History

Born to a well-known Hong Kong artist Ma Jir-Bo, Lawrence received his primary and secondary education in the Salesian English School before resuming his study in the St Paul's School in Brisbane, Australia. Lawrence holds three degrees from the University of Queensland - a Bachelor of Commerce, a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws by thesis. He was a pupil to Mr. James Douglas QC (now the Hon Justice Douglas of the Supreme Court of Queensland) after admitting to practise at the Queensland Bar in April 1996. In 1999, Mr. Ma extended his professional practice at the New South Wales Bar and had since been the only practising barrister at the Bar in New South Wales with fluent spoken and written skill in the Chinese language.

During his practice in Sydney, he specialised in general commercial litigation. Lawrence passed the Overseas Barristers Qualifying Examination set by the Hong Kong Bar Association in 2006 and has since been admitted to practise at the Hong Kong Bar in 2008. Lawrence has keen interest in the area of equity and trusts and has written extensively for Hong Kong in this area.