Lau obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of London. He served as the Chairman of the Central and Western District Board from 1988 to 1994, and was the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1993. He was appointed by the PRC government as a Hong Kong Affairs Adviser in 1993. He established the HKPA in 1994 and chaired the body since then. In 1995, he was elected into the Legislative Council, and in the same year joined the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. After reunification in 1997 he joined the Provisional Legislative Council, and was reelected into the legislative body in the 1998 and 2000 LegCo elections through the constituency of Election Committee.
Lau is also a Standing Committee Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (since 1998), and a member of the board of the Urban Renewal Authority (since 2001).
While being the head of a political party, Lau remains relatively low profile and is less well-known among the general public.
See Also: Politics of Hong Kong