HKU Faculty of Law at Half a Century – Hong Kong’s First Law School (1969–Present)

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Comprehensive Information Database · Academic Module 01 This article traces the half-century evolution of HKU’s Faculty of Law from a "department" to a "faculty". For an in-depth look at disciplinary strengths, see deepdive-law.md; for an overview of faculties/departments, see faculties.md; matters concerning controversies over the faculty's former dean (presenting all sides, no adjudication) belong to the unofficial history section, see ../13-governance-and-reform/pro-vice-chancellor-2015.md. The 00–12 reference areas of this repository present verified facts and real names; no credibility badges are assigned.

# 1. Origins: Why Hong Kong Needed a Local Law School

Before 1969, Hong Kong had no local law school — anyone aspiring to study law had to travel abroad, principally to the United Kingdom, for their training. Legal education and professional qualification were heavily dependent on overseas institutions. The establishment of the Department of Law at HKU was designed to change that.

As compiled by Wikipedia^※, the Faculty of Law was established with three aims:

1. To increase the local supply of lawyers — alleviating the shortage of legal talent;
2. To train lawyers in Hong Kong law (not merely English law) — anchoring legal education in local practice;
3. To make formal legal education "available locally" — so that students would not need to go abroad to receive professional training.

# 2. The Three-Step Elevation: Department → School → Independent Faculty

According to the official history page^※ and the Wikipedia entry^※:

According to the official page^※, HKU’s LLB and PCLL were the first locally accredited university qualifications in Hong Kong on the basis of which one could apply to practise law — effectively closing the loop on the "locally trained, locally practising" chain.

# 3. Expansion of the Programme Portfolio

The curriculum of the HKU Faculty of Law progressively expanded from the initial LLB and PCLL into a complete legal education system:

• According to the official page^※, the Master of Laws (LLM) programme began in 1989;
• According to the official page^※, the Juris Doctor (JD) professional degree was introduced in 2009;
• According to the official page^※, its Master of Common Law has, since 1997, provided common-law training to over 350 mainland Chinese judges and government officials — a distinctive role connecting the legal systems of Hong Kong and mainland China (for cross-border and mainland-student topics, see ../16-mainland-students/welcome.md).

# 4. Present-Day Scale and the "50th Anniversary"

• According to the official page^※, from a single teaching department in 1969, the Faculty has grown to house approximately 2,500 students and over 80 full-time academic staff, drawn from roughly 17 jurisdictions.
• According to a 2019 HKU press release^※, the Faculty of Law marked its 50th anniversary in 2019 and commemorated its half-century journey with the "HKU Law at 50" series of events, including a walk-through tour open to the public.

# Unconfirmed / Pending Verification (Partially Updated)

• The exact official dates for the two elevations in 1978 and 1984: The official history page focuses on the 1969 founding and the curriculum; the "1978 School / 1984 Faculty" dates are compiled from Wikipedia, and precise dates would require consulting the HKU archives.
• Key founding figure (now added): Based on a review in Hong Kong Lawyer of the faculty history monograph^※, the pivotal figure behind the Department’s creation was Professor Dafydd Evans — seconded from the London School of Economics (LSE), he tirelessly pushed for the establishment of a more institutionally robust legal education body, and has been described as "perhaps the single most important figure in the Faculty's history". He served as Head of Department and later Dean until 1987, and was awarded an OBE in 1989 for his services to legal education. To mark the Faculty’s 50th anniversary, HKU Press published a commissioned history by Dr Christopher Munn, A Special Standing in the World: The Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong, 1969–2019, based on archival research, published sources, and oral-history interviews. In six chapters, it alternates between the Faculty’s internal history and the story of how it helped shape Hong Kong’s modern legal system; the review notes that the history of the HKU Faculty of Law "is, to a large degree, the history of modern Hong Kong law" — the Faculty transformed what was a "colonial legal backwater" into a thriving common-law jurisdiction operating under "One Country, Two Systems", with its graduates now accounting for more than half of Hong Kong’s judiciary and legal profession.
• Year-by-year student and staff numbers: The official page gives only a current overview; historical data require consulting HKU annual reports.

# 5. What Does "Hong Kong’s First Law School" Really Mean?

Calling the HKU Faculty of Law "Hong Kong’s first law school" is not merely a matter of chronological precedence. It marks a substantial transformation in the structure of Hong Kong’s legal profession and its rule of law — a point worth unpacking.

Before 1969, virtually all of Hong Kong’s barristers and solicitors obtained their qualifications through legal education and professional training overseas, principally in England. This meant two things: first, the law was a highly overseas-dependent profession with an exceptionally high barrier to entry, open only to those who could afford to study abroad; second, the local supply of legally trained talent was far too scarce to meet the legal-service demands of a rapidly urbanising and commercialising Hong Kong. The creation of the Department of Law fundamentally altered this landscape — it made "locally trained, locally qualified" a viable path, converting legal education from an "overseas privilege for the elite" into a "professionally accessible route at home".

At a deeper level, the HKU Faculty of Law from the outset stressed the importance of training lawyers in Hong Kong law, not only English law. This seemingly technical orientation had profound consequences: it meant that Hong Kong’s legal talent began systematically to study, teach, and develop local case law and legislation, rather than simply applying English precedents. This incubated the local human capital and doctrinal foundations that would later enable Hong Kong to sustain a relatively mature and independent common-law system, and to continue that system after 1997 under "One Country, Two Systems". Viewed in this light, the Faculty’s "first" represents a cornerstone in the localisation of Hong Kong’s rule of law — which is why personnel matters concerning its dean (such as the 2015 pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy, see ../13-governance-and-reform/pro-vice-chancellor-2015.md) have attracted public attention extending far beyond the campus.