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The Juris Doctor (JD) programme at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is an internationally recognised, postgraduate-level degree, providing graduates with the opportunity to practise law in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions. Students can complete the JD programme in two or three years, experiencing a mix of teaching approaches, which include practical discussions, developing law reform proposals, participating in moots and editing law review submissions. Most applicants have completed an undergraduate degree in a non-legal discipline.
Daniel Pascoe, director of CityU’s JD programme, explains that the JD degree is aimed not just at preparing students for the practice of law but also understanding its design and creation. “Every time a case is decided in a new way, the law changes,” he says. “Some of our students may become legislators, join the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong or become civil servants tasked with implementing laws in a certain way. They need to know the purpose behind the law, not just the letter of it.”
Students are taught via large group lectures that mix undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts, and through smaller group tutorials with other JD students. They are trained in both common law and the mainland Chinese legal system, a mix that is becoming ever more useful as cross-border transactions proliferate in Hong Kong.
Mock case files, courtroom simulations and mooting competitions equip students with the hands-on experience of arguing legal points. “In our classes there is a big emphasis on oral delivery just as there would be in the courtroom,” Pascoe says. Students can select two elective courses in mooting and there are a variety of international and domestic competitions they can take part in. Mooters will meet students from other global institutions and increase their confidence and skills. There are also informal opportunities within the JD degree to use mock court hearings during regular classes. Furthermore, some classes require students to observe live cases within the Hong Kong legal system. “The point is to blend and reflect on what they have seen in the courtroom with what they have heard about in class,” he says.
Although remote learning is less of an imperative since the height of the pandemic, CityU has retained the positive ways in which technology can facilitate learning. Online chat boards supplement in-class discussions, and some professors use online polling so students can vote in class and see the result in real-time. Technology also plays a central role in assessment and reinforcing knowledge, such as through online quizzes and computer-based exams. Many library materials are available electronically via an extensive digital database. “Our courses also look at how technology increasingly interacts with the law, such as the rise of artificial intelligence in legal decision-making or its role in copyright and intellectual property,” Pascoe says.
Many CityU faculty members have degrees in other areas as well as legal expertise, meaning they can put students’ learning into a social context. Additionally, students can take additional electives alongside their core vocational qualification, such as criminology, animal welfare law or human rights and business. Students also have the opportunity to develop new legal research while at university, whether through drafting law review articles, writing their dissertation or participating in an internship. “Putting students at the heart of the development of their disciplinary field is something they can get excited about,” Pascoe concludes.
Find out more about the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong.
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