Hostname: page-component-6d856f89d9-fb4gq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T07:10:06.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Legal Professionalism and the Ethical Challenge for Legal Education: Insights from a Comparative Study of Future Lawyers in Greater China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2020

Richard Wai-Sang Wu ,
Carlos Wing-Hung Lo  and
Ning Liu
Richard Wai-Sang Wu*
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
Carlos Wing-Hung Lo
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Email: carlos.lo@cuhk.edu.hk.
Ning Liu
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong. Email: ninliu@cityu.edu.hk.
*
Email: richwswu@hku.hk (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article uses data gathered from a survey that probed the career orientations and values of more than 1,000 law students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei to examine the legal professionalism of future lawyers being trained under different legal education systems in Greater China. Our findings suggest that these future lawyers have a “materialistic” career orientation, although those studying in a system whose legal education goal is to train professional lawyers are more inclined to pursue professional legal ideals, and those trained in a system that emphasizes legal ethics are more likely to pursue public interest issues. On the basis of the findings, we argue that legal education systems in Greater China, while different in their traditions, share the same need to strengthen legal professionalism by according greater emphasis to legal ethics in their respective law school curricula.

摘要

摘要

本文通过一项关于职业生涯取向和价值观的问卷调查，对在大中华地区接受不同法律教育制度培训的未来律师的法律专业素养进行研究。北京，香港和台北的一千多名法学生参与了此项调查。我们的研究结果表明，在以教育目标为培养专业的技术型律师的法律教育体系学习的法学生更倾向于追求专业的法律理想，在以强调法律伦理的法律教育体系学习的法学生更倾向向于公众利益的追求；但在三个不同法律教育体系中的未来律师都同时具有「物质主义」的职业导向。根据调查结果，我们认为，尽管大中华地区的法律教育系统拥有不同的传统，但它们都同样有需要在法学院课程中更重视法律专业道德，以加强未来律师的法律专业素养。

