sanctions on Fok to counter the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong over his handling of Jimmy Lai's national security law case.