school of law retreat — past, present and future · school of law retreat — past, present and...
TRANSCRIPT
School of Law Retreat — Past, Present and Future 11th Dec, 2013 —Louis Liu
School of Law (SLW) Retreat was held on 6
& 7 Dec 2013 at Holiday Inn Macao Cotai
Central, bringing together the faculty and
International Advisory Board (IAB) members,
including Dr. Simon IP (Co-Chairman of IAB), Mr. Brian Gibson (visiting SLW currently), Ambassador Christiaan KRÖNER, Prof. Hoong Phun LEE, Prof. Mitsuo MATSUSHITA, Prof. Heinz MAYER, Prof. Ján SVÄK, Mr. George TAM, and Prof. Bea VERSCHRAEGEN, to discuss various topics related to the future
directions of the School’s development.
Upon arrival, Dr. Simon Ip welcomed all participants and introduced IAB members. Then, he
went on to review the accomplishments of the former Dean, Prof. WANG Guiguo, under
whose vision and leadership over the past years the School has made great strides in a range
of areas, including establishment of the Chinese Judges Programmes, development of close
links with overseas and Mainland law schools, success in mooting competitions, founding of
the Hong Kong Centre for Maritime and Transportation Law and organization of
international conferences such as the New Haven Conference. Prof. LIN Feng, Acting Dean,
then reported on the activities of the School in 2013. To name a few, the LLB students
admitted through JUPAS attained level 5 or above in HKDSE English Language, rendering
them the students with the best English results within City University of Hong Kong. They
have also had the best average score
in 4 core subjects and 2 electives. Dr. Ip concluded that
SLW should strive to differentiate itself from other law
schools in Hong Kong, with mooting and the Chinese
Judges programmes continuing to be in focus.
The meetings that ensued were on the future of legal
education in Hong Kong led by the programme leaders
of Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL), Bachelor of
Laws (LLB) and Juris Doctor (JD). The effectiveness
and the future development of various programmes were
also discussed. Then, there was discussion about the
curriculum design of LLB and JD, and the IAB members also made positive contributions to
the discussion, bringing in different perspectives with their expertise and background.
On the second day of the retreat, future development of the Hong Kong Centre for Maritime
and Transportation Law was brought to attention. The Centre director and members shared
their plans to maximize the impact of the centre. There was also a meeting on skills training,
which was about cases analysis and statutory interpretation.
At the end of all sessions, Prof. Lin Feng, Acting
Dean, was of the view that the School Retreat was
fruitful, in which views about various programmes
and issues related to teaching were exchanged and
many practical recommendations were put forward.
In particular he expressed his thanks to IAB
members for their participation in the School
Retreat and commitment to the Law School.