From its humble origins as Hong Kong's first law school with an annual student intake of 40, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Faculty of Law is now a top-tier, global law school with international programmes, students and faculty.
It now has three double-degree programmes with the University of British Columbia, King's College London and Zurich University, respectively, and hosts many exchange students.
Established in 1969 as the Department of Law in the Faculty of Social Sciences, it became a fully fledged law school in 1984 and now boasts more than 75 full-time academic staff from 17 jurisdictions and about 1,500 students. It incorporates the Department of Law, the Department of Professional Legal Education and four research centres - in comparative and public law, financial law, Chinese law, and law and technology.
On the faculty's 40th anniversary, it is worth pondering the experiences of some of its earliest graduates and how obtaining their LLB (Bachelor of Laws) and PCLL (Postgraduate Certificate in Laws) qualifications from one of the world's most highly regarded centres for jurisprudence helped them become the people and professionals they now are.
Many HKU graduates are among the city's leading lawyers, judges, politicians and community leaders.
For Tang Shu Wing (LLB 1982, PCLL 1983), artist and current dean of drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, it seems there is nothing that isn't attainable with a HKU law degree. He enrolled at HKU in 1979 with the intention of 'studying something professional', despite having been in the arts stream in secondary school.