General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3286 |
| Course name: | Law and Wealth Management |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Commercial, corporate and financial law |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value | 6 credits |
[This course is cross-listed to LLM elective. Senior year LLB students (i.e. LLB 3-4 and Double Degree 4-5) are allowed to take certain LLM courses as their law electives but subject to meet certain requirements (please see LLB course selection guidelines).]
1.2 Course description
Wealth for families is often managed using trusts, and the fiduciary management of those trusts creates interesting—and evolving—legal issues.
This course begins with an introduction to trust law and then examines issues related to wealth management and gratuitous transfer of wealth. The students will read law review articles and other contemporary articles and be asked to explore and reflect on recent developments in a number of areas, including the use of sustainable investing strategies by fiduciaries, the creation and management of charitable foundations, the use of family offices and international trust services, the use of a trust to hold and run a business, strategies to protect family assets from creditors and from disgruntled family members, the use of a trust to limit taxes imposed on family wealth, and the use of trusts as part of incapacity and succession planning. The course provides an overview of such uses with examples from Hong Kong, England, and the United States.
Class discussion will be an important part of the course, and students will be expected to have read and thought about the topics before the class meetings. For each topic students will be introduced to the topic with basic explanations and then be guided through an in-depth analysis of critical issues in each topic.
- AI policy
Students are allowed to use AI, but must include a disclosure statement with the following information:
- The name and website link of the AI tool used
- A description of how the tool was used (e.g., generate text, edit text, generate images)
- The specific prompts used
- An explanation of how the AI output was incorporated into their final work
- List of topics covered in the course
- An Overview of Trusts and Family Offices in Hong Kong and the United States
- Trusts for Succession Planning and Special Needs in Hong Kong and China
- ESG Investing and Trust Management
- Purpose Trusts for Sustainable Business Practices
- Charitable Trusts: A Hong Kong Perspective
- Preserving Private Wealth through Trusts in Hong Kong and the United States
- Trusts for Art Collection Management
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Lusina Ho | lusinaho@hku.hk | N/A | By email |
| Course convenor | Susan Gary | TBA | N/A | By email |
| Course convenor | Rebecca Lee | rebeccalee@hku.hk | N/A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Apply basic knowledge and understanding of trust law to new developments in the use of trusts to manage family wealth.
CLO 2 Analyze and explain the issues presented for each topic during the course.
CLO 3 Engage with academic writing and discussion about legal developments.
CLO 4 Develop an understanding of how common law legal structures operate differently in different countries.
CLO 5 Learn to analyze client issues and develop strategies to help clients attain their goals.
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 |
| Class participation and written comments in online platforms | TBC | 40% | 2, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Response essays | TBC | 60% | 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
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/