Elevating Your Legal Professional Journey in Asia’s World City

Through the decades, Hong Kong's reputation as an international hub for legal and resolution services has remained distinguished. Under the "One Country, Two Systems" framework, Hong Kong is the only city in China adopting a common law legal system as of today. Hong Kong is also the only city in the world that has a truly bilingual (English and Chinese) common law system. Given its common culture with and close proximity to the mainland, as well as sharing the same legal structure with the world’s major economies like Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, Hong Kong continues to be the preferred platform for sourcing international legal and arbitration services involving Mainland and overseas institutions.

A Brief Overview on the Legal Industry

Hong Kong's legal profession is divided into two distinct branches, solicitors and barristers. Barristers specialise in advocacy and have unlimited rights of audience in any court in Hong Kong. Solicitors engage in a wide range of legal services relating to capital markets, banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and construction, family and probate, dispute resolution and many other areas. Solicitors have rights of audiences in magistrates’ courts and the District Court, and in chambers hearing in Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. Since 2012, eligible solicitors can also appear as Solicitor Advocates before the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal and take up advocacy work previously reserved for barristers.

In Hong Kong, the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association are respectively the governing bodies of the professional standards of solicitors and barristers. They are entrusted with the statutory duty to monitor the conduct of qualified legal practitioners.

Additionally, the Hong Kong statutory framework also provides viable pathways for international legal professionals to practise as a foreign lawyer or to qualify as a Hong Kong solicitor or a barrister in Asia's world city.

Pathways to Practice Law in Hong Kong

To qualify as a Hong Kong solicitor, there are two ways to take to become a solicitor — the "trainee solicitor" route and the "overseas lawyer" route.

• To qualify through the “trainee solicitor” route, a person must undergo 2 years of training in a Hong Kong law firm as a trainee solicitor under a trainee solicitor contract. To enter into a trainee solicitor contract, a person must have completed and passed the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (“PCLL”), which is a one-year course offered by the University of Hong Kong, the City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong to eligible local and overseas degree holders. Upon completion of the trainee solicitor contract and declaration by the principal that the trainee solicitor is fit to be a solicitor, the trainee solicitor can proceed to apply for admission as a Hong Kong solicitor.
• The “overseas lawyer” route caters for those who have already been qualified as a lawyer in a jurisdiction outside Hong Kong. A person who passes the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination administered in English annually by the Law Society of Hong Kong can apply for admission as a Hong Kong solicitor, and there is no requirement to go through traineeship before admission. To be eligible to sit the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination, applicants qualified in a common law jurisdiction must satisfy the Law Society that they have at least 2 years of post-admission experience, or 5 years for those qualified in a non-common law jurisdiction.

For those who are already qualified as legal practitioners in their home jurisdictions, they can provide legal services on the laws of their home jurisdictions to the public in Hong Kong provided that they are registered with the Law Society of Hong Kong as registered foreign lawyers and provide such services from within a law firm in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, there are over 73 registered foreign law firms coming from 19 overseas jurisdictions and about 1,500 registered foreign lawyers from over 30 overseas jurisdictions. As an international legal services hub, Hong Kong needs a huge supply of legal professionals with diverse skills and multijurisdictional qualifications to serve multinational clients in cross border transactions.

The process of becoming a barrister is similarly structured. Without a legal background, one must complete their Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent legal studies in Hong Kong or other common law jurisdictions before taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws in any of the three universities in Hong Kong. One can also apply to become a barrister once they have been admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong for at least 3 years. Further, if you have been in practice for at least 3 years in the jurisdiction of admission, you may take the Barristers Qualification Examination to fast-track your way to a barrister qualification.

Click on the respective links to read more about jumpstarting your career as a solicitor, registered foreign lawyer and barrister.

Hong Kong's Growing Demand for Alternative Dispute Resolution Professionals

It is obvious that alternative dispute resolution is gaining popularity. Hong Kong leads the way by encouraging and supporting the professional development of mediators and arbitrators — while the former facilitate negotiations and help parties find a mutually agreeable solution, the latter act as a decision maker and render a final and binding decision after considering the evidence and arguments presented by the parties. The continued expansion and mutual exchange of global trade and business transactions have led companies to consider alternative dispute resolution options, making the aforementioned professions two of the most sought-after trades across different industries.

Mediators practicing in Hong Kong are advised to obtain the status of an accredited mediator from the Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association Limited (“HKMAAL”), and to be enlisted onto either the HKMAAL General or Family Mediator Panels. There are the respective accreditation requirements/procedures for General and Family Mediators administered by HKMAAL. In general, an applicant for mediator accreditation must possess 3-years of full-time working experience from a profession or industry.

There are no mandatory qualification requirements for one to practise as an arbitrator in Hong Kong. However, to assist arbitration users to search for appropriate arbitrators for their matters, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) maintains both a Panel and a List of Arbitrators. Those who wish to be considered for inclusion on the HKIAC List of Arbitrators must demonstrate substantial experience in arbitration with at least five years of full-time arbitration experience, and have drafted two arbitral awards, among other requirements.

Please visit the webpages of HKMAAL and HKIAC for the detailed qualification requirements for mediators and arbitrators.

Hong Kong Seeks Legal and Dispute Resolution Experts Across Diverse Specialties

Opportunities are abound for legal and dispute resolution professionals in Hong Kong, according to the Talent List. Mentioned specifically by the Department of Justice, the development of international legal and dispute resolution services is to be one of the major policy focuses in a bid to enhance and promote Hong Kong's status as an international legal hub. Beyond multilingual capabilities, legal professionals from outside Hong Kong are highly sought-after for their specialised knowledge and experience in important or large-scale cross-border transactions, or matters involving mergers and acquisitions, cyber security law, data privacy law, maritime and aviation law, sustainable green finance and legal products, blockchain, bitcoin, crypto assets, virtual currencies, sports law and intellectual property law. As reflected in the Talent List, the demand for dispute resolution professionals also runs high, ringing especially true for those who specialise in resolving international commercial, financial and investor-state disputes. Instrumental in assisting parties in the dispute to negotiate and reach a settlement, an impartial, experienced mediator or arbitrator can prove invaluable in a city in which multinational conglomerates often base their APAC operations.

Join and thrive in APAC’s legal hub

In Hong Kong, there's plenty of room for personal and career growth. As a legal professional in Hong Kong, you would benefit from both the physical proximity to Mainland and all the opportunities the geopolitical advantage brings, and the strong, established connections to global markets. In a dynamic environment facilitated by both history and policies, legal and dispute resolution practitioners can truly thrive from the exposure to a diverse profile of cross-border cases clientele. We cordially invite you to come to Hong Kong, where you can make a world of difference with your legal expertise. To learn more about the thriving legal landscape, feel free to contact us or our designated partners through our Supporting Services for a more personalized consultation.