Justice Kevin Zervos
Justice Kevin Zervos SC is currently a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong. He obtained his Bachelor degrees in Science (with a major in Psychology) and Law from Monash University in 1975 and 1977, respectively. In 2009, he obtained a Master of Laws (Human Rights) from the University of Hong Kong.
He commenced practicing as a solicitor in 1978, mainly working in the commercial field but had a keen interest in planning and environmental law and was appointed the inaugural Secretary of the National Environmental Law Association. Justice Zervos was involved in numerous initiatives, including a strategy for industrial waste disposal, the rights of third parties and the establishment of an Environment Defender’s Office. He eventually established a firm with his brother, Mr Nicolas Zervos, where he also developed a practice in criminal law.
It was the lure of becoming an advocate that in 1984 he joined the Office of the Special Prosecutor, responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the “Bottom of the Harbour” revenue frauds. He then joined the newly established Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, where he specialised in white-collar crime. In 1986, he was appointed Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions at the Melbourne and Sydney offices in charge of the Major Fraud Section.
In 1989, Justice Zervos was appointed General Counsel to the newly created New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption. He was responsible for providing legal and strategic advice and was involved in numerous inquiries as Counsel Assisting in addressing police corruption, political donations, and corruption within government departments and local governments.
In 1992, he was appointed counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers in Hong Kong, which later became the Department of Justice. He was initially attached to the Commercial Crime Unit, prosecuting organised crime, fraud and corruption cases. He prosecuted many high-profile cases, including the brutal assassination by a triad hit squad of a key witness in one of the world’s biggest tobacco smuggling cases, complex fraud and corruption cases. He was instrumental in resurrecting the common law offence of misconduct in public office, which he successfully used to prosecute public officials, including senior members of government. In 2003, he was appointed Senior Counsel and later became Head of the Appeals Unit, where he frequently argued cases concerned with human rights and constitutional issues.
In 2011, he was appointed the Director of Public Prosecutions in Hong Kong. A staunch supporter of human rights and the rule of law, he introduced a range of initiatives to improve transparency and accountability in the criminal justice system and show a more compassionate approach to first-time offenders of minor crimes. At the conclusion of his term of office, the Hong Kong Bar Association expressed its gratitude to him “for his outstanding service and contribution to the community, the rule of law, and the administration of justice in Hong Kong.”
In September 2013, he was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong and in July 2018, a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong. He has handed down a vast array of significant decisions, in public law, including a notable judgment on human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and criminal law and evidence.