Hong Kong ramps up efforts to boost status as legal talent hub with launch of new academy
City’s new academy will work with global organisations, strengthening exchanges in regions under the Belt and Road Initiative, John Lee says
Hong Kong launched an academy for training international legal talent in the city during a forum on Friday, with the justice minister saying preliminary discussions for its offerings had started earlier this week.
The newly established Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy showed the government’s commitment to cultivating expertise in that field, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on the final day of the Hong Kong Legal Week.
“[The academy] will also collaborate with international organisations and legal bodies, strengthening exchanges in regions under the Belt and Road Initiative, while underlining Hong Kong’s status as a capacity-building centre for legal talent throughout the region and beyond,” Lee said.
Secretary of Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said Yang Ling had been appointed as the director of the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Office, while a committee consisting of 17 experts and scholars also met on Thursday.
“We had some preliminary exchanges. Everyone will understand that since it’s the first meeting after the office was established, we hope to announce concrete plans in due course after gathering different opinions,” Lam told the forum.
The justice minister said his proposal to add mediation clauses to government contracts would bolster the use of this dispute resolution mechanism in society.
