During the 2018/19 academic year we have endeavoured to move up a gear at the Careers Office, with a number of additional services to supplement the core programme which we have developed over the last 4-5 years. As well as our regular series of careers seminars and other events, and the information we provide on the Virtual Careers Resource Centre, we have made greater efforts to maintain contacts and exchange information with potential employers of our students through targeted mailshots and follow-up with all of Hong Kong’s law firms and barristers’ chambers, along with other potential employers in the legal services market. This has led to a much greater response, mainly from the local law firms with whom we have in the past found difficulty in developing relationships, and the consequent listing of a much greater number of training contract opportunities than before. This initiative has been necessary in light of feedback from students who feel that, in the absence of any clearing house in Hong Kong for training contracts and mini-pupillages, they are faced with a “needle in the haystack” exercise in trying to find a place in the 800 or so local law firms and smaller sets of chambers.
In the coming year we propose to run a parallel initiative to facilitate the search for paralegal positions, which are much sought after by a number of our graduating LLM students who often wish to bolster their (mostly) mainland career prospects by adding Hong Kong work experience to their CVs. Again, in the absence of any established forum for the marketing of such vacancies, these job applicants otherwise currently have little choice but to write “blind” to a large number of firms in the hope of finding a position.
Additionally, in order to assist those in applying for internships to the larger local and international law firms, we have provided a much greater number of opportunities for one-on-one targeted career preparation, both for CVs and interviews as well as for meeting the demands of the increasingly sophisticated recruitment methods employed by these firms. This is supplemented by the availability of follow-up “surgeries” to help students target the firms or chambers most suited to their individual academic and personal skill level, recognising the increasing importance of both the use of behavioural questioning by recruiters and the disruptive effect of new technology on career choices.
One side-effect of technology has been the entry into the legal services market of a number of alternative service providers (ASPs) with a career path that is somewhat different from that in traditional law firms. Recognising these firms and evaluating their suitability as a career option has presented a new challenge. But one of the counter-intuitive results of the relentless march of technology into the legal services field has also been the even greater emphasis upon the need for personal and professional skills in candidates for legal jobs which, as mentioned in the last newsletter, presents a particular hurdle in Hong Kong where the local education system still largely fails to promote the necessary confidence and character-building skills that are required to meet this challenge.
Once again our heartfelt thanks to those who have participated in the past year in our Distinguished Professional Mentor (DPM) and alumni mentoring schemes. For those who are confused about this I should remind you that the DPM scheme caters for our LLB students alone, and generally comprises more senior lawyers, whereas the alumni mentoring programme is available to all students, with mentors come from our ever-growing cohort of Law Faculty alumni with varying levels of workplace experience. If you would like to sign up as a DPM then please contact Mr. Richard MORRIS at law.alumni@cuhk.edu.hk. Mentorship via the alumni programme is open to all and can be accessed by logging in to the platform at https://alumni.law.cuhk.edu.hk with alumni email and password.
PAUL MITCHARD
Director of Career Planning and Professionalism