The Honourable Chief Justice Ma was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong on 1 September 2010.

Chief Justice Ma joined the Hong Kong Judiciary as Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2001. He was appointed Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court in 2002, and Chief Judge of the High Court in 2003.

Chief Justice Ma graduated with an LLB from Birmingham University in 1977. He completed his Bar Finals in 1978. He was called to the English Bar (Gray's Inn) in 1978, the Hong Kong Bar in 1980, the Bar of the State of Victoria in Australia in 1983 and the Bar of Singapore in 1990. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1993 and made an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn in 2004. He was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by the University of Birmingham in 2011.