The HKU PCLL programme is a leading professional legal education programme devoted to training students who intend to practice as lawyers in Hong Kong. The programme is mainly aimed at future trainee solicitors and pupil barristers in Hong Kong who have completed their Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent legal studies either in Hong Kong or other common law jurisdictions or have passed the Common Professional Examinations or equivalent.
The programme instils and strengthens core competencies of legal skills required of trainee solicitors and pupil barristers practising in Hong Kong. These skills include legal research and writing, document drafting and analysis, problem-solving and advocacy. Moreover, our students will learn professional ethics and analysis of company accounts. Our curriculum covers certain core subjects, and students choose three elective subjects.
Our student profile is highly international, with students coming from, for example, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore and the People's Republic of China. Most of our students have undertaken undergraduate legal studies in prestigious law schools from common law jurisdictions worldwide. Some of our mature students may work or have worked in local law firms, others in the government and private sectors. We have a cosmopolitan mix of PCLL students from diverse backgrounds.
Application Deadline
Main Round:
12:00 noon (GMT +8), April 30, 2025
Expected September 2027
The University of Hong Kong
MG 14, Ground Floor, Main Building,
The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam,
Southern, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island
To be eligible for admission to the PCLL programme at the University of Hong Kong, an applicant:
1.shall at least hold a degree of Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent, or pass the CPE examinations or equivalent, from a university or comparable institution. The law degree must be in Common Law, normally from a Hong Kong or Commonwealth institution; and
2. will have to demonstrate competence in the following nine 'Core' subjects: Contract, Tort, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Land Law, Equity, Evidence, Business Associations, and Commercial Law; and three 'Top-up' subjects: Hong Kong Constitutional Law, Hong Kong Legal System, and Hong Kong Land Law.
All applicants (including native English speakers), must take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test (the Academic module) and submit the band score obtained no later than the first Friday of August each year. No other English language test (e.g. TOEFL) will be accepted.
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
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