As a law student who has studied in both the local and American systems, some thoughts on the two main issues in the article 'University law course cheats expelled after being caught for plagiarism' (August 31).
On plagiarism, the copy-and-paste habit of many students probably stems from the nonchalance of Hong Kong people towards protection of intellectual property. The gravity of plagiarism is either played down or not brought up at primary or secondary school. Students may have no idea what constitutes plagiarism until they are at tertiary level and even then it is usually only mentioned on the first day of classes. When parents think exam achievement ought to take priority over an honour code and integrity, it seems foolish to ask students to play straight in school.
Americans teach students about plagiarism and intellectual property rights as early as grade school, where 'copycats' are declared bad and verbatim copying is a no-no. Astonished as we are by the severity of the punishment at Hong Kong University, expulsion is the norm for plagiarists in western nations, be they high school, undergraduate or postgraduate students.
On the quality and aptness of the local Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL) programme, I concur with the recommendations of two Australian consultants in their 2001 report on Hong Kong's legal education. Noting the divergence of the profession into two sub-sectors, solicitors and barristers, they said final academic training of law students ought to be more focused on entrance into one sector or the other - not both.
Local tertiary institutions do not have resources adequate for a broad landscape in preparing lawyers. And the PCLL programme is too short for competent training across the field. Most barristers hardly ever use skills traditionally deemed as solicitor-oriented, such as conveyancing. And competency in advocacy does not carry most solicitors very far.
Job-specific education is needed; introduction to every legal area only dilutes training for each specialty. With the legal field becoming more technical, the demand is for solicitors and barristers who can delve deeply into their own expertise; jacks of all trades cannot give us a competitive edge over other lawyers in the region, especially those from the mainland.