Keywords

career orientationfuture lawyerslegal professionalismlegal ethicsgreater China未来律师法律专业素养法律专业道德大中华区
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 244: Change, Contradiction and the State: Higher Education in Greater China , December 2020 , pp. 1118 - 1139
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, Kara. 2006. “Paradigms in the cultivation of China's future legal elite: a case study of legal education in western China.” Asian Pacific Law and Policy Journal 7, 302–384.Google Scholar
Alford, William P. 2007. “Of lawyers lost and found: searching for legal professionalism in China.” In Alford, William P., Chin, Geraldine, Cecere, Laura A. and Johnson, Emma (eds.), Raising the Bar: The Emerging Legal Profession in East Asia. Cambridge, MA: East Asian Legal Studies, 287–310.Google Scholar
Alford, William P. 2010. “‘Second lawyers, first principles’: lawyers, rice-roots legal workers, and the battle over legal professionalism in China.” In Alford, William P., Winston, Kenneth C. and Kirby, William C. (eds.), Prospects for the Professions in China. Abingdon: Routledge, 48–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bliss, John. 2017. “Divided selves: professional role distancing among law students and new lawyers in a period of market crisis.” Law and Society Inquiry 42(3), 855–897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boon, Andrew. 2003. “Ethics in legal education and training: four reports, three jurisdictions and a prospectus.” Legal Ethics 5(1), 34–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boon, Andrew, and Webb, Julian. 2008. “Legal education and training in England and Wales: back to the future.” Journal of Legal Education 58(1), 79–121.Google Scholar
Caplow, Stacy. 2006. “Clinical legal education in Hong Kong: a time to move forward.” Hong Kong Law Journal 36, 229–258.Google Scholar
Chan, Ming K. 1997. “The legacy of the British administration of Hong Kong: a view from Hong Kong.” The China Quarterly 141, 567–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Thomas C.H. 2012. “Legal education reform in Taiwan: are Japan and Korea the models?” Journal of Legal Education 62(1) 32–65.Google Scholar
Chen, Thomas C.H. 2013. “Legal education in Taiwan: a pluralism in transition.” In Sarker, Shuvro Prosan (ed.), Legal Education in Asia. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, 155–173.Google Scholar
Chow, Wilson, Wu, Richard and Chan, Felix. 2006. “Developing active learning of skills in professional legal education in Hong Kong – from theory to ethnography.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 1, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erie, Matthew S. 2009. “Legal education reform in China through US-inspired transplants.” Journal of Legal Education 59, 60–96.Google Scholar
Evans, Adrian. 2010. “Measuring awareness of values and ethics.” In Evans, Adrian, Assessing Lawyers’ Ethics: A Practitioners’ Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 188–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Dafydd. 1974. “Memorandum on the creation of a statutory board.” In Redmond, Paul and Roper, Christopher (eds.), Legal Education and Training in Hong Kong: Preliminary Review – Report of the Consultants. Hong Kong: Steering Committee on the Review of Legal Education and Training in Hong Kong, Appendix D.Google Scholar
Evetts, Julia. 2011. “Sociological analysis of professionalism: past, present and future.” Comparative Sociology 10, 1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, Jie. 2010. “Comparison between Chinese and American lawyers: educated and admitted to practice differently in different legal systems.” Penn State International Law Review 29(1), 129–146.Google Scholar
General Office of the State Council. 2015. “Guanyu wanshan guojia tongyi falü zhiye zige zhidu de yijian” (Opinion on perfecting the National Uniform Legal Profession Admission Examination), 20 December, http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2015-12/20/content_5025966.htm. Accessed 4 December 2018.Google Scholar
Gold, Neil. 1991. “Professional legal education for tomorrow's lawyers: the evolution of the postgraduate certificate in laws at the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong.” Journal of Professional Legal Education 9, 45–58.Google Scholar
Granfield, Robert. 1992. Making Elite Lawyers: Vision of Law at Harvard and Beyond. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Han, Depei, and Kanter, Stephan. 1984. “Legal education in China.” American Journal of Comparative Law 32, 548–582.Google Scholar
HKSAR Legislative Council Secretariat. 2016. “The Law Society of Hong Kong's proposal to introduce a common entrance examination in Hong Kong,” CB4/PL/AJLS. Hong Kong: Legislative Council.Google Scholar
Hou, Xinyi. 2006. “Modern legal education in China.” Oklahoma City University Law Review 31, 293–300.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Nash. 2015. “China arrested more than 100 human-rights lawyers and activists over the weekend.” Time, 13 July, https://time.com/3954935/china-arrests-lawyers-human-rights/.Google Scholar
Jones, Carol. 2009. “Legal education in Hong Kong: producing the producers.” In Steele, Stacey and Taylor, Kathryn (eds.), Legal Education in Asia: Globalization, Change and Contexts. Abingdon: Routledge, 125–154.Google Scholar
Kao, Supo. 2017 “Government ‘law-jobs’ and the use of government lawyers: a case of transplanting the foreign model of the legal profession to the Asia-Pacific region.” Asia Pacific Law Review 25(1), 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kronman, Anthony. 1999. “Legal professionalism.” Florida State University Law Review 27(1), 1–7.Google Scholar
Lam, Wai Shun. 2019. “Chumai jiancha quan hexin jiazhi Chen Yuzhen shou hui 2,300 wan pan qiu 12 nian ding yan “ (Betrayal of prosecutor's core values: Chen Yuzhen sentenced to 12-year imprisonment term for receiving bribes of TWD 23,000,000). China Times, 27 February, https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20190227004805-260402?chdtv. Accessed 24 April 2019.Google Scholar
Lin, Chih-Chieh, Chin, Mong-Hwa and Liu, Shang-Jyh. 2016. “Legal education in Taiwan: evolution and innovation.” Asian Journal of Law and Society 3, 247–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Sida. 2006. “Client influence and the contingency of professionalism: the work of elite corporate lawyers in China.” Law and Society Review 40(4), 751–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Zongde, and Sun, Mingzong. 2014. “The possibility of Taiwan's legal education.” China Legal Science 2, 71–95.Google Scholar
