Former lawyer for ICAC will defend Donald Tsang on charges of misconduct in public office

The barrister helping former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen fight ICAC allegations was one of the anti-graft agency's first in-house counsel shortly after its inception in the 1970s.

A veteran of regulatory issues, Peter Duncan SC is now taking on his erstwhile employer, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, in the case of Hong Kong's highest-ranking official ever to face prosecution.

"[Duncan has] developed a substantial practice in criminal law with an emphasis on 'white collar' crime - in particular, cases arising from investigations of the ICAC, the Securities and Futures Commission and the commercial crime bureau of the Hong Kong police," his personal webpage says.

Duncan served the ICAC for almost a decade from 1974, before moving to Hongkong Land as group legal manager in 1983.

He became a barrister in 1998 and was appointed a senior counsel six years later, according to the webpage.

His current task representing a former Hong Kong leader is but the latest in a portfolio defending social notables and prosecuting on behalf of the government in high-profile cases.