Law Society wants mainland exam scrapped due to poor pass rate

After seven years of 'appalling' pass rates, the Law Society has called on Beijing to do away with the exam Hong Kong lawyers must take to practice law on the mainland.

The move follows the release of a study on the development of law practices in the Pearl River Delta commissioned by the society and carried out by Sun Yat-sen University.

The study concluded that, with more than half of foreign investment in Guangdong coming from Hong Kong, there was a need for lawyers qualified in both jurisdictions.

Only 66 Hong Kong lawyers have passed the national judicial examination - the first step any lawyer who wishes to practice mainland law must take. Last year's pass rate was 14 per cent, against the 1 per cent rate in 2004 when Hong Kong citizens were first allowed to take the exam.

Until 2008, not a single Hong Kong practicing lawyer passed. Law Society president Huen Wong said that most successful candidates were originally from the mainland, and had lived in Hong Kong less than a decade.

Between 20 per cent to 25 per cent of mainland Chinese pass the exam.

Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, the society's vice-president and chairman of its mainland legal affairs committee, did not pass the exam. Ho said not having completed a law degree on the mainland meant he had missed out on certain cultural 'fundamentals'.