Risk Management Education Programme
Risk Management Education Programme

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The Risk Management Education (“RME”) Programme is a mandatory programme developed for all solicitors, trainee solicitors and registered foreign lawyers in Hong Kong solicitors’ firms pursuant to the Legal Practitioners (Risk Management Education) Rules (Cap 159, sub.leg.) ("Rules"). A “solicitor” refers to a solicitor practising as such in a Hong Kong law firm. The Rules therefore do not apply to in-house solicitors practising in organisations or corporations other than Hong Kong law firms.


The RME Programme is aimed at:


(a)
raising the awareness of risk issues within law firms;

(b)
promoting good risk management of legal practice;

(c)
teaching the importance of managing operational risk within law firms and the specific processes and procedures for sound risk management;  

(d)
enhancing the level of professional competency in firms with the intention of reducing errors and omissions in practice;

(e)
improving the quality of legal services provided to clients benefiting both the public and the legal profession as a whole.

The RME Practice Year

A practice year for the purposes of the Rules (“RME practice year”) means a period of 12 months ending on 31 October each year.

The RME Requirements

A person to whom the Rules apply shall be required to complete a core programme before the expiry of the practice year in which the Rules first apply to him and thereafter, to attend at least 3 hours of elective courses each year or failing which, attend at least 6 hours of elective courses within the first and second succeeding practice years.

Exempted practice year

A person to whom the Rules apply shall not be required to complete the RME requirements in an exempted practice year. An “exempted practice year” is a practice year in which:

(i)
the total period for which the Rules apply to him consists of less than 100 days; or
(ii)
he has been —

-
out of Hong Kong; or

-
absent from work due to illness,

for a continuous period which constitutes 75% or more of the total period for which the Rules apply to him.

There are circumstances where a practitioner, who is stationed overseas, returns to Hong Kong for a brief period for matters which may be related to his legal practice (for instance, to complete a transaction) or not (for example, for social gathering or family reunion).

Such visits to Hong Kong will not be taken to have broken the continuity in rule 8 of the Rules provided that the aggregate period of his absence from Hong Kong constitutes 75% or more of the total period for which the Rules apply to him.

RME Core Programme

The core programme shall consist of core courses designed specifically for:


(a)
principals (referred to as “principal’s core courses”); 

(b)
non-principal solicitors (referred to as “non-principal’s core courses”); and

(c)
trainee solicitors (referred to as “trainee solicitor’s core courses).

(d)
registered foreign lawyers (referred to as “foreign lawyer’s core courses).
 

Related Information:

RME Information Package
2020/21 CPD/RME Training Record
The Legal Practitioners (RME) Rules
Accreditation of RME Courses
RME Courses
FAQs and Contact RME




For more details about the RME requirements, please refer to paragraph 2 of Section B of the RME Information Package.

Carrying over excess CPD point(s) from one CPD practice year to another

As an exception to the CPD policy, a practitioner who has completed all requisite modules of the principal’s core courses within the practice year specified under rule 6 of the Rules will be permitted to carry over a maximum of 15 CPD points accumulated in excess of the requirement in one CPD practice year to the next immediately succeeding CPD practice year.

Accordingly, if a practitioner has attended other CPD activities in addition to all requisite modules of the principal’s core courses in one CPD practice year, he is permitted to carry over all his CPD points obtained during the CPD practice year, up to a maximum of 15 CPD points, to the next immediately succeeding CPD practice year.

After completion of the principal’s core courses as provided under the Rules, a practitioner is required to complete at least 3 hours of elective courses within each subsequent practice year.

For RME practice years from 2006/07 onwards, if a practitioner is required to comply with RME elective obligation in a practice year and he obtains more than 3 CPD points from attending RME electives, then out of the CPD points permitted to be carried over to satisfy the CPD obligation in the succeeding practice year, he may utilise a maximum of 3 CPD points obtained from completion of RME electives to satisfy the RME elective obligation for that succeeding practice year only.

Similarly, with respect to a registered foreign lawyer, if he is required to comply with RME elective obligation in a practice year and he obtains more than 3 CPD points from attending RME electives, then he may carry over the points in excess to satisfy the RME elective obligation for the succeeding practice year.