Training the Next Generation of Hong Kong Lawyers: New Wine in a New Bottle

Abstract

'Hong Kong is not what it used to be' is an obvious point to make. Traditional ways of doing legal training in addition to being challenged by educators is simply unable to meet the demands of changing conditions. Moreover, we are dealing with a generation different from those who studied law when the fundamentals of the various law programs were first designed. We are now teaching a contemporary legal practice course training the next generation of lawyers. The question then has to be: what it is about die current prevailing conditions and upcoming trends that should inspire any new direction 111 the form of curriculum design as well as the way in which a course is delivered to motivate most effectively student-centred learning. This paper first highlights the evolution of legal education and training in Hong Kong over the past few decades, with a particular reference to the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL) programme in the Department of Professional Education at the University of Hong Kong. It then argues that, as important as keeping the curriculum and learning/training opportunities abreast with the ever-changing demand of the legal profession and the wider community, there is the need to cater for the learning mode and habits of the new generation. Specifically in the latter regard, the paper attempts to identify some of these trends and extrapolate these to concrete proposals having impact on curriculum design and course delivery.