University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

History

Background

Law was first taught at the University of Hong Kong in the 1920s and 1930s, but only as a component of a broad-based arts degree, and not as a standalone subject. Contemporary efforts to create colonial Hong Kong's first law school were met with opposition, with Colonial Office records showing apparent concern that such a law school might produce "half-baked lawyers" who would cause "political trouble".

At the time, all barristers and most solicitors practising in Hong Kong were educated, trained and qualified in the United Kingdom. As a result, only the wealthy could afford the education that could lead to a career in the law. William Kirk Thomson, a senior government lawyer who served as Registrar-General from 1958 to 1968, remarked that it was "little short of tragic that the doors to a great profession are virtually closed to a large number of men and women who have not had the good fortune to be born into wealthy homes".

In September 1964, the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at HKU initiated a five-year pilot scheme in which the Department offered part-time evening classes that led to an external LLB degree from the University of London.

Founding and early years

Upon the conclusion of the five-year pilot programme in 1969, the Department of Law was established under the Faculty of Social Sciences, with Dafydd Evans, a professor on secondment from the London School of Economics who had previously taught some of the part-time evening courses, becoming the inaugural head of the department. The department opened its doors in September 1969 with three academic staff and 40 students; the first classes, which formed part of a three-year programme leading to an LLB, were conducted in the former Police Married Quarters on 154-158 Caine Road. The three-storey block of flats served as the department's home until July 1973, when the department moved to the fifth floor of the newly constructed Knowles Building, which allowed the law library to increase its collection tenfold, from 1,500 volumes to 14,000. The department launched the Hong Kong Law Journal in 1971, with Henry Litton and Gerald de Basto as co-founders of the publication. By 1972, the student body had grown to 115. That same year, the department began offering the PCLL, which, in conjunction with the first batch of LLB graduates the same year, created the first fully local pathway for graduates to train and qualify as lawyers in Hong Kong, replacing the previous system in which entry to the legal profession was based on exams on English law administered by the Law Society of England and Wales. The department awarded its first PhD in 1976.[[File:Academic Conference Room of the HKU Faculty of Law.png|thumb|Academic conference room in the Faculty of Law building]]

Development

|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131221819/https://www.law.hku.hk/faculty |archive-date=31 January 2018 |access-date=20 November 2022 The faculty moved to the K.K. Leung Building in 1989, occupying three floors, with the law library more than quadrupling in size. In 1995, the faculty established the Center for Comparative and Public Law, its first research centre.

21st century

HKU Law jointly created the Law and Technology Centre with the Department of Computer Science in 2001. The centre runs the Hong Kong Legal Information Institute, which provides free online access to legislation, case law and other legal materials, and also operates the Hong Kong Community Legal Information Centre.

The faculty moved to a dedicated building located in the newly constructed Centennial Campus in 2012. The 11-floor tower, named after businessman Cheng Yu Tung, houses faculty offices, the law library, student societies, classrooms, and lecture theatres.

In 2024, the faculty adopted a unitary structure, merging the former Department of Law and Department of Professional Legal Education.

Academics

Centres

HKU Law is home to seven research centres and institutes.

• Asian Institute of International Financial Law (1999)
• Centre for Comparative and Public Law (1995)
• Centre for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies (2023)
• Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (2012)
• Centre for Private Law (2025)
• Law and Technology Centre (2001)
• Philip K.H. Wong Centre for Chinese Law (2009)

Degrees offered

The faculty offers a 4-year Bachelor of Laws program, four 5-year double-degree programs: BSocSc (Government and Laws) - LLB, BBA (Business and Laws) - LLB, BA (Literary Studies) - LLB, and BSc - LLB in conjunction with other faculties of the university, a 2-year intensive JD program (for non-law graduates), a professional qualification program (PCLL), and a variety of LLM programmes focusing on human rights, Chinese law, Compliance and Regulation, corporate law and financial law, information technology and intellectual property, and arbitration. It also offers various research postgraduate programs, including MPhil, PhD and SJD.

Six members of the faculty have been conferred the honour of Teaching Fellows by the University, rendering it one of the Departments with the largest number of Teaching Fellows in the University. The faculty also plays host to many scholars and academic conferences each year. The faculty works closely with the legal profession. Its PCLL programme provides an entry qualification to the legal profession in Hong Kong.

Student life

Students in the faculty are represented by the Law Association, which is affiliated with the Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU). The association publishes Vox Populi, a bi-annual publication that focuses on current affairs, and organises career events, talks, and social events for students. It formerly published Justitia, a law review, until 1986.

In addition to the faculty-run Hong Kong Law Journal, the faculty has also published the student-run law review Hong Kong Journal of Legal Studies since 1994. The faculty also has had successes in international moot court competitions, having won moots such as the Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot and LAWASIA Moot in the past.

Notable alumni

Government

The faculty has alumni serving or formerly served in all three branches of government.

