Elsie Leung Oi-sie, GBM, JP (; born 24 April 1939) is a Hong Kong politician and solicitor. She was Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2005 and a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. Early life and education Leung was born in Hong Kong to a family originating from Nanhai region, Foshan, China. She was educated in Hong Kong, at Chung Wah Middle School (a leftist school shut down by the government), Sacred Heart Canossian College (formerly known as Italian Convent School and Sacred Heart School) and the University of Hong Kong. Leung passed her Law Society Qualifying Examinations in 1967 and obtained her LLM degree from the University of Hong Kong in 1988. She is a past President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers. Legal career Elsie Leung qualified as a solicitor in 1967 and entered practice a year later. She was a partner at local law firms P. H. Sin & Co. and Iu, Lai & Li Solicitors, specialising in matrimonial law. She served on various government boards and committees, including the Independent Police Complaints Council, Equal Opportunities Commission, Social Welfare Advisory Committee and Inland Revenue Board of Review. She was also honorary legal adviser to many non-governmental organisations. Political career Leung was a founding member of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB). She was appointed as a Delegate of the People's Congress of Guangdong in 1989. In 1993, she was appointed as a Delegate of the 8th National People's Congress as well as a Hong Kong Affairs Adviser. In the period leading up to the handover, Leung advised the Chief Executive Designate of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on legal matters relating to the establishment of the HKSAR. Secretary for Justice On 1 July 1997, Leung became the first Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing Attorney General Jeremy Mathews. She was the Chief Executive's chief legal adviser and an ex officio member of the Executive Council. She headed the Department of Justice which has a staff of over 1,000, of whom about 290 are lawyers. She is currently the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, the Committee on Bilingual Legal System, the Legal Practitioners' Liaison Committee and serves on numerous committees, including the Fight Crime Committee and the Operations Review Committee of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Leung was awarded