Juris Doctor (JD)
Dean's Message
Dean of the Faculty
Prof Johannes M M Chan, SC (Hon)
Forty years ago, we started the law school to offer legal education to undergraduates in Hong Kong. This marked the first milestone in legal education in Hong Kong, as local students could, for the first time, study for a law degree locally. Over the years, we have established an international reputation of being one of the finest law schools in the world. From a modest beginning of only a handful of academic staff, we are now a faculty with over 60 full-time academic staff hailing from more than 17 different countries, and about 130 part-time teachers who are experienced judges and legal practitioners. We also have an international body of students coming from diverse backgrounds and jurisdictions. Our students have swept an impressive number of prizes in international mooting competitions. The University itself has been consistently ranked amongst the world’s best universities.
Forty years since our establishment, we have decided to lay down another milestone in our legal education programmes on offer. We have decided to introduce a JD programme only after the most careful consideration and planning. The design of the JD programme has been benchmarked against the JD programmes offered by some of the leading law schools in the world, with advice from experts from Harvard Law School and The Melbourne Law School. A unique feature of our JD programme is that it provides solid training in the common law system through small-group teaching. There are also two compulsory streams in Chinese Law and International, Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives in Law respectively, with a view of providing our students with a broad and global perspective. At the same time, given our large international staff, we are able to offer a full range of electives that can meet the varied interests and aspirations of our students. We have decided to admit only a small intake to enable a most satisfying, challenging, and interactive learning experience. With our strong reputation for offering quality legal education and our extensive network of alumni and friends, both local and overseas, we have already received very strong support for our JD programme. This should further facilitate a stimulating and unique programme providing a host of experiences to our students.
I look forward to welcoming you to the Faculty and joining hands with you in writing another new chapter in the history of legal education in Hong Kong.
