14th Five-Year Plan brings multiple opportunities: Hong Kong legal sector

HONG KONG, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The "Policies, Strategies and Opportunities" webinar on opportunities for Hong Kong's legal industry under the 14th Five-Year Plan was held on Monday, with participants saying that the plan brought multiple opportunities to the legal profession in Hong Kong.

The event was co-organized by the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the Law Society of Hong Kong.

Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the webinar that the country supports Hong Kong in building an international legal and dispute resolution services center in the Asia-Pacific region, and supports Hong Kong in upgrading its status as an international financial, shipping and trade center and an international aviation hub. Legal services in these areas in Hong Kong are still at a developmental stage and deserve more attention, he said.

Leung said that Hong Kong lawyers can act as a "super-connector" between the legal services at home and abroad. The mainland's demand for Hong Kong's legal services provides good opportunities for Hong Kong's legal profession to contribute to the country, he noted.

Maria Tam Wai-chu, deputy director of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that in the 14th Five-Year Plan there are rich contents about giving full play to Hong Kong's advantages, adding that Hong Kong should better integrate itself into the overall development of the country.

The "dual circulation" development pattern mentioned in the 14th Five-Year Plan offers opportunities for Hong Kong, and Hong Kong should seize them, Tam added.

Teresa Cheng, secretary for justice of the HKSAR government, said the Department of Justice will make good use of Hong Kong's advantages in legal and dispute resolution services, continue to solidify Hong Kong's position as an international legal hub, and join hands with the industry to seize the opportunities generated by the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Cheng said the department is working closely with relevant mainland authorities to implement more measures to open up legal services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

President of the Law Society of Hong Kong Melissa Kaye Pang said that qualified Hong Kong legal practitioners can obtain the qualification for practice in specific areas of mainland laws in nine cities in the Greater Bay Area by passing a special examination.

Pang said that more than 600 Hong Kong legal practitioners have signed up for the examination, adding she believed that more Hong Kong lawyers will participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area in the future.