Faculty News

Master of Laws (LLM) in Chinese Business Law is Ranked as Top 200 Best Master Programs Worldwide and No. 2 in Far East Asia in Business and Commercial Law

The Eduniversal Masters Ranking of the Best Masters and MBA worldwide from 2013-14 to 2015-16 has ranked our Master of Laws in Chinese Business Law in the top 200 best master programs worldwide and no. 2 in Far East Asia in business and commercial law. The Master of Laws in International Law also received the same award in 2012-13.


Jessup

CUHK LAW Moot Team Wins White & Case Jessup Cup in Hong Kong Rounds

The Faculty of Law students won the coveted White & Case Jessup Cup in the regional rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition, and represented Hong Kong to participate in the international rounds of competition held in Washington DC in March 2016.

It also swept the board of other awards in the regional competition, winning prizes for Best Applicant Memorial, Best Respondent Memorial (with City University), Best Oralist, and Second Runner-Up Oralist.

The team comprised Icarus Chan (LLB), Siegfried Sin (LLB), Lesley Luo (LLB), Eugene Kwan (LLB), Agnes Yeung (LLB), and coached by Professor Kirsten Sellars and Charmaine Ng (PCLL).

“Our entire Jessup journey lasted from July to early April. We met twice a week before the memo submission and virtually on a daily basis after the memo submission in early January. It was both exhilarating and exhausting for winning the Jessup Cup! However, I think the key success behind our big sweep in the regional rounds this year was due to the incredible support from the Faculty and our fellow Jessup alum”, said Charmaine Ng, student coach of the team.

Click here to see the sharing of the team.


Vis East

CUHK LAW Students Win The 13th Willem C. VIS (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot

The Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong won the championship at the 13th Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot (Vis East Moot), a prestigious international mooting competition.

The Vis East Moot was held in Hong Kong from 7 – 13 March 2016. This year, 115 law schools from 31 jurisdictions in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America including top institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, University College London, the National University of Singapore and Monash University participated in the competition.

In the competition, the CUHK team argued against teams from Germany, Indonesia, Sweden, India, Britain and Singapore. Apart from winning the championship – “David Hunter Award for the Law School Team Prevailing in the Oral Arguments”, the team was also awarded an “Honourable Mention (top 10%) for their Respondent’s Memorandum”. An “Honourable Mention (top 10%) for Oral Advocacy” also went to Hermia Chik, one of the oralists of the team. The win was the culmination of a remarkable rise since 2013 when the team made it to the semi-finals in the competition.

Professor Peter Rhodes, who has taken a team to the Vis East Moot since 2007, was very proud of his students’ great results. He chalked up the latest win to the students’ extremely hard work and their dedication to learning from each previous year’s experience. Professor Rhodes said “I am so proud of these students. As a group, from year to year, they are always striving to be better. Students from previous years help us with coaching in the succeeding years. A lot of team work goes into a win like this. Their success is richly deserved. This notable result proves that CUHK LAW students have the ability to compete with the best teams in the world. Moreover, these mooting competitions provide an invaluable educational experience for our students and help develop them into mature professionals and outstanding advocates.”

The winning team consisted of three oralists, Hermia Chik, Chester Kwan and Raymond Shek. Other team members, who were responsible for conducting research and writing memoranda, included Pauline Fong, Patrick Lau, Cristen Bauer, John Fong, Frank Tsui, LK Shiu, Salman Tariq, Alan Lee and Phyllissa Chan. This year the team was comprised of students from the Faculty’s Bachelor of Laws programme, Juris Doctor programme and Postgraduate Certificate in Laws programme. The team was coached by Professor Peter Rhodes, who was assisted by Jennifer Leung, Charlotte Wong, George Lau and Tonny Yu, all of whom were members of last year’s moot team.


ICC Moot

CUHK LAW Team Wins ICC Moot Court Competition, Chinese version

CUHK LAW is proud to announce that a team of its students won the International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot Court Competition, Chinese version. CUHK emerged victorious over the two legs of the international competition, held in Beijing and The Hague. This year’s competition included 27 teams from leading Chinese law schools including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, amongst others.

In Beijing, the team was ranked amongst the top three teams and claimed the prize for Best Prosecution Oralist (awarded to You Zhongyuan (LLB)). The team then advanced to the Final, which was held in Courtroom I of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on 10 June 2016, before a distinguished panel of judges: ICC Judge Christine Baroness Van den Wyngaert (presiding), ICTY Judge Liu Daqun and ICC Legal Officer Ms Eleni Chaitidou. There the team emerged as Champions.

The team consisted of Fang Meng (PhD), You Zhongyuan (LLB), Qiu Yi (LLB), Jin Ziyan (LLB), Lin Siyi (MPhil) and Yuen Ching (LLM), who all showed dedication, spirit and talent in tackling the many complex issues of international criminal law in the moot problem.

The ICC Moot (Chinese) began in 2014 as the sister competition to the English competition which had begun in 2007. CUHK has good form in both versions, having reached the semi-finals twice in the English version and winning the Prize for Best Prosecution Team and Prize for Best Oralist in 2015. CUHK also reached the Grand Final of the Chinese version in 2014, demonstrating the school’s continued success in international mooting.


CG Hart Talk

A Talk on The Role of Law in Combatting Trafficking in Persons by U.S. Consul General Clifford A. Hart, Jr.

Clifford A. Hart, Jr., U.S. Consul General, delivered a speech on ‘The Role of Law in Combatting Trafficking in Persons’ on 13 April 2016 at the Graduate Law Centre, Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Consul General Hart shared his insights with the students, Faculty members and professionals from the legal sector concerning the problem of human trafficking and the role of legal reform in tackling the issue.  The topics inspired insightful exchange between the speaker and the audience.


Justice Arbour Talk Small

A Public Lecture on “Finding Common Ground between East and West: Discussing Common Values and Aspirations” by The Honourable Louise Arbour

In recent years, political and social developments in Hong Kong have led to protracted discussion on issues of discrimination, diversity and the universality of human rights. Central in this discussion are the shared Hong Kong and Canadian values of freedom of expression, commitment to the rule of law and human rights.

The  Honourable Louise Arbour, Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, delivered a public lecture on 30 May 2016 at Graduate Law Centre to share her insights on Canada’s human rights, diversity and inclusion journey and on how Hong Kong and Canada can prosper as diverse and inclusive societies.


Details of other mooting success could be found here.

Details of Faculty’s news could be found here.

Details of Faculty’s events could be found here.

Posted in Newsletter July 2016.