[[Judiciary of Hong Kong|Judiciary]]

Over half of the judges in the higher courts are graduates of HKU Law. As of September 2024, this included 25 of the District Court's 41 judges, 15 of 28 Court of First Instance judges, and 10 of 13 Justices of Appeal.

• Andrew Cheung GBM, 3rd Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal
• Patrick Chan GBM, former Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal
• Jeremy Poon, 5th Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong
• Simon Li, former Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, candidate in the 1996 Chief Executive election
• Susan Kwan, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal
• Johnson Lam, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal
• Wally Yeung GBS, former Vice-President of the Court of Appeal
• Carlyle Chu, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal
• Maria Yuen, Justice of Appeal
• Thomas Au, Justice of Appeal
• Christopher Chan Cheuk, former Registrar of the High Court and former President of the Law Society

Executive

• Keith Yeung SC, 5th Director of Public Prosecutions
• David Leung SC, 6th Director of Public Prosecutions
• Elsie Leung GBM, 1st Secretary for Justice
• Rimsky Yuen GBM SC JP, 3rd Secretary for Justice
• Paul Lam, 5th Secretary for Justice
• Anna Wu, former Member of the Executive Council and Legislative Council
• Andrew Liao , former Member of the Executive Council
• Roy Tang, former permanent secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, former Commissioner of Customs and Excise, former Director of Broadcasting

Legislative

• Audrey Eu SC, former Member of the Legislative Council, former Chairman of the Bar Association
• Alan Leong SC, former Member of the Legislative Council, former Chairman of the Bar Association
• Dennis Kwok, former Member of the Legislative Council
• Margaret Ng, former Member of the Legislative Council
• Tanya Chan, former Member of the Legislative Council
• Ronny Tong SC, Member of the Executive Council, former Member of the Legislative Council, former Chairman of the Bar Association
• Albert Ho, former Member of the Legislative Council, candidate in the 2012 Chief Executive election

Politics and activism

• Brian Leung Kai-ping, localist activist
• Yvonne Leung, barrister, student leader in the 2014 Occupy Central protests, former president of the Hong Kong University Students' Union

Academia

• Johannes Chan, SC (Hon) the only Honorary Senior Counsel in Hong Kong, former Dean of the Faculty of Law
• Benny Tai, associate professor of law at HKU, democracy activist and initiator of Occupy Central
• Albert Chen, Member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee, former Dean of the Faculty of Law
• Eric Cheung Tat-ming, legal scholar

Media and entertainment

• Kevin Lau, former editor-in-chief of Ming Pao
• Valerie Chow, actress
• Nicola Cheung, musical artist and actress
• Sinnie Ng, musical artist

List of deans

Notable current and former professors

• Douglas W. Arner
• Daniel A. Bell
• Anthony Carty
• Johannes Chan SC (Hon), human rights lawyer, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Consumer Legal Action Fund, and member of the Bar Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association
• Albert Chen, member of the Basic Law Committee and the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong
• Yash Ghai, Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (2000–2004)
• Alec Stone Sweet
• Benny Tai
• Raymond Wacks, professor of Law and Legal Theory

Visiting professors

• Francis Reynolds, emeritus professor of law at the University of Oxford, author of Bowstead and Reynolds on Agency
• Sarah Worthington DBE KC (Hon), former Downing Professor of the Laws of England at the University of Cambridge

Honorary professors

• Andrew Li GBM CBE KC SC JP, first Chief Justice of Hong Kong after the Handover
• Geoffrey Ma GBM KC SC , former Chief Justice of Hong Kong
• Grenville Cross GBS KC SC, former Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong
• Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

References

References

1. (2018-02-22). "Law".
2. Ribeiro, Roberto. (23 November 2024). "SPEECH FOR 55th ANNIVERSARY OF LAW FACULTY".
3. "The Makings of a Truly Special Institution A Special Standing in the World: The Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong, 1969-2019 by Christopher Munn, published by HKU Press {{!}} Hong Kong Lawyer".
4. (2020-12-10). "History - Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong". Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong -.
5. "Timeline".
6. Ko, Eddie. "LibGuides: The Law Guide: The Law Library Story".
7. Wesley-Smith, Peter. (19 December 2016). "Peter Wesley-Smith Reminisces on How He Became HKU’s First PhD in Law".
8. "Centre for Comparative and Public Law at HKU Law".
9. "The Law and Technology Centre of The University of Hong Kong Launches its First Legal Information Website for Young People in Hong Kong – Youth CLIC (youth.clic.org.hk) - All News - Media - HKU".
10. "Community Legal Information Centre (CLIC) Website --- greater access to legal information for the public (Press Release) - All News - Media - HKU".
11. Association, Hong Kong University Students' Union Law. (1972). "Justitia :Hong Kong University Law Association review.".
12. "Hong Kong Journal of Legal Studies".
13. (2025-07-17). "In Loving Memory of Professor Peter Rhodes - Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong". Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong -.
14. "The Bar Council {{!}} Hong Kong Bar Association".