The path to admission in Hong Kong involves a number of steps

Hong Kong Clerkships

The standard way for students who wish to begin their career in Hong Kong begins with obtaining a clerkship or vacation scheme with a law firm in Hong Kong. Clerkship is essentially a legal internship in which students will work full time at a firm for around 4 weeks during summer or winter vacation. These vacation schemes are meant to provide aspiring students with a taste of the work and culture at the firm. Clerkship is the most direct pathway to becoming a trainee at the firm upon students’ graduation.

Firms & Culture
Hong Kong is home to many U.K. , U.S. and other international firms. The culture difference between U.K. firms and U.S. firms is noteworthy and should be a consideration when you apply to Hong Kong clerkships. In general, U.S. firm trainees and associates are given more autonomy and are expected to learn along the way, whereas British firms provide a more structured approach by providing specific trainings and assessments. However, it is important to note these are just general industry trends and that each firm’s culture is unique. The nature of the legal industry in Hong Kong is such that you will be likely working longer hours than if you were in Australia.

In addition, U.S. firms also tend to be less hierarchical compared to U.K. firms. UK firms put greater emphasis on training and development. In contrast, U.S. firms expect their trainees and associates to learn on the job by being ‘thrown in the deep end.’

Winter & Summer Clerkships
Firms generally prefer to offer clerkships to students in their penultimate years. The first possible time for a Melbourne JD student to complete a Hong Kong Clerkship is during the Summer vacation of their second year in December, January or February.

Important note: in Hong Kong, the seasons are reversed so Clerkships occurring in the Australian Summer are actually advertised by firms in Hong Kong as Winter Clerkships.

While the clerkship process is very structured in Melbourne with the system of Law Institute of Victoria signatories, Hong Kong law firms vary in application dates and deadlines. Therefore, students are encouraged to conduct their own research on firms’ clerkship programs. Each Hong Kong law firm’s application dates must be manually ascertained through their websites. However, for a very large number of firms, applications for the following year’s vacation schemes will open in October-November and close in January. Firms which target Australian students may have application periods which are open between February and March. These firms often conduct on-campus interviews at the Hong Kong Law Fair. Some Hong Kong law firm’s applications are determined on a rolling basis, which means that the firm will assess, interview and give offers before the end of the application period, on a first-come, first serve basis. Additionally, not all firms offer both Winter and Summer vacation schemes. For example, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP offers both winter and summer vacation schemes, but King & Wood Mallesons only offers a winter vacation scheme.

Clerkship Applications
Firms also vary in the way they assess applications. For some firms, applications can involve a series of questions gauging the students’ interests, aspirations and backgrounds. For other firms, only a submission of a CV/Resume, Cover Letter and Academic Transcript is required.

Language Proficiency

A frequent inquiry is law firms’ expectation on Mandarin and Cantonese frequency. While many firms expect applicant to have varying degrees of Mandarin speaking and writing abilities, it is important to note that there are also a number of firms that do not have Mandarin skill as a pre-requisite. Accordingly, students are encouraged to apply and conduct research on different firms based on their circumstances.

After the Clerkship
After you complete the clerkship, you may receive an offer to complete a 2-year training contract at that firm. Completion of the training contract is the final step to admission in Hong Kong. Training contract offers are subject to entry into and completion of a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL). Due to differences between the legal systems of Hong Kong and Australia, Australian students are also required to pass six conversion exams before entry into a PCLL program.

PCLL & Conversion Exams

In order to begin a training contract, it is necessary to complete a PCLL at one of the three providers in Hong Kong, which are the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The Course fees for international students are around $150,000 HKD ($30,000 AUD), however most firms which offer training contracts will pay for your course fees and provide you with a modest living stipend while you are studying in Hong Kong. PCLL courses have one intake in September each year and you must have completed a first law degree (LLB/JD) by the time you begin. Selection is made on the basis of your grades and personal statements.

Conversion Exams & Exemptions
A key requirement to gain entry into the PCLL is completion of either a Hong Kong LLB/JD from one of the three universities in Hong Kong, or by demonstrating competency in 11 core subjects by taking their respective conversion exams:

Contract
Tort
Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Land Law
Equity

Civil Procedure
Criminal Procedure
Evidence
Business Associations
Commercial Law (Parts A, B, C)

And 3 ‘top-up’ subjects if you did not complete an LLB/JD in Hong Kong:

Hong Kong Constitutional Law
Hong Kong Land Law
Hong Kong Legal System

Conversion Exams are held twice per year, in January and June.

It is possible to gain exemptions to the core subjects. Generally, Melbourne JD students are able to get exemptions for all of the core subjects except for Commercial Law Parts A, B and C.

Thus, put simply, in most cases Melbourne Law School graduates are expected to pass six conversion exams to qualify for entry into the PCLL program (the ‘top-up’ subjects and Commercial Law parts A, B, and C). The conversion exams take around one to two months to be self-studied for.

Failure to complete conversion exams or successfully be exempted will render you unable to gain entry into the PCLL. This will prevent you from beginning a training contract. Generally, firms are reluctant to defer your training contract offer for a year for you to attempt to gain entry into the PCLL the following year. It is possible to retake exams, so it is advisable to start preparing for the exams early. Evidence of preparation may therefore be looked upon favourably by firms during the application process.

For more information on conversion exams and exemptions, please consult this website which includes recommended readings, course syllabi and past exams: http://www.pcea.com.hk/package.html