COMMON ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

6 January 2016

(for immediate release)

Regulatory powers of the Law Society

1. Sections 4 and 73 of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance Cap. 159 empower the Law Society to prescribe qualification requirements for the entrants to the solicitors’ profession.

2. Pursuant to Sections 4 and 73, the Law Society has prescribed the Trainee Solicitors Rules Cap. 159J ("Rules") for the admission of local entrants. Rule 7(a) of the Rules provides that a person may only enter into a trainee solicitor contract if he has passed or received a certificate of completion or certificate of satisfactory completion as the case may be in –

   1. the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws ("PCLL") and such other examination or course as the Law Society may require and set or approve; or

   2. such other examination or course as the Law Society may require and set or approve.

Common Entrance Examination

3. The Council of the Law Society has decided that, starting from 2021, a person may only enter into a trainee solicitor contract if that person has passed a Common Entrance Examination ("CEE"). The CEE will be set and marked by the Law Society. The Law Society will require certified completion of the PCLL course but will not require any examination to be set by the providers of the PCLL. The Law Society will review the prerequisites for taking the CEE periodically.

Timeline

4. The CEE will be implemented no earlier than 2021. The 5 years’ notice has taken into account the length of the LLB and PCLL Programmes so that those who have already embarked on these Programmes will not be affected by the CEE.

The Purposes of the CEE

5. The purposes of implementing a CEE are:

   1. To uphold the quality of the entrants to the solicitors’ profession;

   2. To provide access to those who have the ability to qualify as a solicitor;

   3. As a regulator, the Law Society has a duty to maintain the standards of the profession and to protect public interest.

   
   

Logistics

6. The Council is considering the logistics and will announce the details in due course.

For media enquiry, please contact Ms. Rachel So at 2846 0520 or Ms. Kelly Chan at 2846 0589 or by email (adceag@hklawsoc.org.hk).

About the Law Society of Hong Kong

The Law Society of Hong Kong is a professional body of solicitors in Hong Kong vested with the statutory powers to regulate the professional conduct of solicitors. It establishes and promotes professional standards and the solicitors' code of conduct and practice and ensures its compliance. The Law Society assists its members to promote Hong Kong legal services and offers its views from time to time on legal issues that are of public concern. For more information, please visit: www.hklawsoc.org.hk