【Strengthening Competitiveness in Greater Bay Area】

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Since as early as 2003 after the signing of the main text of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement ("CEPA") on 29 June 2003, the Law Society has been lobbying for reciprocal recognition of the practice experience of Hong Kong solicitors for the purpose of sitting the legal qualifying examination in the Mainland, the State Judicial Examination, so that they are eligible to sit the examination and to apply for exemption from sitting certain relevant subjects based on their practice area. This mechanism is similar to the recognition given to lawyers admitted in non-common law jurisdictions (including Mainland lawyers) when they sit the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination (‘OLQE”) in Hong Kong.

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The proposal was further refined in 2004 to model on the OLQE, where a special examination was suggested for eligible Hong Kong solicitors taking into account their practice experience and targeting the practice areas in demand in the Mainland market.

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Despite unenthusiastic feedback from the Mainland authorities, Our President have not given up. Our President raised the proposal at every opportunity with the Beijing authorities and included it in every CEPA wish list. With the development of the Greater Bay Area, the Law Society further refined the proposal and suggested a pilot scheme could perhaps start in the Greater Bay Area.

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Our President are so pleased that the Law Society’s years of lobbying on this matter have come to fruition. On 11 August, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed a decision to authorise the State Council on the implementation of pilot measures (on a three-year basis) for Hong Kong legal practitioners to obtain Mainland practice qualifications by passing a special qualifying examination. Upon qualification, these Hong Kong legal practitioners will be entitled to practise as Mainland lawyers in the nine municipalities in the Greater Bay Area.  This is an important breakthrough for Hong Kong solicitors to gain additional qualifications and strengthen their ability to expand their services into the Greater Bay Area, a vast market with huge business potentials. Our President expect further details to be announced soon and Our President will report further.

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Melissa K. Pang

President

(Information from The Law Society of Hong Kong)