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The Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is celebrating this year its 10th anniversary. As an occasion to mark its remarkable achievements as a centre of excellence for legal education, the Faculty co-hosts with the International Association of Law Schools the ‘2016 Asia-Pacific Law Deans’ Forum’ from April 7 to April 10, 2016.

Featuring the theme of ‘Envisioning the Future of Legal Education Globally – Inside the Crystal Ball’, this high-level Forum attracted more than 30 Law Deans and Associate Deans of leading law schools from 15 jurisdictions to attend, including Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, mainland China, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.

At the opening of the Forum on April 8, Professor Christopher Gane, Dean of the Faculty of Law of CUHK; Professor Francis SL Wang, Dean Emeritus of Kenneth Wang School of Law and President / Chairman of the International Association of Law Schools; and Professor Barbara Holden-Smith, Vice-Dean of Cornell Law School and General Secretary and Treasurer of the International Association of Law Schools, delivered an welcoming speech. Professor Francis Wang advised that the major challenges currently faced by the law schools include globalization, which lead to the issues on language, changing legal market, teaching pedagogy towards empirical studies, imbalance of resources, brain drain, cultural and legal hegemony; regulation; evaluation and ranking; creation of a more relevant educational experience for the new generation.

The Forum consists of four plenary discussions, with each followed by small group discussions.  Participants of the Forum engaged in a collective reflection on questions that bear on the future of legal education, both globally and locally. The questions discussed included the challenges and opportunities in providing top-quality education that meets the changing needs of the legal profession and society; roles of law schools in Asia-Pacific in educating professionals operating in a globalized world; the future direction of legal education; and how should law schools in Asia-Pacific rise to the challenges to shape a common future, amongst others.

Professor Christopher Gane, Dean of CUHK Law, expressed, “In the era of globalization, law schools have a pivotal role in equipping students with specific knowledge and skills to prepare for the practice of tomorrow.  These include the ability to analyse legal issues from a comparative perspective, and the ability to operate in a globalized environment with keen awareness of local conditions.”  Dean Gane also shared his insights into the ongoing reform of professional legal education and training in Hong Kong; internationalization of legal services and legal training in Hong Kong and beyond; competition from outside of Hong Kong in various fields, e.g. arbitration, and so on.

The insights from the Forum helped inform the ongoing discussions on the future of legal education in Hong Kong.  It also provided an invaluable platform for the law schools in Asia-Pacific to collaborate and build a networked improvement community which is essential in the globalized world.