City University of Hong Kong Forum

[JoseMourinho]

Hey folks,

Just looking for some opinions. I have a conditional offer from City University of Hong Kong for their full-time J.D. program.

I'm curious if there's anyone on here who can offer some advice/insight to this university and their program in specific. I am aware that Hong Kong University is the prominent law school in HK, but that's about all I know.

I don't have much time to reply and this is going to be a big decision. I have an offer to go to King's College London for a MSc - I'm keeping my options open.

Thanks a lot to anyone who gives me some help - I'd really appreciate it!

Regards

[20141023]

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[BKB]

Both HKU and CUHK are probably better than City U (it seems that HKU has no JD program).
You'll have to go through PCLL before you can work as a solicitor. Not every student can get a spot in the PCLL program.
HK has a lot of LLBs and LLMs, so the competition would still be fierce even HK has a large legal market.
Your salary, even after PCLL, probably won't be at the same level as a US associate. But JD in HK is cheap. It's a reasonable choice, if you really like HK and are dead set to work there.

[TripTrip]

Ummm.... so what do you want to do in the future, and where do you want to live / work?

[sequins]

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[JoseMourinho]

Thanks guys.

I lived in China for a year and have friends living in Hong Kong. Been there a few times and I enjoyed it. I felt there was potential for reputable employment in the international market that Hong Kong is. It's not a question of where I want to live or if I am okay living in HK, I've lived in three continents now (apologies if that sounds conceited). I'm just weighing my options. My gut feeling was that I would get admission to CityU simply based on my grades/references/application. What I really wanted to explore was the employment opportunities following graduation.

But thanks for explaining the employment and further examination process. I had done some reading but was not entirely read up on that subject.

Appreciate it!

[TripTrip]

It's not a question of where I want to live

Yes, yes it is. If you don't have any goals, don't go to law school.

[20141023]

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[JoseMourinho]

It's not a question of where I want to live

Yes, yes it is. If you don't have any goals, don't go to law school.

I said it's not a question of where I want to live because I am hoping to live in HK. I was unclear.

[JoseMourinho]

I lived in China for a year and have friends living in Hong Kong. Been there a few times and I enjoyed it. I felt there was potential for reputable employment in the international market that Hong Kong is. It's not a question of where I want to live or if I am okay living in HK, I've lived in three continents now (apologies if that sounds conceited). I'm just weighing my options. My gut feeling was that I would get admission to CityU simply based on my grades/references/application. What I really wanted to explore was the employment opportunities following graduation.

lol okay, and there are lots of us on TLS who have also lived around the world, but locale as well as purpose still matter when it comes to asking people "should I go to X?" If your goal is to live and stay in China, then it might be okay to go to a school like HK, but as sequins said, in almost any big-ass city in Asia (or really in any big-ass city in general), the "best" jobs at the biggest international firms will be going to people with American or British law degrees.

Asking us whether it would be a good idea to study law at HK is like asking us if it would be wise to travel to China to learn kung fu. Without knowing what your career goals are and where you want to end up (which could in turn affect your career goals), we have absolutely no way knowing if it is a good idea or not. For example, if your goal is to play professional soccer in Europe, then no, learning kung fu in China probably isn’t the best idea. Similarly, if your goal is to do public interest work in the United States, studying law at HKU probably won’t get you there.

Yup. That makes absolute sense when you mention the job allocation. It's obvious I was a little unclear with my post.

Thanks folks.