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.