Undergraduate Degrees
Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
Programme Structure (2011-2012)
The programme requires a total of 240 credits. There is a minimum core of 117 credits of law subjects, plus 15 credits of compulsory non-law subjects mandated by the University. The compulsory core is therefore 132 credits, and most of them will be completed in the first two years.
For students who wish to enter into the PCLL, they have to complete another 42 credits of PCLL pre-requisites (which we group under the Professional Cluster of Law Electives). Overseas law graduates who wish to enroll in the PCLL have to satisfy the PCLL Admission Committee of completion of these 42 credits or their equivalents, in addition to other admission requirements.
Those students wishing to enter into the PCLL will have a further 66 credits to choose from among the electives. For those who do not wish to enter into the PCLL, they will have 108 credits of electives to choose.
For those who would like to specialize in an area of law, they can choose and complete the necessary electives in a particular cluster (e.g., commercial law, or PRC law).
English proficiency is built into the new curriculum in preparing our students for the highly demanding language requirements of the legal profession. The proficiency in English in the study and practice of law should best be learnt through the teaching and learning of the substantive law subjects, rather than doing quarantine language courses which may bear little relevance to the use of English as an analytical tool for the study and practice of law. Under the curriculum, the learning and drilling of legal skills, including English language skills, is done through the small-group teaching and learning sessions for the basic core subjects. It is coupled with a systematic and structured programme of Legal Research and Writing courses that are staggered through the first two years of the curriculum.
Apart from the traditional form of elective courses, students are also encouraged to take clinical programmes as part of the fulfillment of the electives requirement. At present, the Faculty has already a Social Justice Summer Programme in which students are placed in various organizations (e.g., the Legislative Council, Consumer Council, Equal Opportunities Commission, Boys and Girls Association, Human Rights Monitors, and various NGOs) for at least 4 weeks in the summer. Students are required to submit individual reports on their activities during the placements. Students can also combine their placement experience with a research paper in order to gain 6 credits. In addition, our students are already participating in the Duty Lawyers Free Legal Advice Scheme in interviewing clients and preparing research and preliminary advice for qualified lawyers to give free legal advice to the members of the public. Our Faculty is also in the advanced stage of discussion with the Equal Opportunities Commission to engage our students in the mediation process, and in discussing with the Judiciary on how to engage our students to provide assistance to unrepresented litigants. We believe that the clinical programmes would add a practical dimension to the studies and would help our students in developing maturity in character and a sense of social commitment and responsibility. We are still exploring other possible clinical programmes.
First Year (60 credits)
Law and society (6 credits)
Law of contract I (6 credits)
Law of contract II (6 credits)
Law of tort I (6 credits)
Law of tort II (6 credits)
Legal research and writing I (6 credits)
The legal system (6 credits)
Writing solutions to legal problems (3 credits)
Practical Chinese language for law students (3 credits)
Common Core course (6 credits)
Common Core course (6 credits)
Second Year (60 credits)
Commercial law (6 credits)
Constitutional law (6 credits)
Criminal law I (6 credits)
Criminal law II (6 credits)
Land law I (6 credits)
Land law II (6 credits)
Legal research and writing II (6 credits)
Introduction to Chinese law (6 credits)
Disciplinary Electives (12 credits)
Third Year (60 credits)
Administrative law (6 credits)
Equity and trusts I (6 credits)
Equity and trusts II (6 credits)
Introduction to legal theory (6 credits)
Mooting (6 credits)
Disciplinary Electives (12 credits)
Free Electives (18 credits)
Fourth Year (60 credits)
Disciplinary Electives (60 credits)
The law electives are listed as follows:
12-credit course
Guided research
6-credit course
Advanced issues in information technology law
Alternative dispute resolution
Animal law
Arbitration in Greater China
Arbitration law
Bank security
Banking law
Business associations
Capstone: Research project in law and literary studies
Carriage of goods by sea
Child and the law
China investment law
China trade law
Chinese family law in comparative perspective
Chinese laws governing foreign investments
Civil procedure
Clinical legal education
Clinical legal education (China)
Company law
Comparative constitutional law
Comparative environmental law
Comparative law
Comparative family law
Comparative remedies in trust law
Competition law
Constitutional and administrative law in the PRC
Constitutionalism in emerging states
Construction law
Copyright law
Corporate conflicts
Corruption: China in comparative perspective
Credit and security law
Criminal procedure
Criminology
Cross-border corporate finance: issues and techniques
Cross-border legal relations between the Mainland and Hong Kong
Current issues in Chinese law
Current issues in comparative commercial law
Current issues in insolvency law
Current legal controversies
Cybercrime
Dealing with legacies of human rights violations
Digital copyright
Dispute resolution in the PRC
Dispute settlement in the WTO: Practice & procedure
E-business law
Economic analysis of law
Economic, social and cultural rights
Emerging markets: finance and investment
Equality and non-discrimination
Ethnicity, human rights and democracy
European economic regulation
Evidence I
Evidence II
Global business law I
Global business law II
Globalisation and human rights
Governance and law
Healthcare law
Hong Kong Basic Law
Human rights and cyberspace
Human rights and governance
Human rights in China
Human rights in Hong Kong
Human rights: history, theory and politics
Information technology Law
Insolvency law
Insurance law
Intellectual property and information technology
Intellectual property law in China
Intellectual property policy and practice
Intellectual property, innovation and development
International and comparative intellectual property law
International and regional protection of human rights
International commercial arbitration
International commercial litigation
International commercial transactions
International criminal law
International economic law
International environmental law
International human rights
International humanitarian law
International law and modernity for a multipolar world
International law in a world of crises
International mooting competition
International organizations
International protection of refugees and displaced persons
International securities law
International trade law I
International trade law II
Interpretation of statutes, contracts and treaties
Introduction to Chinese law and legal system
Introduction to information technology law
Introduction to international human rights law
Introduction to law and literary studies
Introduction to negotiation theory and practice
Introduction to private international law
Issues in family law
Issues in intellectual property law
Jessup international law moot court competition
Labour law
Land law III (Conveyancing)
Law and development in the PRC
Law and film
Law and literature
Law and policy
Law and politics of constitutions
Law and religion
Law and social theory
Law in East Asia
Law of agency
Law of International Finance I – Debt
Law of restitution I
Law of restitution II
Law of the sea
Law, economics, regulation and development
Law, justice and ideology
Law, meaning and interpretation
Law, the individual and the community: a cross-cultural dialogue
Legal aspects of white collar crime
Legal discourse and the mind
Legal translation
Media law
Mediation
Medico-legal issues
Multiculturalism and the law
Online dispute resolution
Planning and environmental law
PRC civil and commercial law
PRC civil law (in Putonghua)
PRC commercial law (in Putonghua)
PRC Criminal law and procedure
PRC economic law
PRC information technology law
PRC security and insolvency law
PRC taxation law and policy
PRC tort law
Preventative law: approach to conflict prevention
Principles of family law
Principles of Hong Kong taxation on income
Privacy and data protection
Property protection in China: law, politics and culture
Public international law
Public international law in domestic courts
Regulation of Cyberspace
Regulation of financial markets
Remedies
Rights and remedies in the criminal process
Rights of the child in international and domestic law
Securities regulation
Selected issues: WTO and China
Selected legal issues in commercial practice
Selection problems in international law
Sociology of law
Space law and policy
Succession
Summer internship
Telecommunications law
Topics in English and European legal history
Topics in law and literature: Flaubert & eilot
Trademarks and unfair competition
Use of Chinese in law I
Use of Chinese in law II
World Trade Organization: law and policy
