CNews Issue 3, 2009

Law is about the people it serves. How firmly the rule of law can take root in a community can sometimes be measured by the accessibility of the law to the public and how much the public understands about the law. Legal education is therefore not just about our own students and graduates, or even about the professionals. An independent legal system can only be strengthened if everyone plays a part. The rule of law can only be upheld if it is something that everyone in the community subscribes to, and indeed, internalises as our core values. As Mr Justice Learned Hand so nicely put it, “It lies in the hearts of men and women, when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.” Since 2001, the Faculty’s Law and Technology Centre has run the Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII) database which offers free access to updated Hong Kong legislation, cases and other important legal information, such as Law Reform Commission’s Reports, for anyone who needs to consult such information. The number of hits on the Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII) database has increased from 15,170,951 in 2006 to 27,680,465 in 2007, and to 48,308,266 in 2008. As a further step to disseminate legal knowledge to the general public, the Centre, together with the Department of Justice of the HKSAR, established the Community Legal Information Centre (CLIC), which provides to the general public basic information of the law in selected areas in layman language. The CLIC focuses on areas close to the daily life of the ordinary public, like conveyancing, landlord and tenants, consumer complaints, employment and labour issues, family disputes, anti-discrimination and immigration. The Faculty plans to establish a legal clinic, and a pilot scheme was introduced in early 2009 where a group of our students work in the Small Claims Tribunal, under the supervison of academics and teachers qualified to practise, to offer assistance to claimants. The idea is, on one hand, to allow students to apply what they have learned in classrooms to real cases and, on the other hand, to provide free legal services to members of the public. Experience in the legal clinic very often can help cultivate a sense of duty and service among law students and graduates, which is extremely important to their future career and professional development. At the same time, our students regularly organised law exhibitions and talks in the community. As a further step to make the law and legal education accessible, the Faculty is making many of its public lectures by distinguished legal scholars and judges available to the world through its webpage. “Access to the Law” Making a Reality The rule of law can only be upheld if it is something that everyone in the community subscribes to, and indeed, internalises as our core values. Legal Exhibition organised by the Law Association, HKUSU at Citywalk on Nov 8, 2009. Cover Story 11