General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3004 |
| Course name: | Use of Chinese in Law II |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
| Remark: | Students taking the course will be assumed to be reasonably proficient in traditional Chinese (written) and Cantonese (oral). |
1.2 Course description
This course aims at developing the Chinese verbal (and, to the extent required, written) communication skills required for legal practice. Conducted in traditional Chinese (written) and Cantonese (oral), this course provides hands-on training in Chinese communication skills in both contentious settings (with a focus on making submissions to the court) and non-contentious settings (with a focus on interviewing clients), including client-management and advocacy techniques, so as to develop the Chinese verbal communication skills for lawyers. There will be intensive training, advocacy practice and role-play sessions with individualised assessment and feedback from the course convenors and practitioners. This course focuses on verbal Chinese, and another course namely “Use of Chinese in law I” (LLAW3055), focuses on written Chinese. Neither course is a prerequisite or co-requisite for the other, and students are free to take either or both courses.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Edmund Cham | chamske1@hku.hk | N/A | By email appointment |
| Course convenor | Alice Lee | alicelee@hku.hk | CCT 412 | By email appointment |
1.4 About the course teacher
Edmund Cham is a HKU law graduate and practised as a solicitor until 1996. He has been doing legal translation work for more than 20 years, serving the Judiciary, the Law Society, the Bar Association, law firms and other organizations, and has been conducting legal translation courses for judges and court interpreters. He is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, coordinating this course, “Use of Chinese in Law I” (LLAW3055), and “Use of Chinese I” (PCLL), and Lecturer at the School of Chinese, coordinating compulsory legal Chinese courses for undergraduate law students,
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for the course
CLO 1 Learn the basic skills of using verbal Chinese, including terminology, verbal communication skills and presentation skills.
CLO 2 Learn the professional skills of using verbal Chinese in both contentious settings (specifically, making submissions to the court) and non-contentious settings (specifically, interviewing clients) as well as lawyering skills including client-management and advocacy techniques.
CLO 3 Apply the basic and professional skills of using verbal Chinese in simulated real-life situations, with a view to resolving issues, problems and disputes within the legal parameters and building student confidence in using verbal Chinese in various settings.
CLO 4 Learn from practitioners and through hands-on training the importance of mastering verbal Chinese communication skills, bearing in mind a diverse range of audience from judges through practitioners to the public.
CLO 5 Stimulate thoughts and ideas on the future development of the use of Chinese in the Hong Kong legal environment.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | 10% | 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Client interview | 30% | 2, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4. 5 |
| Advocacy exercise (Civil) | 30% | 2, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Advocacy exercise (Criminal) | 30% | 2, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
One individual oral presentation on a legal concept and a client interview in the first half of the course, and two advocacy exercises (one civil and one criminal) in the second half of the course. Details to be announced by course coordinators.
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Lecture: | 2 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by the course convenors.
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/