LLAW3269
General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3269 |
| Course name: | Legal Foundations for Global Health and Development |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | International trade and economic law |
| Prerequisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 15 |
1.2 Course description
In post-COVID-19 era, lawyers face unprecedented legal, ethical and business challenges arising from the fast changing global environment. However, globalized legal practice also presents new opportunities for innovative and creative lawyers. The Internet and other new media are radically transforming globalized legal practice.
This course uses cutting edge hypothetical scenarios and real cases in Hong Kong, Australia and United States to (a) teach how lawyers adopt innovation and creativity to promote legal practice and access to justice in the post-COVID-19 era and (b) expose students to the serious legal and ethical consequence that may follow from seemingly trivial decisions in legal practice.
The course will also be the first course in Hong Kong and Asia to teach mindful ethics to help law students cope with pressures brought about by current legal studies and future legal careers in post-COVID-19 era. It will also share insights on how legal mindfulness can help them reduce stress and develop ethical decision-making strategies. In particular, it teaches them how to practice mindful communications, mindful actions and mindful livelihood in their daily lives to develop themselves into innovative, creative and ethical lawyers.
The course will include a research paper to afford students the opportunity to research on innovative, creative and ethical aspects (including mindful ethics) of legal practice. This course will enhance the learning experience of students and the frequency and quality of interactions between students, teachers and guest speakers. Students will learn from innovative, creative and ethical lawyers, including “NewLaw” practitioners, and local and overseas experts in mindful ethics.
Key topics of this course include:
- Introducing Concepts of Innovation, Creativity and Ethics & Their Importance to the Practice of Law
- Legal Process Innovations and Design Thinking for Asian Legal Practices
- Mindful Ethics for Globalized Legal Practice
- Alternative Forms of Legal Services Delivery in Australia
- Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data: Technological Transformation of Globalized Legal Practice
- Alternative Forms of Legal Services in UK
- Innovations and Creativity in Law Firm Marketing
- Ethical Issues in Globalized Legal Practice I: Conflicts of Interests
- Ethical Issues in Globalized Legal Practice II: Confidentiality
- Ethical Issues in Globalized Legal Practice III: Technological Competence
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Eric Ip | ericcip@hku.hk | CCT 705 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Students will be able to acquaint themselves with basic concepts of global health law, international moves towards a right to global health, the fundamental human right of access to basic medical services, national and coordinated international responses to and the management of global health hazards, the socio-legal management of and legal responses to risky behaviours.
CLO 2 Students will be able to understand the role of international law, treaties and instruments touching on global health concerns, and how international law operates, and how it is different from national law.
CLO 3 Students will be able to understand the constitution, function, role and effectiveness of key international global health organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization and so on. Through case studies of selected examples on key pressing current issues such as national and international responses to SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and COVID-19, as well as an assessment of the state of national and international preparedness for highly-pathogenic future pandemics and the effectiveness of public health measures such as that for tobacco control, understand what role national and international law can play, as well as of the limitations of both national and international law.
CLO 4 Students will be able to familiarize themselves with International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), as well as of their impact through examining responses of the various IHR Emergency Committees, as well as through an assessment of the relationships between international health organisations such as the WHO and national agencies.
CLO 5 Students will be able to make a case for the argument for basic medical services as a fundamental human right, particularly in the context of the links between health access on the one hand and economic and social development and social stability of developing countries on the other.
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 | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Coursework | TBC | 50% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Final exam | TBC | 50% | 1 | 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
To be advised by course convenor(s).
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
| Seminar: | 3 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 course convenor(s).
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/