Spring 2005 - Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

35TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS
SPECIAL FEATURE
About 300 alumni attended the Reunion Dinner held at Loke
Yew Hall on 4 December 2004. A big “THANK YOU” must be
extended to the Law Alumni Association and the Reunion
Dinner Organizing Sub-Committee for their tireless efforts
in making the occasion such a happy reunion for those who
came. Yet such a good turnout would not have been possible
without the help of some twenty “class representatives” of
the different LLB classes. To all of them the faculty is deeply
gateful for their invaluable support. Here is an account by
one of our dedicated “class representatives” of how she
managed to persuade 38 of her old classmates to come to
the Reunion Dinner.
A happy reunion for Caroline (first from left in the back row) and her old
classmates at the Dinner.
It all began with the reading of the last issue of this Newsletter.
Eva Lau of my class wrote an article about her days in the Law
School (as it then was) and beyond. Having read it, I have come to
realize that I actually do not know much about my classmates,
although I was considered a very active person in my class then.
The notes I took at lectures were hot lending items, certainly not
because of their quality (as for such a purpose the notes of Mabel
Ng would be preferred) but because of my slavish attendance at all
lectures, they being so enjoyable to me then. Quite a few persons
who could not make it at the appointed time for such
bestowments of intelligence by our dear lecturers would ask to
make photocopies of my notes. In view of this and also in view of
the small size of the class then, I knew each of my classmates to
different degrees.
After having left the Law School for twenty years, I am still in
constant contact with a good bunch of my friends. There are also a
few handfuls that I bumped into from time to time and had had a
good chat on such occasions. To me, all these moments were
cherishing and often endearing. If only they could be shared by all
my other classmates. It was then that the thought of seizing this
opportunity of having a reunion on the occasion of the dinner to
celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the now Law Faculty came to
me. I personally called each of the classmates that I could think of
and still had their contacts. The turnout was impressive.
I might not have been able to catch up on all that had
happened to my classmates during the dinner, but I have the
feeling that we all had a good time. The smiles on our faces in the
photographs tell me that we are almost ready for another reunion
already. Wait to hear from me, dear friends. I hope I will be meeting
more of you the next time.
COMING HIGHLIGHT:
International Conference on Professional Ethics
19 & 21 March 2005
Professional ethics has become a topical issue not only for the
legal profession but also the community in recent years. As part of
the 35th Anniversary celebration programmes, the Law Faculty will
host an international conference on professional ethics on HKU
campus on 19 March 2005 (Saturday). The conference will bring
together leading local and international professionals and
academics to discuss and share views on current issues in judicial
and lawyers’ ethics in Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. Many
distinguished speakers are invited to participate in the conference.
The morning session of the conference will focus on the topic of
“Judicial Ethics” and the speakers will include The Honourable
Sir Anthony Mason (Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of
Final Appeal) and The Honourable Mr. Justice Patrick Chan
(Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal). The
afternoon session will cover the topic of “Lawyer Ethics” and the
speakers will include Mr. Edward Chan SC (Past Chairman of
the Bar Association), Mr. Peter Lo (Vice President of Law
Society), and Professor Adrian Evans from Monash
University, Australia. After the conference, all speakers will
assemble in Beijing the following day to attend a similar conference
on professional ethics co-organized by our faculty and Tsinghua
Caroline Chow (LLB 1983)
Law School to be held on 21 March. This represents another
important collaboration between the two law schools in areas of
common interests and concerns.
We welcome you to attend the conference held on campus on
19 March. Please visit our faculty website for more information on
the conference and registration details. We look forward to seeing
you at the conference!
Professor Adrian Evans
Mr. Edward Chan SC
Mr. Peter Lo
Anna Wu on
The Role of Law
Anna Wu (LLB 1974, PCLL 1975), a graduate of our Faculty,
is widely respected by both the legal profession and the
community at large. She is currently the Chairperson of the
PCLL Academic Board of our Faculty, in which role she
oversees the reform of our PCLL programme. In this article,
Anna shares with us her interesting life journey from being a
law student through careers in both the private and public
sectors to her current position as the Adviser to the Law
School of Shantou University.
The 35th anniversary night
of the Law Faculty was truly
a stellar and memorable
occasion. Graduates and
teachers gathered at Loke Yew
Hall – the place that marked the
beginning of higher learning in
Hong Kong. The Law Faculty
first started in a two low twostorey
buildings at the junction
of Seymour Road and Caine
Road, with stairs so narrow that
only one person could get
through at any one time, housed
the students, the teaching and
administrative staff and a small
library. There was a small
common room for students.
Generally the students gathered in the library, eating, chatting until
we were shooed away by someone. These buildings are now long
gone and have been replaced by a park.
The establishment of the Law Department in 1969 marked the
beginning of locally educated and qualified lawyers. Beginning with
the small close knit group of law students closeted away at Caine
Road, came the lawyers, judges, legislators, heads of public
bodies, government officials, leaders in business, education and
the community. This was a remarkable feat and a significant move
for Hong Kong. It was important for Hong Kong to have an
institution to sustain the development of the profession
and to build a community of professionals deeply rooted in
Hong Kong.
I wish to pay my heartfelt tributes to those who started it,
Professor Dafydd Evans, the first Dean, and those who were
there with him, Mr. Bernard Downey and Professor John Rear
of the original teaching staff, as well as Mr. Peter Rhodes, a later
Dean, who attended the dinner celebration. Then came the generation
of teaching staff who themselves were graduates of the Law Faculty.
This group of teachers is represented by Professor Johannes Chan
and Professor Albert Chen. I give them three big cheers.
I remember applying to the University of Hong Kong to study law
over three decades ago. My public exam results were barely good
enough for me to enter the University of Hong Kong but were not
good enough for me to pick and choose any course I wanted. In
the end it was two things that got me into law. The first was
someone telling me that it was a new faculty and therefore easy to
get into and the second was someone else saying that disliking the
study of law was not a good reason for not applying as I would
learn to like it in time.To make a long story short, I was accepted to
study law. It subsequently transpired that the Faculty accepted
only one out of every nine applicants and
competition was keen. I did not have the faintest
idea why I was picked. I was not motivated to
study law because I had not understood what its
significance was. This lack of interest was
compounded by the fact that law was taught in
compartments as tort, contract, evidence, taxation,
public administration, constitutional law etc. Real
life is not at all like that. Neither client nor
judge would tell you what your reading list
should be for the week or that you would be
examined on one single compartment of law.
I was acquiring knowledge and that process was
tedious for me without looking at the less clear cut,
more risky end of application.
I muddled my way through and I graduated. The
highlights for me during my years at the University
were walking up to the Peak with my fellow
classmates on crisp autumn days, going down to a side street in
Western for a bowl of congee in the middle of the night, arguing
with each other over just about anything, criticizing our teachers,
watching someone doze off, head bouncing and drooling in class
and finally graduating and getting the alumni medal. I did enjoy the
moot trials and the tutorials where my mind was allowed more
freedom.
Perhaps it was because that I did not actively choose to go into
law that I was anxious to get out of it after my first degree. I wanted
to experience the world and I applied for a UN job. What saved me
was that the UN actually responded to me, saying that because I
did not have a second degree or any working experience, it had no
job for me. It was at that point that I decided to continue my legal
studies and to complete my PCLL and training. I realized I would
go nowhere if I did not finish it.
It was during my time as a trainee in a solicitor’s firm that I became
more interested in law. Thinking back it was really a scary
experience. My client’s fortune and life were in my hands and it
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