The Law Society of Hong Kong is a professional association for solicitors in Hong Kong vested with statutory powers to regulate the professional conduct of solicitors, trainee solicitors and foreign lawyers. It was incorporated in 1907 as a company limited by guarantee.
The Law Society speaks for the solicitors’ profession in Hong Kong and ensures our voice are accurately and purposefully communicated to relevant parties
The Law Society is dedicated to providing relevant and effective support to our members including professional training and legal practice updates.
The Law Society is committed to facilitating the attainment and maintenance of the highest professional standards by our members in the interest of the community
The Law Society reaches out and maintains a wide local and global network for knowledge exchange, experience sharing and collaboration between our members and different sectors of both the local and international communities.
The Law Society strives to raise general public legal awareness, facilitate public access to legal services and promote a culture of giving back to the community among our members.
When you apply to sit the Examination, you have to provide documentary evidence to verify that you were properly authorised by the relevant authority in jurisdiction B to practise the law of jurisdiction A as a qualified legal practitioner based on your legal qualification acquired in jurisdiction A. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis (paragraph (ii)(cc) on pages 23-24 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
The Law Society will regard the following post-admission experience as comprising "experience in the practice of law":
post-admission experience which was:
| (aa) | gained in the 10 year period immediately preceding the application; |
| (bb) | in the practice of law in the capacity of a practitioner of the law of the jurisdiction in which the applicant was admitted and on which the applicant relies in the application; and |
| (cc) |
properly authorised to do so according to the rules and regulations of the place in which an applicant carried on his practice of law. For instance,
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The Law Society’s OLQE Eligibility and Exemption Committee will have to consider and determine whether your in-house experience is comparable to that of a private practitioner in the practice of the law. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis (the remarks on page 24 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
The Law Society is aware that preparatory courses had been provided in the past by the following course providers:
Candidates are advised to contact the preparatory course providers directly to check if they are providing any courses for the forthcoming 2024 Examination. The Law Society does not endorse nor accredit any of the courses (paragraph 11(b) on page 8 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
In order to pass the Examination, you are required to sit and pass all Heads specified in the Certificate under Rule 3(2) of the Overseas Lawyers (Qualification for Admission) Rules issued by the Law Society to you. You are not entitled to elect to sit one or more Heads of the Examination in one year and sit the remaining Heads of the Examination in following years. However, you may retake those Heads you did not pass in following years and are not required to retake the Heads which you have already passed (paragraph 2 on page 16 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
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To re-sit the Examination, you are required to submit: |
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| (a) | a fresh duly completed Form A; |
| (b) | original Certificate(s) of Good Standing from your jurisdiction(s) of admission, which must have been issued within 4 months of the Law Society having received such Certificate(s) of Good Standing or the fresh Form A (whichever date of receipt is later); |
| (c) | (if you have changed your passport or your Hong Kong identity card after you last submitted a certified copy of it to the Law Society) a certified copy of your new passport or your new Hong Kong identity card; |
| (d) | (if your name appears in different versions in the supporting document(s) submitted by you in support of your application to resit), a statutory declaration confirming that the supporting documents refer to and relate to you; and |
| (e) | the application fee of HK$6,600. |
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Documents which will be relied on in the fresh application and were submitted before need not be re-submitted. |
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| Candidates should submit the fresh application and related documents for resit as soon as possible. It is unnecessary to wait for the result of the application for review before a candidate submits the application for resit. If the application for review is successful, the application fee for resit will be refunded to the candidate (paragraph 26 on pages 14-15 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination). | |
An Appendix of a non-exhaustive list of practices in Head III for reference is on page 26 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination.
Applicants are required to provide all the details prescribed by paragraph K on pages 32-33 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination in tabular format and such details must be verified by the employers and submitted to the Law Society for its consideration. The description of the clients can be a generic description without breaching clients’ privacy and confidentiality. Failure to do so may result in the application being rejected.
An example of how the information can be set out in tabular format is given below:| Types of transactions (including Applicant’s role, responsibilities and involvement) | |
| Types of Clients | |
| Work undertaken by the Applicant / Experience gained by the Applicant | |
| Period of employment |
Some tips for presenting prescribed details in tabular format in support of an application for exemption from sitting Head III are set out on page 22 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination.
In the case of a law firm, the verification letter should be issued by a partner of the firm on the firm’s letterhead. It is not necessary to provide several verification letters from various partners in the same firm. In the case of a company, the verification letter should be issued by an officer at managerial level in the company (such as the applicant’s supervisor) on the company’s letterhead (paragraph K on pages 32-33 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
Exemption from Head VI may be granted if, at the time of applying to sit the Examination, an applicant has already completed a course on Hong Kong Constitutional Law provided by the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong or The Chinese University of Hong Kong. If the course on Hong Kong Constitutional Law was provided by other institutions, applicants are required to provide the syllabus and academic transcript for consideration by the OLQE Eligibility and Exemption Committee and any such application will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The completion of a course on the Constitutional Law of an overseas jurisdiction is not sufficient for exemption purpose (page 27 of the 2024 Information Package of the Examination).
