From a teaching department of three teachers and 40 students in 1969 to a Faculty today with more than 2,300 students and over 70 full time academic staff from about 17 jurisdictions, the Faculty of Law has been the training ground of many distinguished legal minds. Generations of lawyers who graduated from the Faculty now form the backbone of the Rule of Law in Hong Kong, which is crucial to the success of the territory.
The founding Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme, together with the double degrees, are ranked among the top undergraduate curricula in HKU. So is the highly competitive Juris Doctor (JD) programme introduced in 2009. The Master of Laws (LLM) programmes have since 1989 offered specialist, cutting-edge law courses to meet the demands of a rapidly changing global environment. The Master of Common Law (MCL) programme has trained more than 350 mainland Chinese judges and government officials in common law since 1997. In recent years, the Faculty has partnered with some of the most eminent law schools in the world, including double degree programmes with University of British Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, University College London, University of Zurich and Peking University; pathway programmes with King's College London, University of New South Wales, University of California, Berkeley or National University of Singapore; and research projects and joint conferences with University College London, University of Cambridge, University of New South Wales and National University of Singapore.
The Faculty is committed to academic and professional excellence in meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing environment. While the Faculty has come a long way since its inception in 1969, it continues its efforts in international outreach, in strengthening its ties with Mainland China, and in enhancing the quality of legal education with a view to training not just good lawyers but also leaders who have a passion to serve, wherever they are.
[ALL APPLICANTS] University Application Form:
You are required to submit ONE application for EACH of the Full-time and Part-time PCLL by the Application Deadline. Please click https://aal.hku.hk/tpg/ for the University Application Form. Only online applications are accepted.
NOTE: if you wish to be considered for BOTH the Full-time and Part-time modes, you MUST submit TWO University Application Forms, one for the Full-time mode, and one for the Part-time mode. The order of preferences must be consistent on both forms. Please note your 10-digit Application Number(s) (one for each University Application Form) and keep it (them) confidential.
As of 2021, applicants to the HKU PCLL programme no longer need to rank their order of preference for a full-time place between a full-time government funded place and a full-time self-funded place. All full-time applicants will first be considered for a government funded place and such places will be allocated on academic merit. Full-time applicants whose marks are not sufficiently competitive to obtain a government funded place will then be considered for a self-funded place. All part-time places are self-funded.
All applicants must also select their university preference and if applying to more than one PCLL provider MUST ensure that their University preference is consistent on all applications. Applicants who select more than one provider as their first preference choice will be disqualified from applying for the PCLL for this academic year.
The Application Deadline is 12:00 noon (Hong Kong time) on 30 April 2021 (for admission in September 2021). The online application form(s) must be submitted by this deadline. Please note that the PCLL application webpage will shut down promptly once the Application Deadline has expired so all applications must be completed by this time. As such, we do not recommend leaving your application until the last minute. Late applications will not be accepted. The deadline to send us your supporting documents (see below) is 6th August 2021 at 5:30 p.m. (Hong Kong time) (the "Documents Deadline.") All supporting documents must have been received by us by the Documents Deadline.
Address for provision of your supporting documents (such as interim/final transcripts, IELTS Test Report Form, PCLL Conversion Examination result/exemption letters):
PCLL Admissions Office,
Department of Professional Legal Education
The University of Hong Kong,
10/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
We are no longer able to verify documents ourselves. All applicants must provide either the original or a certified true copy of their documents. Please ensure that all supporting documents are sent to us by REGISTERED POST. We have had a few instances of documents sent by ordinary post not arriving. We do not accept documents submitted to us in person.
Applicants requiring student visas should note that it will take several weeks for visa applications to be processed. It is therefore even more important for these applicants to send us all of their information and supporting documents as early as possible so that, where appropriate, we can issue early offers to them to enable them to make their visa applications.
In any event, once you have made your application(s), please provide us with all your supporting documents, in particular, a transcript of the results in your primary law qualification (including, where you have not yet completed your primary law qualification, your latest available interim transcript), AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
If you are a sufficiently strong applicant, once we are in possession of your supporting documents we will be able to make an early admission offer to you. To the extent that some supporting documents are not yet available, for example, because you have not yet had an opportunity to take the IELTS test, we can make our offer conditional upon your obtaining satisfactory IELTS results. It would therefore be in your interests to provide us with your full supporting documents (or as many as are available) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. For these reasons, early application is recommended.
Applicants from overseas will need to sit some Conversion examinations in order to satisfy the PCLL eligibility requirements. These examinations are not run by the PCLL providers but by a separate body: the Hong Kong Conversion Examination Board. Please consult their website at www.pcea.com.hk for further information about these exams and the timing.