In October 2019 Law Clinic Director, Kate Laverty, attended a conference to celebrate 50 years of the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong.

“I was delighted to be invited to a Conference in Hong Kong, in October 2019, to celebrate 50 years of the Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong. The conference was on Experiential Learning and Innovations in Legal Education.  It drew on the experience of a number of experts in this field from various parts of the world including, China, USA, Australia, Hong Kong, and the UK. We also heard from those in other disciplines in Hong Kong including medicine, dentistry, and education all of which gave a very interesting insight to different approaches to experiential learning.

“Many different approaches to legal education were discussed from Monash University whose students are guaranteed participation in a Clinical programme to the use of simulation in others. Some talked about advances in AI and how we should prepare our students for developments of this nature. Tania Leiman from Flinders University, Australia teaches classes on Law in a Digital Age (which includes building AI legal apps to increase access to justice) and Law in Action (which includes a law reform clinic working on legal implications of emerging technologies). Sun Yat Sen’s University Clinic had similarities to ours at Strathclyde in that it is involved in labour rights and their students represent their clients in courts and tribunals.

“It was fantastic to hear about what was going on in teaching and Clinics in various parts of the world and our University of Hong Kong hosts were extremely warm and welcoming and organised a very informative and interesting conference. We wish them all the best for the next 50 years.

“It was particularly nice for me to return to Hong Kong having lived and worked there for a few years in the early nineties. It is a very vibrant and interesting city and we hope that it manages to resolve its recent difficulties in the near future.”

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