On completion of the five-year programme, students will be awarded both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. In addition to preparing students for legal practice, the programme cultivates an appreciation of the narrative dimensions and rhetoric of legal discourse and of the overlaps between literary and legal histories. The curriculum provides a solid foundation for legal practice as well as a wide variety of careers beyond the law, including journalism, media and communications, the arts and culture, and politics.

Professional Recognition: To practise law in Hong Kong, LLB graduates must pass the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL), a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course taught by the Faculty of Law at HKU or by other universities. Thereafter, prospective solicitors must spend two years as a trainee in a law firm, or in the Department of Justice, while prospective barristers must undertake 12 months of pupillage. Admission to the PCLL offered by the Faculty of Law is open to law graduates from the University and other approved universities and similar institutions in Hong Kong, also to holders of other recognised law qualifications acceptable to the PCLL providers who can demonstrate competence in the required core subjects. Admission is competitive: the selection criteria currently include the standard and origin of the applicant’s first degree in law. The LLB degree has also been recognised by professional bodies and universities overseas. The Law Society of England accepts it for exemptions from Part 1 of the Common Professional Examination, and exemptions may also be granted from certain papers in Part 1 of the Bar Final Examinations in England. Law graduates of the University regularly go on to study for higher degrees at prestigious universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, London and Stanford.