Golden eggs for legal eagles

Fuelled by a diverse and vibrant business environment, Hong Kong's status as the Asian financial hub and a conduit between the mainland and overseas business community has established the city as an attractive location for lawyers.

The demand for postgraduate law programmes offered by Hong Kong universities remains high as indicated, for example, by the number of applications to the programmes offered by the faculty of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

"Admittance to all our postgraduate programmes is highly competitive," says Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff, associate dean and head of graduate studies at the CUHK faculty of law. "The extraordinary increase in the number of applications to join our postgraduate programmes evidences the need for top quality legal education in the region."

Wolff says the job prospects for qualified graduates are excellent. Research concurs. According to placement survey results covering students from the 2010-11 cohort, over 90 per cent have been employed by top law firms, leading sets of barrister's chambers, and by the Department of Justice.

Recruitment firms, including Hudson, report that demand for qualified corporate lawyers - with native Chinese and English skills - among major international and top-tier local firms remains very strong.

The CUHK law faculty offers five taught postgraduate programmes. These include a one-year full-time postgraduate certificate in laws (PCLL), designed for students who have completed a bachelor of laws or Juris Doctor degree (JD) - or equivalent law qualifications - and who wish to be admitted as a solicitor or barrister of the High Court of Hong Kong.