Hong Kong needs to negotiate with the mainland if it has any chance of becoming more democratic, the former head of the Hong Kong Law Society has said.

Ambrose Lam, who was ousted from his position earlier this year for his pro-Beijing stance, said he also supported democracy but that Hong Kong was "in a mess", and protesters needed to change tactics.

His comments came as the city's 'Occupy Central' movement gathered pace again this week, with renewed violence breaking out nearby government headquarters and students beginning an indefinite hunger strike in a bid to compel the city's leaders into action.

Since September, the former British colony has been rocked by protests calling for true democracy. China's Central Government earlier promised universal suffrage in the city's looming 2017 chief executive elections, but announced it would vet the candidates prior to votes being cast.

It is thought to be the worst political unrest in years, with police using tear gas and batons against demonstrators.

"Under the present circumstances, no central government will allow you to have the kind of universal suffrage that the protesters want, because the situation in Hong Kong is chaotic at the moment," Lam told Legal Week.

"The pro-democratic camp is using the wrong tactics… You really have to think how we should work better and don't just use the old way of thinking. We all have to sit down and consider deeply what is good for Hong Kong. We don't have to do everything against mainland China.

"I think we have to work together with the Central Government towards having a better democratic society in Hong Kong… We can't get the sympathy from the mainland [by protesting]."

Lam said he believed China did want democracy in Hong Kong as it clamped down on corruption and pushed the rule of law in the mainland, but this needed to happen gradually. 

He floated the idea of introducing the controversial security law Article 23 – the prospect of which caused mass protests in 2003 - as a means of appeasing the Central Government in the battle for a more democratic system.

The article states that Hong Kong should prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the PRC government, which thousands feel would threaten political, religious and media freedoms.

"Article 23 would comfort the Central Government and give Hong Kong more room to run its own course towards democracy.

"[The government's] worry is foreign intervention… People may not agree with me, but I think that is one way to ease the Central Government's mind."

It was also important to implement the system of 'one person one vote', he said, which was yet to become law.

Currently in Hong Kong only an Election Committee of business, professional, social and political individuals are eligible to vote for the city's chief executive every five years.

"[The problem] in Hong Kong is that there are only 260,000 voters. In terms of democracy that is not large enough. Definitely, I agree, we have to expand that so that more people are eligible to vote. We can still fight for that.

"But if things carry on like this, I don't think any new proposal [on universal suffrage] can go through the legislature. Without that we don't have anything."

Lam stood down as President of the Law Society in August after Hong Kong solicitors passed a vote of no confidence against him due to past comments he made agreeing with a controversial Beijing White Paper that judges should be patriotic.

Approximately 1,000 Law Society members attended an extraodinary general meeting of the Law Society, which was called by a group of 50 lawyers who said Lam had caused "outrage in the legal community" and failed to protect Hong Kong's rule of law.

Lam defended his earlier comments, saying he believed in judicial independence.
"Judicial independence doesn't mean you don't have to take into account national interests and government policy. You do. But you don't necessarily have to follow it.

"I was attacked for saying judges should be patriotic – well why not? In every country the judges are patriotic. In the UK all judges have to swear allegiance to the queen. Do we have judicial independence in the UK? We do."

His resignation coincided with Occupy Central – which was a long-planned civil disobedience campaign. Lam said he was also rebuked for not supporting the movement.

"From the first day I became President of the Law Society I knew this would be the major issue I would have to tackle," he said. 

"I stepped down because I didn't want the Law Society to be split. That would be a blow to the authority of the Law Society and to the rule of law in Hong Kong as well."

Lam remains a member of the Law Society council and partner at the local firm Lam Lee & Lai, which was recently granted approval to launch a joint venture with the 200-partner mainland outfit China Commercial Law Firm, in the special economic zone in Qianhai.

The JV currently has eight associates and a five-member management committee, specialising in commercial law, M&A and capital markets. It is 70% owned by China Commercial and 30% by Lam Lee & Lai.

Lam said there was sentimental value in launching the JV. "I have spent three years on this. I want to do something for my country. The concept of the rule of law is something that is very new to China. It may not be the same concept as we have in Western countries but at least [they] want to rule the country according to law. That is good stuff. And I want to help."