Online Legal Education in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article provides an overview of undergraduate, postgraduate, qualifying, and continuing legal education, and the relationship between legal education and the legal profession in Hong Kong. Within these categories, it considers the current progress of Hong Kong towards online legal education and the use of information technology in legal education and within the legal sector, with a particular focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article observes that the development of Hong Kong online legal education had remained largely stagnant in the pre-pandemic times. During the pandemic, the resort to online legal education in law schools seems to take the approach of ‘emergency remote teaching’, with a tendency to revert to face-to-face methods of course delivery and assessment whenever permitted under the pandemic restrictions. On the other hand, continuing legal education has successfully moved towards hybrid or fully online modes of delivery and may sustain in the future. It is argued that the Hong Kong legal education community, and more generally, the Hong Kong higher education sector, should take bold steps towards adopting well-designed and effective online pedagogies and assessment practices. As the legal profession and the judiciary in Hong Kong gradually improve their capacities and capabilities to utilise information technology and online tools, the legal education offered in the region must not shy away from responsibilities to equip aspiring legal professionals with technological skills in preparation for their future legal practice.