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Prof. Queenie Lai

01_Queenie Lai

Professor Queenie Lai currently serves as Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning of CUHK Faculty of Law. She formerly served as the Deputy Programme Director of the Postgraduate Certificate of Laws (PCLL) Programme.

Professor Lai specialises in teaching corporate practice and is the course leader for a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including Corporate Finance, and Writing and Drafting Commercial Documents (Mergers & Acquisitions). Over the years, she has taught many subjects in the Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws and Postgraduate Certificate of Laws Program including Commercial Practice, Public Listed Companies and the Law, Business and the Law in Hong Kong and Professional Practice.

Prof. Lai was selected by the Pro Vice-Chancellor and awarded the CUHK Faculty of Law’s inaugural Excellent Teacher Award in recognition of her commitment to excellence in teaching in 2015. She received the CUHK Faculty of Law Teaching Excellence Award again in 2018.

Prof. Lai is also the Principal Investigator of the “Simulated Clients in Professional Legal Education” project, awarded a teaching grant of HK$459,250 for the 2016-2019 triennium by the University Grants Committee.

Prior to joining CUHK in 2010, Prof. Lai practiced as a corporate finance lawyer at leading international law firm Clifford Chance’s various offices including Hong Kong, Shanghai and London. She assisted Chinese and multinational corporate clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and participated in a variety of initial public offerings in Hong Kong. She also has experience with Clifford Chance’s London leading private equity group and advised major international private equity houses on its various acquisitions and disposals in Europe.

Due to her innate interest in teaching and training, Prof. Lai joined Slaughter & May, London as Legal Corporate Training Manager, where she had overall responsibility for firmwide corporate training. Prof. Lai also has experience with an investment bank in Hong Kong where she provided tailor-made fundraising solutions to various corporate clients from a range of industries in the region.

Prof. Lai received her Bachelors and Masters of Arts in Law degree from the University of Cambridge and was a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship award recipient. She also received her Masters of Law degree with Distinction from the Georgetown University as a Rotary International Scholar. She studied at United World College of South East Asia, Singapore with full scholarship and is also an alumna of Diocesan Girls’ School, Hong Kong.

Prof. Lai has studied and practiced in Cambridge, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Washington D.C., and Shanghai. She was admitted as a Solicitor in the High Court of Hong Kong and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Changing Trends of Legal Education in Hong Kong – Turning Law Students into Lawyers and Future Leaders of Society

Abstract:
The speaker will discuss some of the changing trends of legal education in Hong Kong and examine the fundamental aims of legal education. 

It’s an ever changing and challenging time to enter the industry – how should legal educators adequately prepare students to join an increasingly competitive job market? What are the skillset, mindset and abilities required in the changing legal landscape? Success of any legal education program lies not in its relationship with examination results, but whether students are actually better prepared for the practice of law. 

At a time when regulators around the world are turning to summative and centralized assessments, experience and research have shown how the combination of formative assessment and reflection in a practice based context equip students with transferable skills and ultimately translates to better prepared lawyers. The focus on centralized assessments and test scores undervalues interpersonal capabilities, practical lawyering skills, emotional intelligence and ethical commitments that are crucial for success in the profession.