Clinical Legal Education and Knowledge Exchange

Abstract:

In 2010, the Faculty of Law launched a new clinical legal education course for its undergraduate and taught post-graduate students. The course is innovative for legal education in Hong Kong as it uses experiential learning to enhance student learning while adding value to the community in the form of knowledge exchange. In the general stream, law students, under the supervision of faculty members and voluntary qualified lawyers, provide assistance to qualified lawyers who give legal advice to members of the community on a pro bono basis. The clients of this programme are ordinary persons who would otherwise be without legal advice. The feedback from them thus far is positive and encouraging. In the refugee stream, law students, under the supervision of a clinical director, help clients of the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (HKRAC) with their refugee claims before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The knowledge transferred from our students to the HKRAC has already contributed to one successful refugee claim.