Lo, Chang Fa. 2006. “Driving an ox cart to catch up with the space shuttle: the need for and prospects of legal education reform in Taiwan.” Wisconsin International Law Review 24, 41–84.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Keith M. 1995. The Sociology of the Professions. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Mao, Ling. 2007. “Clinical legal education and the reform of the higher legal education system in China.” Fordham International Law Journal 30, 421–434.Google Scholar
Martinez, Serge A. 2012. “Law clinics in Taiwan: can clinical legal education succeed in this civil law jurisdiction with an undergraduate legal education system?” National Taiwan University Law Review 7, 343–384.Google Scholar
McCallum, Charles E. 2009. “Professionalism in the practice of law,” https://www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=56bbc140-9a8e-4b28-b35d-43912ba98676. Accessed 22 June 2019.Google Scholar
McMorrow, Judith A. 2010. “Professional responsibility in an uncertain profession: legal ethics in China.” Akron Law Review 43, 1081–1105.Google Scholar
Minzner, Carl F. 2013. “The rise and fall of Chinese legal education.” Fordham International Law Journal 36, 334–388.Google Scholar
Moliterno, James E., and Lan, Rongjie. 2018. “The new-breed, die-hard Chinese lawyer: a comparison with American civil rights cause lawyers.” Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice 25(1), 99–182.Google Scholar
Ostertag, Juergen A. 1993. “Legal education in Germany and the United States – a structural comparison.” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 26, 201–340.Google Scholar
Pan, Xiaoping. 2017. “Qiantan zhengzhijuewu dui lüshi zhiye de zhongyao zuoyong” (Significance of political consciousness on legal practice). Fazhi yu shehui 1, 272–73.Google Scholar
Parker, Stephen. 2002. “Legal education in Australia: the perfect storm.” South Texas Law Review 43, 535–542.Google Scholar
Phan, Pamela N. 2005. “Clinical legal education in China: in pursuit of a culture of law and a mission of social justice.” Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal 8, 117–188.Google Scholar
Rabushka, Alvin. 1979. Hong Kong: A Study on Economic Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Redmond, Paul, and Roper, Christopher. 2001. Legal Education and Training in Hong Kong: Preliminary Review – Report of the Consultants. Hong Kong: Steering Committee on the Review of Legal Education and Training in Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Schleef, Debra. 2006. Managing Elites: Professional Socialization in Law and Business Schools. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
SCLET (Standing Committee on Legal Education and Training). 2018. “Comprehensive review of legal education and training in Hong Kong: final report of the consultants,” April, https://www.sclet.gov.hk/eng/pdf/final2018.pdf. Accessed 24 April 2019.Google Scholar
Singhapakdi, Anusorn, and Vitell, Scott J.. 1993. “Personal and professional values underlying the ethical judgments of marketers.” Journal of Business Ethics 12(7), 525–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, Rachel E. 2016. “Political reliability and the Chinese bar exam.” Journal of Law and Society 43(4), 506–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steven, Robert. 1973. “Law schools and law students.” Virginia Law Review 59, 551–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Su, Ming-long. 2019. “Quanguo lü xie: ge lüshi xiehui 2018 nian gong zuochu chufen jueding 612 jian” (All-China Lawyers Association: 612 disciplinary decisions were made by bar associations in 2018). Legal Daily, 15 February, http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/Lawyer/content/2019-02/15/content_7770603.htm. Accessed 24 April 2019.Google Scholar
Swick, Herbert M. 1998. “Academic medicine must deal with the clash of business and professional values.” Academic Medicine 73(7), 751–755.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Association, Taiwan Bar. 2019. “Country report,” http://www.twba.org.tw/en/Report.htm. Accessed 20 April 2019Google Scholar
Wang, Tay-sheng. 2009. “The development of legal education in Taiwan: an analysis of the history of law and society.” In Steele, Stacey and Taylor, Kathryn (eds.), Legal Education in Asia: Globalization, Change and Contexts. Abingdon: Routledge, 137–155.Google Scholar
Wu, Aiying. 2011. “Jianchi he fazhan guojia sifa kaoshi zhidu wei jiakuai jianshe shehuizhuyi fazhi guojia zuochu jiji gongxian” (Upholding and developing the national judicial examination system to provide a positive contribution to speed up the building of a socialist country ruled by law). Zhongguo sifa 10, 7–10.Google Scholar
Wu, Richard. 2004. “Reform of professional legal education at the University of Hong Kong.” Legal Education Review 14, 153–180.Google Scholar
Wu, Richard. 2017. “An empirical study of Hong Kong law students’ ethical values: does common law education enhance their professionalism?” Legal Ethics 20(2), 242–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xia, Chuanwei. 2009. “Taiwan lüshi shishang zuizhongyao de gaige liliang – wenxuexiao lianhetuan” (The story of the Literature School Group: the most important reform force in the history of Taiwanese lawyers). Sifa gaige 73, 48–49.Google Scholar
Yan, Yunxiang. 2003. Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Yan, Yunxiang. 2009. “The Good Samaritan's new trouble: a study of the changing moral landscape in contemporary China.” Social Anthropology 17(1), 9–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, Xingzhong. 2010. “Judicial professionalism in China: from discourse to reality.” In Alford, William P. (ed.), Prospects for the Professions in China. Abingdon: Routledge, 78–108.Google Scholar
Zemans, Frances K., and Rosenblum, Victor G.. 1981. The Making of a Public Profession. Chicago: American Bar Foundation.Google Scholar
Zeng, Xianyi. 2001. “Legal education in China.” South Texas Law Review 43, 707–716.Google Scholar
Zhou, Ling, and Palmer, Michael. 2020 “Changing legal education in China.” In Jones, Emma and Cownie, Fiona (eds.), Key Directions in Legal Education: National and International Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 15–30.Google Scholar
Zhu, Su Li. 2009. “Experiential education in China: curricular reform, the role of the lawyer and the rule of law: an institutional inquiry into legal skills education in China.” Pacific McGeorge Global Business and Development Law Journal 22, 75–91.Google Scholar
Zou, Keyuan. 2003. “Professionalising legal education in the People's Republic of China.” Singapore Journal of Comparative Law 7, 159–182.Google Scholar