[Sponsored Article] Several notable features have come to define the four-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at CityU’s School of Law. These include the size of the cohort being restricted to only 60 or so students per intake; the small class sizes that result from this and the sense of camaraderie this creates; and the various opportunities for instructive legal placements and horizon-broadening exchanges at leading overseas universities. Underpinning all of this is the ability of professors and lecturers to bring each subject to life. This skill is not just the result of meticulous course planning, careful research and attention to detail. Rather, it stems from a conscious effort by staff to show, through real-world examples and recent news stories, that the study of law is about both theory and practice – and that the job of a lawyer is often to find workable solutions where there is no obvious right and wrong. “In every course, we maintain a delicate balance, giving students the basic building blocks and getting them interested by teaching from current events,” says professor Kelvin Low, a specialist in land registration and property law. “I use recent headlines to get them to think carefully about the legal side of things like asset registrations, MTR construction projects, and rights for buildings.” This approach ensures each topic has direct relevance to students. And by highlighting the connections between courses, and the overlaps between different areas, students do not develop a “silo” mentality about, say, contract or tort law, viewing them in isolation. “In tutorials, we teach the law and what happens in practice,” says Anna Lui, teaching fellow and associate director of the LLB programme. “We often mix real-life situations into the questions, so students see how the law can – and cannot – be applied.” As preparation, a class might be asked to find recent examples of, say, negligence cases involving public transport, nuisance cases with noisy neighbours, or issues relating to defamation or privacy. This helps when analysing the legal principles, but also makes for livelier discussions about recommended strategies and the possible need for other kinds of protection. Lui adds that, for any aspiring lawyer, it is essential to be able to see from multiple perspectives and to be able to present either side of an argument. CityU develops these skills through its popular and successful G-LEAP (Global Legal Education and Awareness Project) programme, which provides overseas experience and exposure to different ways of teaching. There are also legal placement electives with leading firms in Hong Kong and judicial bodies in mainland China. And the comparative law approach is a good way of exploring how other common law jurisdictions such as Singapore and Australia do certain things differently. “I play devil’s advocate to get students to think how best to deal with difficult issues and to form their own views,” Low says. “I emphasise there are many issues with no obvious right or wrong answers, so it is about values, not just logic, and knowing what the choices are.”