In Hong Kong, the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL; Chinese: 法學專業證書) is an intensive one-year, full-time (or two-year, part-time) professional legal qualification programme.
It allows graduates to proceed to legal training in order to qualify to practice as either a barrister or a solicitor in Hong Kong.
Students may complete these core subjects: From September 2008 onwards, all candidates with overseas qualifications (i.e. not graduating with a law degree from local universities) must demonstrate competence in the following areas to be eligible for the PCLL:[3] Students may do so: The effect of these requirements is that PCLL entrants who wish to avoid the need to sit additional conversion examinations in these three subjects must either enroll on the Graduate Diploma in English and Hong Kong Law, which is jointly offered by the University of Hong Kong's School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE) as the course operator and Manchester Metropolitan University as the qualification awarding institution, or enroll with the law faculty of one of the three universities awarding LLB or JD degrees in Hong Kong.
In addition to the above admission requirements, all students applying for PCLL must take the IELTS English proficiency test (Academic Module), the results of which is not earlier than three years preceding the closing date for applications.
A minimum score of 7 is required, as set by the Standing Committee on Legal Education and Training.
Though there is no streaming in the PCLL programme between intending Barristers and Solicitors, students who intend to seek admission as a Barrister in Hong Kong must undertake the following three courses: Trial Advocacy (taught intensively in the summer term), Writing & Drafting Litigation Documents, and Conference Skills and Opinion Writing.
In the second semester, while the subjects taken remain identical for both streams, CPC students focus more on the commercial aspect (letter writing, agreement drafting, etc.
), while Litigation students focus more on the advocacy, pleadings drafting and opinion writing aspects.
Many students wishing to leave their options open may opt for the Bar Course even if they plan to be a solicitor in the short term, to avoid having to retake the PCLL.